Tipos de enlaces

En HTML, los siguientes tipos de enlaces indican la relación entre dos documentos, de los cuales uno enlaza al otro usando un elemento <a> o bien <area>, o bien <link>.

Lista de tipos de link y su significado en HTML
Tipo de Link Descripción Permitido en estos elementos No permitido en estos elementos
alternate
  • Si el elemento es <link> y el atributo rel tambien contiene el tipo stylesheet, el enlace define una hoja de estilo alternativa; en ese caso el atributo title deberá estar presente y no ser una cadena vacia.
  • Si el atributo type es puesto a application/rss+xml o application/atom+xml, el enlace define un feed de distribución. El primero de ellos definido en la pagina es el tomado por default.
  • De otra forma, el enlace define una pagina alternativa, de uno de los siguientes tipos:
    • para otros medios, como un dispositivo portatil (si el atributo media esta indicado)
    • en otro lenguaje (si el atributo hreflang esta indicado),
    • en otro formato, como un PDF (si el atributo type esta indicado)
    • una combinacion de los anteriores.
 <a>, <area>, <link> None.
archives Define un hipervínculo a un documento que contiene un enlace de archivo a este. Por ejemplo, la entrada de un blog podria enlazar a una página de indice mensual de esta forma.

Nota: Aunque se reconoce, el singular archive es incorrecto y debe ser evitado.		 <a>, <area>, <link> None.
author Define un hipervinculo a una página describiendo el autor o proporcionando una forma de contactar al autor.

Nota: Este puede ser un hipervinculo mailto:, pero esto no es recomendable en paginas públicas por que robots cosechadores podrian rápidamente llevar una gran cantidad de span a esa dirección. En ese caso, es mejor mandarlos a una página con un formulario de contacto.

Aunque reconocido, el atributo rev en elementos <a>, <area> o <link> con un enlace de tipo made es incorrecto y debiera ser reemplazado por el atributo rel con este tipo de enlace.		 <a>, <area>, <link> None.
bookmark Indica que el hipervínculo es un permalink al ancestro más cercano del elemento <article>. Si no hay ninguno, entonces es un permalink para la sección con la que el elemento está más estrechamente asociado.

Esto permite crear marcadores a un artículo en particular dentro de una página con múltiples artículos, como por ejemplo una página con un resumen mensual de un blog, o un agregador de blog.		 <a>, <area> <link>
external Indica que el hipervínculo llevará a una fuente externa al sitio en el que se encuentra la página actual; o lo que es lo mismo, seguir el enlace hará que el usuario abandone el sitio. <a>, <area> <link>
first

Indica que el hipervínculo conduce al primer recurso de la secuencia en la que se encuentra la página actual.

Nota: Otros tipos de enlaces relacionados con los recursos en secuencia son last, prev, next.

Aunque parezca evidente, los sinónimos being y start son incorrectos y deben evitarse.

 <a>, <area>, <link> None.
help
  • If the element is <a> or <area>, it indicates that the hyperlink leads to a resource giving further help about the parent of the element, and its descendants.
  • If the element is <link> it indicates that the hyperlink leads to a resource giving further help about the page as a whole.
 <a>, <area>, <link> None.
icon Defines a resource for representing the page in the user interface, usually an icon (auditory or visual).

The media, type and sizes attributes allow the browser to select the most appropriate icon for its context. If several resources match, the browser will select the last one declared, in tree order. As these attributes are merely hints, and the resources may be inappropriate upon further inspection, the browser will then select another one, if appropriate.

Note: Apple's iOS does not use this link type, nor the sizes attribute, like others mobile browsers do, to select a webpage icon for Web Clip or a start-up placeholder. Instead it uses the non-standard apple-touch-icon and apple-touch-startup-image respectively.

The shortcut link type is often seen before icon, but this link type is non-conforming, ignored and web authors must not use it anymore.		 <link> <a>, <area>
index Indicates that the page is part of a hierarchical structure and that the hyperlink leads to the top level resource of that structure.

If one or several up link types are also present, the number of these up indicates the depth of the current page in the hierarchy.		 <a>, <area>, <link> None.
last Indicates that the hyperlink leads to the last resource of the sequence the current page is in.

