The ODP Guidelines offer instructions about linking between categories. Editors learn that there are two different kinds of links used in the ODP. One kind is known as a symlink or @link. This is a link that points to subcategories that actually live elsewhere. The other kind of link commonly used is a related categories. This is a sibling category that the editor thinks a user should know about because it covers a closely related topic.

Links help users navigate the ODP and subject areas more easily, and they can educate users about a topic. Surfing ODP categories and noticing the nuances of relationships that editors bring to their categories through thoughtful cross-linking can be quite interesting.

Sometimes links can clarify the topic. Not sure when author Nathaniel Hawthorne lived or just which English-speaking country he lived in? His category has a related link that will point you to 19th century American literature and a list of other authors from the same period.

Through links, one can learn about unexpected origins or relationships. It turns out that a Hermann Hesse novel is behind the category Games/Glass Bead Games, and L. Ron Hubbard had an early career as a science fiction writer before he went on to found Scientology.

Expert editors can point users towards places to begin their research. Wonder if there ever was a real Santa Claus or maybe never even considered that there might be a historical Santa? The Society Santa Claus category links you to one possibility.

Through links that editors add, users can get an appreciation for the richness of resources the ODP has to offer. The Health/Occupational_Health_and_Safety/Ergonomics category has a satisfying structure that links you to shopping for ergonomic products, where to find out about repetitive strain injuries like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, some of the psychology behind the human factors in ergonomics, and more about the actual profession of rehabilitation engineering. 

Links can also help define the scope of a search. The Argentine first lady Evita Peron has her own category in History which in turn has links informing the user that there was also a stage play and a film about her.

Finally, links can let users know which context, of several possible choices, expert editors have made in constructing the taxonomy of a subject. In the Kids and Teens ODP, Cooking "lives" under Sports and Hobbies. Children looking for ethnic cooking, however, such as Korean, are sent to World Cultures under Social Studies, where they will find Korean cooking in the context of everything about Korea.

So look over your category and if your expertise tells you there is a category very closely related or a subtopic of your own category, read the guidelines and consider how @links or related links can help the user find more about a subject.