Outgoing links - internal vs. external
-
I thought that the important factor in the value of a link was how many outing links a page has total. Some tools seems to tell me that the important data point is how many EXTERNAL links a page has. Which number should I be paying attention to when looking at pages I want to get linked from?
(Yes, I know there are many other factors that are important)
-
Hi Maxwell!
Great insight -- One question: Is there any benefit in aggregating/cleaning up outbound links on your site? Recently, I have discovered that Moz recommended 'cleaning up' outbound links on one of my sites in my campaigns. I wasn't aware there was a way to do this. Do you have any insight? Perhaps there is an FAQ on Moz even?
-
My understanding is that a link from a page with 100 links is worth 1/10th the value of a link from a page with only 10 links. Link "juice" is diluted. Some tools seem to indicate that the total number of links going to other domains is important. I didn't think that was important. My understanding is that it is the total number of links as more links will dilute the power of the link.
-
OK. Just to be clear, you are wondering which type of outgoing link makes a site more valuable as an external link source for your own site, right?
Again, I would look at metrics like authority before number of internal and external links, as those have a much greater influence on the amount of link juice you'll get. But as far as just internal versus external there isn't much difference. Too many of either one will look bad to search engines, and a high ratio of links to non-link text is bad as well.
-
I want to be very clear. I am talking about two types of outgoing links from a page. Links to other pages on the same website and links to pages on other websites.
-
Outgoing/Incoming and Internal/External are two different link classifications.
Outgoing = links from your site to another site
Incoming = links from another site to your siteInternal = links from one page on your site to another page on your site
External = links from another site to your siteSo incoming and external are basically the same, and are very important factor in search rankings. Don't get me wrong, outgoing links are good too (they connect your site to the site you link to, and the owner of that site may choose to reciprocate), but because you have to "earn" incoming/external links they are worth more to search engines.
I would look at the Authority and mozRank of a site you want a link from first, because those scores are an aggregate of links and other factors that give a more complete picture of how valuable a site is.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Inbound Links not showing. Links are not no follow
Over the past several months I have definitely received inbound links to my website ( none of which are no follow). I have HubSpot as well s Moz and none of the links are showing. My competitors with the same link sources are showing though. I am completely dumbfounded. Why are my inbound links not showing and how much time does it take for them to show if they show at all? Thank you!
Link Building | | NPatt0 -
What is a healthy ratio of keywords being used as anchor text in external links to our site?
Hi, One keyword is being used as anchor text in way more external links to our site than any others and I'm getting a lot of mixed advice whether or not to do anything about it. The agency we previously used had managed to remove about 1500 links (out of 6000) however our rank for that search term is still very poor. **We have 4500 external links with the anchor text "ABC" and the next highest amount of external link anchor text is the term "XYZ" which has about 400 links. That is over 10 to 1. What is a healthy ratio of anchor text between different search terms to aim for? ** Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Link Building | | Syed_Raza0 -
Removed Link
After I have removed a link, how long does it take for it to be reflected in Google WMT?
Link Building | | raph39880 -
Why do internal, fake profiles on revebnation sit so high in their linking profile?
I was researching the link profile of Reverbnation to understand where they get most of their links from and a number of these fake reverbnation profiles showed up that seem to be about drugs- is this spam? Here are some examples: http://www.reverbnation.com/fan/tramadolfordepression http://www.reverbnation.com/page_object/page_object_bio/fan_1340318 There are about a dozen of these on their site. Super curious and would love any feedback or knowledge that may be out there! Thanks
Link Building | | Kendi0 -
Are Directory Links a Good Source of Branded Links?
I am trying to increase the number of branded links for a few of my sites since the links are too heavily weighted on anchor text. If so, would you recommend a service like Directory Maximizer?
Link Building | | rise10 -
Groups of Links?
If I have lets say 5 sites and I am able to negotiate a link on a highly ranking site for all five of them together would there be potential for penalty for linking them together on other sites as well?
Link Building | | smallinov0 -
Value of International Links
Does international link building make sense for US websites (.com domain)? The links we could acquire are from websites in the same niche, but I read on a forum that Google will disregard (devalue ?) international links. There is work involved in getting such a link, so it's quite important to find out whether they are worth the trouble.
Link Building | | propertyshark0 -
RSS links vs. contextual links
Which has more value? Passes more "link juice"? Auto generated rss links or contextual links?
Link Building | | nicole.healthline0