About Weblogs: Blog Tips and Resources

Hotlink

Glossary - Common Blog Terms

Written by Sheila Ann Manuel Coggins

The meaning of the word 'hotlink' or 'hotlinking'.

Definition:

A hotlink is a direct link to an image on someone else's web server. For example, if you saw an image that you like in one of these blinkies resources and you put the image on your website using the image URL source of that other person's site, then you are hotlinking. And, unless the owner of that site permits this, then you are stealing bandwidth, which is unacceptable.

Hotlinking is Not Acceptable Practice

The right thing to do, if you are allowed to use an image from someone else's site but not allowed to hotlink, is to save that image on your computer. Then, upload the image on your own server. You can then link the image to your weblog.

If you do not have your own server, then try using a free image hosting service like Photobucket .

To prevent hotlinking of your own images, these are some steps to prevent it from happening, as recommended by WebSiteOwner.info.

Also Known As: leeching, direct linking, bandwidth theft, bandwidth stealing, deep linking

Alternate Spellings: hot link, hot linking, hot-link, hot-linking

Examples: If you directly link to the the image URL used in this article - http://aboutweblogs.net/images/stories/food/bun.jpg - then you're hotlinking. If you wish to show this logo on your blog, then you must link to the image through http://www.yourserver.com/bun.jpg (or something similar).