Links to Other Websites?
There are website administrators who feel like they’re shooting themselves in the foot by including outbound links to other websites. One false idea is that having outbound links will hurt a website’s Google ranking by canceling out your inbound links.
Another concern is why take the time and effort and spend money popularizing your company’s website and then say, in effect, “Here’s your hat, there’s the door” by providing links to other websites?
Linking out doesn’t do anything negative at all so long as you link to (1) pages with relevant content, (2) pages with the same or higher PageRank than yours, (3) .edu and .gov websites as school and the government are viewed as relevant to everything. Linking out doesn’t drain authority from your site.
The truth is that you should be linking out to sites that are pertinent to your page’s content. Outbound links to quality sites with relevant content to your website is usually positive for your site’s Google ranking. At worst, the outlink has no effect.
Outbound links that will hurt your Google ranking are links to “Link Farms.” A Link Farm is typically a group of web sites that all hyperlink to every other site in the group through automated programs. Link Farming is a form of spam that targets the index of search engines (aka spamdexing).
Websites exchanging links with other relevant websites are not considered spamdexing. The practice of linking to other relevant information is useful to visitors to your website and is important in making your website a valuable resource.
Don’t create a links page of outbound links on your website because the relevancy of the diverse links in not always apparent to a search engine. It is better to include the outbound link at the point where it comes up in your content – for example, if you say you are a member of the Chamber Of Commerce then you can link to the Chamber Of Commerce right there.
Links between relevant sites with good Google ranking are mutually beneficial. There is no cause for concern that outbound links might harm your site’s reputation. Part of marketing your website is to become an Opinion Leader providing high quality content relevant to your line of work. Including links to other experts in your field is logical and helpful.
Take care, be well, have fun,
Tom Jacoby
[email protected]
Customer Service External SEO and SEM
Emanation, Inc – NumberOneOnTheList.com
Box 3521
New Hyde Park, NY 11040
phone 1-917-338-9586 Mon – Fri 9 AM – 5 PM
fax 1-917-210-0142
http://www.NumberOneOnTheList.com
http://www.EmanationInc.com
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