All about Links in Content Analyzer
Keeping Track of Links to and from Other Sites
Search Results and Link Info
Managing links with Content Analyzer involves searching for particular objects, and then examining the links in and out of those objects. Throughout this chapter, we'll be showing you various examples that use both the Search Results and Link Info windows.
All about Links in Content Analyzer
Each object in the map has associated link information, which Content Analyzer displays in the Link Info window (View|Object Links). You can see all pages in the site that have a link to that object (the object's InLinks) as well as all that object's links to other objects (if the object in question is a page). For each link associated with the object, you can see the link's hyperlink text, link URL, number of hits it has received, and more. For a complete list of all link properties, see "Available Link Properties."
Links and InLinks
Every link in a Web site can be described in two ways. First, and most commonly, a link can be described as residing on a page, letting you navigate from that page to another page or other resource (such as an audio clip). Links on pages can also be used to incorporate another resource (such as an inline image) into the page itself. Content Analyzer displays links as children of the page on which they reside. As you manage your site, you can quickly see all links on a particular page by right-clicking the page, then choosing Links to view the Link Info window (see "The Link Info Window"). Be sure the Links on Page button is selected.
The Link Info Window
To see a list of links associated with a page or other object, right-click the object, then choose Links. (You can also choose Object Links from the View menu or Main toolbar.) This is particularly useful when some links are not visible because of the current display options (see "Showing or Hiding Types of Objects" in Chapter 3, "Creating and Customizing WebMaps") or because you've hidden objects (see "Showing or Hiding Individual Objects" in Chapter 8, "Site Management Tips & Techniques").
The Overview of Hawaiian History page is a great-grandchild of the home page
This option lets you trace the direct family relationship of the selected object, which is particularly useful if the object is deep in the map and its ancestry is not immediately obvious.
For information on using the Link Info window to follow links in the map, see "Following Links: Where They Go or Where They Come from."
Link Properties
The Link Info window shows the properties of the links associated with the selected object, one property to a column. Link properties include such things as hyperlink text, URL, hits, and location (whether the link is onsite or offsite).
Default Column Settings
Content Analyzer comes with default settings for the properties shown in the Link Info window. Each link type--Links on Page, InLinks, and Main Route--has a different default, as shown in the following tables. For a complete list of all available link properties, and definitions for each, see "Available Link Properties." If you want to change the properties (or the order of the columns), see "Changing the Properties and Column Order in the Link Info Window."
|
Hyperlink Text
|
MIME Type
|
Size
|
Order
|
HTTP Status
|
Location
|
Route Type
|
Hits
|
Link URL
|
URL
|
|
Hyperlink Text
|
Link URL
|
Location
|
Route Type
|
Hits
|
Referrer
|
URL
|
|
Label
|
Level
|
Hits
|
Hyperlink Text
|
URL
|
Changing the Properties and Column Order in the Link Info Window
When you're examining links, you may want to see only certain properties. For instance, say you're especially interested in usage data for the links on your home page. You can tell Content Analyzer to display only the hit count (Hits), number of referring URLs (Referrals), and hyperlink text. To choose the link properties you want to be displayed in the Link Info window, click the Columns button in the Link Info window. You can also get to the Columns command by right-clicking any column header in the Link Info window. To change the properties and column order in the Link Info window:
The properties currently displayed in the Link Info window are shown in the Show These Properties list.
The properties you've chosen move to the Show These Properties list, as shown in the following dialog box.
Numeric and date properties are sorted in descending (largest first) order. For instance, suppose you want to see all the links on a particular page, sorted by hit count. Just click the column header for the Hits property, and the links will be rearranged according to how many hits they've received; links with the most hits are shown first. To reverse the order so that links with the least hits are shown first, click the column header again.
If you want to sort by two properties, click the column header for a second property. For instance, you could sort links first by Hits, then by MIME Type (objects will be shown sorted by MIME type, and within MIME types, by number of hits).
Note: The most recently sorted column takes precedence over any other sorted columns; the Link Info window always reflects the results of the most recent sort.
For tab-delimited files, columns are separated by tabs, and rows are separated by a newline character. (Your database or spreadsheet application might ask you for this information when you try to import the file.)
The main-route object to which the link points is selected in the map window. (If you had selected the InLinks button, the main-route object where the link originates would be selected instead.)
Note: You cannot follow offsite referral InLinks (those you imported with usage data).
Note: After following a link, if you subsequently click other objects in the map, you can't use the Back button.
You can follow links from the selected object even if the links aren't visible in the map
If you follow a link to a hidden object, Content Analyzer displays and selects the object in the Tree view, but the object is dimmed. (In the Cyberbolic view, the parent object is selected.) You'll still be able to see the object's properties in the Properties dialog box, but it will be re-hidden when you collapse the parent page or close the map.
There are two ways to search for broken links: you can search for all links that are broken, or you can search for objects that couldn't be reached. The method you use depends on what you're trying to accomplish at the time.
In the first case (searching for all broken links), an individual object could be reported multiple times: once for each occurrence of a link to it.
