Meaning of link bait | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Articles, infographics, videos, and other content on websites created as part of a strategy to attract links and go viral.
   Internet, uncountable
2. Provocative headlines designed specifically to persuade people to click or share by using loaded terminology (e.g. incredible, secret, shocking, unbelievable), posing provocative questions, or tying themselves in to hot topics.
   Internet, nonstandard, uncountable

Examples

“Sustainable link bait is rooted in quality content.”

“A good link bait tool will create 'brand evangelists' — people who will talk positively about you.”

“Link bait content is typically written about a hot, real-time topic such as breaking news.”

“I've seen link bait succeed in the form of a downloadable scientific research paper, and I've seen it succeed in the form of a picture of a golden retriever in a tutu.”

“Many bloggers write false story headings about search topics that are trending as well, resulting in high bounce rates, abandonment by subscribers, and raising the ire of other bloggers in the industry. You should never write false headings or try to manipulate your readers with link bait.”

“Link bait is content or a feature on a website that is expressly designed to get users' attention so they click through to another website.”

“There is also content that appears on the bottom of many websites with link bait type headlines like, "See the Dinner Hack that Millennials are Crazy for."”

“Further black hat examples could be misleading link bait from ads for poorly targeted news articles, clicking on links spawning extra windows, or simply only dealing with robots (in a shady way).”

CEFR level