Network structures of commercial portal sites

Abstract

Existing standards for the audience measurement and vehicle valuation of a website depend heavily on the traffic information of separate web pages. As a result, the hyperlink structure of a website has not been properly examined. This study attempts to extend the scope of existing web advertising planning perspectives by redirecting attention to the relational characteristics of websites as advertising vehicles. With two measures developed from network analysis methods (network density and network centrality), the hyperlink structures of five popular portal/search engine sites are analysed and compared. Based on the analysis, this study develops a typology for classifying web pages and discusses how the typology can be used to design effective web advertisements.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dongyoung Sohn

Dongyoung Sohn (PhD, The University of Texas at Austin) is an assistant professor in the School of Mass Communications at the University of South Florida. His primary research interests include the impact of digital media on consumer’s information processing and communication, and social network analysis.

Joonhyung Jee

Joonhyung Jee is a doctoral candidate at the University of Texas at Austin. His primary research interest is in branding and the analysis of consumers’ knowledge structure.