: How does Google handle elements in the ? As I get from here, link tags can be used in the body as long as they contain Microdata. I understand how this may come handy for specifying all

@Shanna517

It’s similar to using the meta element for Microdata (in fact, the only difference between meta and link is that link must be used if the value is a URI, meta in every other case):

Use link if you can’t provide a visible hyperlink/image/video/etc.

A typical (but not the only) reason for using link is in cases where the URL is not supposed to be visited by your users. This is the case for most Enumeration URIs, e.g., schema.org/InStock: this is a URI that users should never visit; it just serves as a non-ambiguous indicator that a product is in stock (using a URI has many advantages over using plain text).




Follow and index it just like it does with a regular link?


Not every URL in a link element can or should be indexed (see InStock example above).


Treat it as hidden content and punish the site for it?


It is hidden content, but that does not mean that Google will punish your page because of it. In fact, some of their examples even use link, e.g.:




Videos Rich Snippet:

<link itemprop="contentUrl" href="http://www.example.com/video123.flv" />
<link itemprop="embedUrl" href="http://www.example.com/videoplayer.swf?video=123" />

Software Apps Rich Snippet:

<link itemprop="applicationCategory" href="http://schema.org/GameApplication"/>

Products Rich Snippet:

<link itemprop="itemCondition" href="http://schema.org/UsedCondition"/>
<link itemprop="availability" href="http://schema.org/InStock"/>

Social Profiles:

<link itemprop="url" href="http://www.your-company-site.com">

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