SEO Basics - Part 7 - Outgoing Links

by Darren McLaughlin

Another big area of SEO involves the websites you link to. Sure, it’s important which websites link to you, but search engines can also learn a lot about your website due to your outgoing links. You’ve heard the old saying “You’re known by the company you keep”? Well, your incoming and outgoing links tell the search engines the “company you keep” and define the neighborhood your website is in.

High quality outbound links are thought to help rankings

Anecdotally, linking to “high quality” websites is thought to help your rankings. But I’d caution you to take a step back and analyze just why that might be. Certainly when dealing with Google, no factor is considered lightly, so if you think outbound links matter, there must be a reason.

As usual with matters concerning Google, they aren’t saying much on the subject in their Google Webmaster Guidelines. They tell you how not to link, but without a great bit of detail.

Don’t participate in link schemes designed to increase your site’s ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or “bad neighborhoods” on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.

Of course this small passage has been debated for years in SEO circles, mainly because it’s intentionally obtuse. Since they don’t define what a “web spammer” or a “bad neighborhood” is, you’ll be left to your own judgment to decide what websites you won’t link to for fear of a disaster.

Positive SEO benefits of outgoing links

1. Outgoing links with optimized anchor text can help your on-page optimization.
2. Outgoing links to high quality websites may help your overall “Trust” ranking, by placing your website in the correct neighborhood
3. Outgoing links to decent resources indicate you care about your user and you do your research

Disadvantages of Outgoing Links

1. Outgoing links may place you in a bad neighborhood, penalizing your website
2. Outgoing links send visitors to other websites
3. Outgoing links might cause PageRank drain

Of course we’re not really comparing apples to apples here, because the only real disadvantages of outbound links arises when you link to low-quality and penalized web resources. Assuming you aren’t doing that, a judicious use of outgoing links to well selected resources is good for your users and your rankings.

Continued from SEO Basics - Part Six - Incoming Links. Continued in SEO Basics - Part Eight - Outgoing Links.

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