{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,13]],"date-time":"2025-09-13T15:57:39Z","timestamp":1757779059807,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":18,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2007,8,14]],"date-time":"2007-08-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1187049600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2007,8,14]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Purpose<\/jats:title><jats:p>The purpose of this article is to examine the reasons for the creation of co\u2010links between pairs of business web sites. Specifically, to determine whether co\u2010linked business web sites are really related.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title><jats:p>Co\u2010links to 32 telecommunications companies were retrieved using Yahoo! and a random sample of 495 co\u2010linking pages (the page that initiated the co\u2010link) were selected for a content analysis. The context of the co\u2010link and the content of the co\u2010linking page were manually examined to record the following data: type of web site and the reason for the creation of the co\u2010link.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Findings<\/jats:title><jats:p>The study found that 61.4 per cent of co\u2010links were created to connected pairs of highly related businesses (related companies, related products, and related services). Only 14.7 per cent of co\u2010links were created for non\u2010business reasons. The remaining 23.8 per cent of co\u2010linked sites showed a loose or marginal business relationship. The study also found that co\u2010links targeting home pages (as opposed to non\u2010homepages) were more likely to connect related businesses. Furthermore, co\u2010links coming from commercial sites (as opposed to other sites such as educational sites) are more likely to link related businesses.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title><jats:p>The findings from this content analysis study confirm results from previous quantitative studies that showed that web co\u2010links measure relatedness of co\u2010linked sites and that co\u2010links can be objects of web data mining. The study contributes to our understanding of link motivations and the web linking phenomenon in general. The difference between links to homepages and that to non\u2010homepages found in the study can guide us in co\u2010link data collection.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/14684520710780403","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2007,8,18]],"date-time":"2007-08-18T07:01:50Z","timestamp":1187420510000},"page":"440-450","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Are co\u2010linked business web sites really related? A link classification study"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"31","author":[{"given":"Liwen","family":"Vaughan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Margaret","family":"Kipp","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yijun","family":"Gao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"140","reference":[{"key":"key2022032120325532100_b1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bar\u2010Ilan, J. (2004), \u201cA microscopic link analysis of academic institutions within a country \u2013 the case of Israel\u201d, Scientometrics, Vol. 59 No. 3, pp. 391\u2010403.","DOI":"10.1023\/B:SCIE.0000018540.33706.c1"},{"key":"key2022032120325532100_b2","unstructured":"Berg, B.L. 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(2004), \u201cNortel leaves all doors open\u201d, available at: www.lightreading.com\/document.asp?doc_id=53776&site=lightreading (accessed December 29, 2006)."},{"key":"key2022032120325532100_b7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Reid, E. (2003), \u201cUsing web link analysis to detect and analyze hidden web communities\u201d, in Vriens, D. (Ed.), Information and Communications Technology for Competitive Intelligence, Ideal Group Inc., Hilliard, OH, pp. 57\u201084.","DOI":"10.4018\/978-1-59140-142-1.ch003"},{"key":"key2022032120325532100_b8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tan, B., Foo, S. and Hui, S.C. (2002), \u201cWeb information monitoring for competitive intelligence\u201d, Cybernetics and Systems, Vol. 33 No. 3, pp. 225\u201051.","DOI":"10.1080\/019697202753551620"},{"key":"key2022032120325532100_b9","unstructured":"Thelwall, M. (2003), \u201cWhat is this link doing here? 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