Following Links
Say you want to look up some information to help you write a school project. Chances are, you’ll use a search engine like Google or Ask Jeeves to do it. But be careful with what comes up after you enter your search term! Not all of the websites that a search engine finds for you will be related to what you’re looking for, particularly if there a lot of words in your search term.
Top tip
Would you open every door on the street on your walk home from school? Of course not! Nor should you open every website that a search engine finds for you. Some of them will be unrelated to your search term, and may even be illegal or not meant for kids to look at.
How do I know which links are safe to open?
Look for:
the links that the search engine returns first (on the first half of the page). These are usually the most relevant to your search.
the information included about each site. Look for the search term that you used to be repeated in the information listed below the link.
information about the site that makes sense to you. Are real sentences used or just random words that don’t seem to belong together? Only open those links where you understand what the information is saying.
Links where the URL contains words that are related to your search term. For example, if your search term was ‘Kelly Clarkson’, you might not be surprised to see words like ‘American Idol’ or the name of her record company, ‘RCA Records’, in the information about the link. It’s likely that links that contain words similar to your search term are safer to open than URLs that don’t seem to have anything to do with it.
If you’re not sure about whether to open a link or not, play it safe and don’t click on it.
The Playing it Safe on the Net card can help you decide what links are safe to open. It can also be a good idea to ask your teacher or caregiver to help you decide.
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