wikiHow:External Links

External Link Policy

wikiHow is not a link farm, a web directory, or search engine. As such, we are not a place that hosts links to other websites other than those that are either there for attribution for legally imported content, a reference source or citation for information presented in the article, or a crucial part of the instructions.

It should also be noted that all of our links are no-follow, which means that search engine rankings aren't affected by the link appearing on wikiHow.

External Links That Might Stay

  • References. When an editor makes a significant, neutral change to an article, they are encouraged to source the information they used. On the other hand, "Source Links", added by people who have not significantly edited the article in an impartial manner, or which do not lead to authoritative sources for the information added to the page, will be viewed as spam and removed.
  • Crucial parts of instructions. In some rare circumstances it is necessary to place an embedded external link in an article. This happens for example on pages linking to software downloads when the article pertains to how to install the software . These links can remain in wikiHow if clicking on the link is crucial to completing the instructions.
  • Attribution Links. Rarely, articles are imported to wikiHow by experienced community members with the permission of copyright holders on other websites. When we do this, we link back to the original source with language like "example.com - Original source of this article. Shared with permission." These sorts of links do not need to be removed, as long as the link goes to a page on that site that contains the attributed information and wasn't added for the purpose of self-promotion.


External Links that Should Be Deleted

Editors remain free to delete any link that does not improve wikiHow. The following links should usually be removed.

  • Links added by someone who has not also significantly edited the article. Editors who place external links without making other significant improvements to the article should be rolled back without even bothering to check the link.
  • Links placed for the purpose of delivering traffic or advertising/self-promotion should be deleted. Similarly, any link containing an "affiliate" / sales commission / referral code in it should be deleted.
  • Links that go to general home pages or business sites, rather than actual sources of information, should be removed.
  • Links added in a serial or repetitive manner. Quite frequently, spammers, advertisers, and point of view pushers will place their external link on multiple pages on wikiHow one after another. When you see this spam like behavior, please feel free to delete all links regardless of how high quality or relevant they are. That editing style simply smells like spam and isn't what we want on wikiHow.
  • Most links to a page that is attempting to sell something rather than providing useful content. However, links to pages that sell something can in some rare cases be acceptable if buying this specific product is required as part of the instructions.
  • Links to pages with excessive or obnoxious advertising.
  • Links to pornographic websites or other adult content should be deleted on sight.

Provide a Notice

  • When you delete a bunch of external links on multiple pages, it is often wise to leave a friendly message for the person who did it. Tell them nicely that their links were deleted, and why. Encourage them to continue participating in wikiHow in more productive ways. An easy way to do this is to leave the {{exlinks}} template on their talk page.

Spam Blacklist

  • Spam or improper non-source links repeatedly added to wikiHow may be placed on our Spam Blacklist which will permanently ban them from being added to wikiHow. Read How to Add a Website to the wikiHow Spam Blacklist for more info on how you can blacklist a website (this is an Admin-only action).

References Format

When entering a link to a reference, the best practice is to follow the wikiHow guide to referencing sources. That technique provides a clear link to the information in an article that is supported by a given citation. Properly using this system will help to make wikiHow articles more accurate and authoritative.

Community Discussion

This policy has evolved over many years and includes some formal votes on changes such as the WikiHow:Policy-Proposals/Sources-and-Citations .


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This is an Official Policy that has been approved by the wikiHow community.
All contributors and administrators are expected to adhere to it.