A link is nothing of the sort, it's a colloquial term that connects one point to another. It is not unique to HTML or programming in the slightest. In those terms a URL is always a link because the only practical reason for inventing the concept of a universal resource locator is to link one thing to another without them coming into conflict. There is no reason for a URL to exist except for it to be a link and it has nothing to do with the DOM.