What is image hotlinking or image linking?
Image hotlinking or image linking refers to the practice of displaying an image on a webpage by directly linking to the image file from another website. Instead of downloading and saving the image file to their own web server, the website owner or blogger uses the URL of the image hosted on someone else's server to display it on their site.
Why do people hotlink images?
People hotlink images for a variety of reasons. For instance:
- It is faster and more convenient than downloading and uploading the image to a server.
- It conserves storage space on their own server.
- It reduces bandwidth usage on their server.
What are the negative effects of hotlinking images?
Hotlinking images without permission of the owner could have negative effects:
- It causes a decrease in bandwidth on the server hosting the image. Hotlinking can cause unwanted traffic, and may actually increase the host's expenses.
- Hotlinking can also cause harm to the image owner's site's SEO. With the image taken without authorization, it often becomes difficult for search engines to determine which site it actually belongs to.
What can be done to prevent image hotlinking?
There are several ways you can prevent image linking:
- Using a script that detects hotlinks and replaces the image with another one, perhaps with an embedded message indicating it has been hotlinked.
- Using .htaccess, which is a configuration file of Apache server, to control access to specific image types or to deny access to entire domain(s).
- Use hotlinking protection tools and services. Hotlinking protection tools seek to block other sites from linking to your images directly, while also allowing legitimate users to view them.
Conclusion
Hotlinking is a common practice, which has both positive and negative effects. It is a convenient way to insert images in blogs, articles, and web pages, but can harm website owner's server, SEO, and expenses in many ways. To prevent hotlinking, implement security fixes and reduce vulnerability.
