Linking Policy
Evaluation Criteria
The USA.gov staff evaluates all suggested links using the following criteria:
- Is the recommended website an official government-owned or supported website?
- Does the recommended website provide official government information or services?
- Does the recommended website complement existing information, products and services on USA.gov?
- Is the recommended website accessible and applicable to a wide audience?
- Is the recommended website's content relevant, useful and authoritative for citizens, businesses and/or government officials?
- Does the recommended website's information appear to be accurate and current?
- Is the recommended website's approach to the privacy of personal information consistent with the government's privacy and security policies?
- Is the recommended website "user-friendly?"
- Does the recommended website meet one or more of the following "highly desirable" criteria?
- The website crosses agency or intergovernmental boundaries (e.g., students.gov, fedforms.gov and nutrition.gov);
- The website enables citizens, businesses and/or government officials to conduct transactions online (e.g., buying stamps or coins, replacing Medicare cards, and filing taxes);
- The website provides citizens, businesses and/or government officials with the information they need to interact directly with government organizations (e.g., clearly available telephone numbers, street addresses, e-mail addresses and instructions);
- The website provides citizens with information about service performance (e.g., Nursing Home Compare, AirNow and Ontime Airline Statistics); and/or
- The website provides community-level information and services (e.g., MapStats, post office locators, Social Security Office locators, National Park Service Guides and veterans' facilities).
