Bow Tie Model of the Web

It is important to understand the foundational form of the Web. It can be described as a "bow tie" when examining it on a macro level.


The Core: The center of the model is the core. It consists of intensely linked sites; much like a network where starting at one site you can eventually find all the websites in the core through their links. Sites that are highly connected are viewed with high importance by search engine ranking systems. When this important site links to another it increases that sites importance as well. This demonstrates that there is a lot of unequal distribution within the core.


Origination Sites: These are sites that have outward links connecting it to the core sites. They can therefore be hard to find because they do not have many links back from the core.


Termination Sites: Termination sites are the opposite of origination sites. They have links coming from the core but not back to the core.


Other sites: There are other sites outside of this model that do not have any links to or from the core. These are called "islands" because they are very isolated.


To learn more about the bow tie model of the web, visit:
1) Link Popularity and the Bow Tie Theory
2) The Web is a Bow Tie


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Source: Hanson, W. (2007). Internet marketing and e-commerce. Thomson South-Western. pp 76-77