In a broken links search, the results window shows that the LIVING object has two broken links pointing to it
In the second case (searching for broken objects or objects with a particular HTTP status code), any given object is reported only once, regardless of how many links point to it.
In an unavailable object search, each object that couldn't be reached is reported only once
If you want to limit or expand the search, use the Custom Search command to specify another object characteristic in the Secondary Search Criteria area. For example, you can search for unavailable objects that have an HTTP status code of 152 (which usually means the server is down). Alternatively, you could search for all objects with a status code that's greater than 400. (See "Determining Why a Link Is Broken" for definitions of these status codes.) For example:
Object Type: All Objects
Field: HTTP Status
Modifiers: Equals
Value: 152
Object Type: Links
Field: Broken
Modifiers: Equals
Value: True
Content Analyzer displays a Search Results window showing all broken links it has found. If several broken links point to the same object, those links appear in the results once for each time the object is pointed to.
If you want to limit or expand the search further, you can specify another link characteristic in the Advanced Search Criteria area. For example, you can search for broken offsite or onsite links by specifying Offsite Equals TRUE or Offsite Equals FALSE, respectively. For more information on using the Search dialog box, see Chapter 6, "Searching Maps and Creating Custom Reports."
To navigate to an object with a link that needs to be fixed
In most instances (with the exception of error codes 403 and 404), you can often use the Mapping|Verify Links command to reach the object later. For error code 401 (password-protected objects), you may be able to tell Content Analyzer what the password is for the object; see "If Your Site Has Password-Protected Areas" in Appendix , "Appendix A: Content Analyzer Setup," for details.
Locating Links to a Changed Resource (InLinks)
Sometimes, when you change a resource in your site, links to that resource (InLinks) no longer make sense. For example, suppose you change the name of your "What's New" page. You'll need to change all links to that page so that they refer to the new file name. Or, perhaps you've changed the contents of your download directory. You'll want to make sure that links to the download directory are still appropriate. Content Analyzer lets you locate all links to a particular object and quickly fix them if necessary.
To locate links to an object that has changed
Link Info window showing InLinks to a changed resource
Note that if the map contains explored offsite links, the Link(s) list could include links from those other sites.
To see pages that have links to an orphaned object
The pages shown in the Link Info window have links to the orphaned More than Surfing page
Note that if the map contains explored offsite links, the Link(s) list could include links from those other sites (shown in blue).
<A HREF="/index.html"></A>
Using a specific default file name creates a problem if you should move the site to a server that uses a different default name; all of those links will break when you change the name of the default file. The preferred method is to specify link URLs without a specific default name. The server will know to look for whatever the URL's default name happens to be. So, you could change the previous URL to:
<A HREF="/"></A>
Regardless of which method you choose, it's important to be consistent. To make your site more portable, it's especially important to use consistent capitalization for all link URLs to a particular object. On a case-insensitive server (such as Windows NT), it doesn't matter how you capitalize a file name. But if your site gets moved to a case-sensitive server (such as UNIX), some of your links might be broken if you used inconsistent capitalization.
Search: Entire Map
Object Type: Links
Field: Link URL
Modifiers: Contains
Text String: index
Searching for Offsite Links
To search for offsite links
Search: Entire Map
Object Type: Links
Field: Offsite
Modifiers: Equals
Value: TRUE
To verify offsite links during site exploration
Content Analyzer lets you discover this information, and more, as described in the following sections.
After you set routes by hit counts, your map will be organized according to the most-hit objects. In the Tree view, this may change the hierarchical arrangement of pages and other resources. In the Cyberbolic view, you'll see magenta lines representing the busiest link between any two objects. So you can now see how people are typically clicking their way through your site.
What you can't readily see from this information is exactly how many hits have been received by each page and by all the links on that page. You also can't see the referrer (offsite) pages pointing into your site, since those pages usually aren't part of your map.
So let's move on to taking a closer look at the pages and links that are being hit, perhaps analyzing the hyperlink text, as well as the context of the busiest links.
The Hits property is included in the default column arrangement for all three link types--Links on Page, InLinks, and Main Route. For external InLinks, you'll also be interested in the URL property, which shows where the links came from.
It's worth noting that the number of hits on links is not necessarily the same as hits on objects. If you have multiple links pointing to the same object in your site, each of those links can have a separate hit count. Also, the hit count for the object will not necessarily be equivalent to the total number of hits on all links pointing to it. That's because not all hits come from clicking hyperlinks; people can also hit an object by explicitly giving its URL to their browser. Or, they may have bookmarked your site and accessed it from their bookmark list.
Once you've imported usage data into your map, the busiest links between any two site objects is shown with a magenta line in the Cyberbolic view. If your site is large, though, you may not be able to easily see all the links at once. In that case, you can use the Search Results and Link Info windows together:
If you choose to display a property, it's possible that there may sometimes be no value for that property for a particular link. In that case, the field will be blank. For example, for the Hits property, a particular link may have received no hits. If a property doesn't apply at all to a link type (or if it applies, but the value is patently obvious), it will not be available in the Columns dialog box. Such properties are indicated as "not applicable" in the following table.
Link Properties Available in the Link Info Window