Note: Other link types related to linking resources in the same sequence are first, prev, next.

Although recognized, the synomyn end is incorrect and must be avoided.		 <a>, <area>, <link> None.
license Indicates that the hyperlink leads to a document describing the licensing information. If not inside the <head> element, the standard doesn't distinguish between a hyperlink applying to a specific part of the document or to the document as a whole. Only the data on the page can indicate this.

Note: Although recognized, the synonym copyright is incorrect and must be avoided.		 <a>, <area>, <link> None.
next Indicates that the hyperlink leads to the next resource of the sequence the current page is in.

Note: Other link types related to linking resources in the same sequence are first, prev, last.		 <a>, <area>, <link> None.
nofollow Indica que el documento enlazado no cuenta con el aval o aprobación del autor de este documento, por ejemplo si no tiene control sobre el mismo, si es un mal ejemplo o si hay una relación comercial entre los dos (un enlace de pago). Este enlace puede ser usado por algunos motores de búsqueda que usan técnicas de clasificación de popularidad. <a>, <area> <link>
noreferrer

Prevents the browser, when navigating to another page, to send this page name, or any other value, as referrer via the Referer: HTTP header.
(In Firefox, before Firefox 37, this worked only in links found in pages. Links clicked in the UI, like "Open in a new tab" via the contextual menu, doesn't abide for this value)

 <a>, <area> <link>
pingback Defines an external resource URI to call if one make a comment or a citation about the webpage. The protocol used to make such a call is defined in the Pingback 1.0 specification.

Note: if the X-Pingback: HTTP header is also present, this header has precedence over the <link> element with this link type		 <link> <a>, <area>
preconnect Hints the browser to open in advance the connection to the linked web site, without disclosing any private information. <link> <a>, <area>
prefetch Hints the browser to fetch in advance the linked resource, as it will likely be requested by the user.

Note: the Link Prefetch FAQ has details on which links can be prefetched and on alternative methods.		 <a>,
<area>,
<link>		 None.
preload Tells the browser to download a resource because this resource will be needed later during the current navigation. <link> <a>, <area>
prerender Comunica al navegador que carge en segundo plano el recurso suministrado (Pagina Web). <link> <a>, <area>
prev Indicates that the hyperlink leads to the preceding resource of the sequence the current page is in.

Note: other link types related to linking resources in the same sequence are first, last, next.

Although recognized, the synomyn previous is incorrect and must be avoided.		 <a>, <area>, <link> None.
search Indicates that the hyperlink reference a document whose interface is specially designing for searching in this document, or site, and its resources.

If the type attribute is set to application/opensearchdescription+xml the resource is an OpenSearch plugin that can be easily added to the interface of some browsers like Firefox or Internet Explorer.		 <a>, <area>, <link> None.
stylesheet Defines an external resource to be used as a stylesheet. If the type is not set, the browser should assume it is a text/css stylesheet until further inspection.

If used in combination with the alternate keyword, it defines an alternative style sheet; in that case the title attribute must be present and not be the empty string.		 <link> <a>, <area>
sidebar Indicates that the hyperlink leads to a resource that would be better suited for a secondary browsing context, like a sidebar. Browsers, that don't have such a context will ignore this keyword. <a>, <area>, <link> None.
tag Indicates that the hyperlink refers to a document describing a tag that applies to this document.

Note: this link type should not be set on links to a member of a tag cloud as these do not apply to a single document but to a set of pages.		 <a>, <area>, <link> None.
up Indicates that the page is part of a hierarchical structure and that the hyperlink leads to the higher level resource of that structure.

The number of up link types indicates the depth difference between the current page and the linked resource.		 <a>, <area>, <link> None.

Especificaciones

Specification
HTML Standard
# linkTypes
HTML Standard
# attr-hyperlink-rel
HTML Standard
# attr-form-rel

Compatibilidad con navegadores

html.elements.link.rel

BCD tables only load in the browser

html.elements.a.rel

BCD tables only load in the browser

html.elements.area.rel

BCD tables only load in the browser

html.elements.form.rel

BCD tables only load in the browser