Are External Links Really Bad for SEO?
-
I have a quality site with good PR and we have very few outbound links.
We are always looking for good content since it is a blog, and I get frequent requests from "guest bloggers"–some of which actually provide really high quality & unique content. But, of course, to get their content I have to give them at least 1 link.
I have always been taught that external links really hurt your site and that basically 1 outbound link cancels out 1 inbound link because they balance each other out.
Is this true? I always wondered why we must get penalized for linking out to good sites? It makes me get very "stingy" with my outbound links, whereas if my site would not be effected, I would want to be more generous.
Any suggestions & info would greatly help!
Thank you,
Afshin
-
Thanks, Dan. I appreciate the input!
-
very interesting. I may do that. This will certainly open a lot of possibilities if I can stop being afraid to link out to other sites. I was just told early on from several sources that outbound links hurt and I always carried that with me.
This was about 6-7 years ago when SEO was still more hazy for many people.
Afshin
-
Pick five articles on your website and go to the SERPs to see how each of them rank for several relevant keywords. Record your results.
Then, on each of those pages place a box in the sidebar that contains links to five fantastic pages on high authority websites that are about the same topic.
Wait three months then go out and check those rankings. I will bet that your rankings go up. I have satisfied myself that this is true.
-
I appreciate the response. I do like what you are saying and hope it is true. It is logical, that's for sure. Do we have any documentation that Google feels as you do also? That would really settle it for me.
But all in all, I think it is good advice to link to relevant quality sites that make sense to link to.
-
Great answer
-
I have always been taught that external links really hurt your site and that basically 1 outbound link cancels out 1 inbound link because they balance each other out.
I am going to refrain from making comments about your teachers.
If everybody linked to nobody the web would not be 'The Web". You know that. Google knows that. So you should be able to conclude that linking out is good.
The question that you should be asking is... "Who am I linking to?"
Let that be your guide.
My rule is to link out generously and often. But always do my best to link to sites or to content that is either superior to or complimentary to my own.
An article with abundant links out to high quality sites on the same topic is a richer resource than the same article with zero links - and I think that google will rank it higher.
But, if the Pope sends me a great article with a link to a payday loan site then I will hit the delete button.
-
Afshin
To my knowledge, outbound links do not cancel inbound links. They will flow PR if they're followed (which takes PR away from internal links, but this is not of worry. Look at all the best sites on the net, they ALL use outbound links!)
Its best to think of this based upon the engines and users.
Engines - there has actually been a very slight positive correlation shown between rankings and outbound links. Also, link out to sites that are similar in content to yours. Don't sell links of course, and don't go WAY overboard with outbounds.
Users - Link externally for users. Add outbound links based upon user value. Its that simple. And think about the "karma" too... if its a blogger who you genuinely like, you're building a relationship with them, and these relationships can provide great value in the future.
-Dan
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
-
Bad Domain Links - Penguin? - Moz vs. Search Console Stats?
I've been trying to figure out why my site www.stephita.com has lost it's google ranking the past few years. I had originally thought it was due to the Panda updates, but now I'm concerned it might be because of the Penguin update. Hard for me to pinpoint, as I haven't been actively looking at my traffic stats the past years. So here's what I just noticed. On my Google Search Console - Links to your Site, I discovered there are 301 domains, where over 75% seem to be spammy. I didn't actively create those links. I'm using the MOZ - Open site Explorer tool to audit my site, and I noticed there is a smaller set of LINKING DOMAINS, at about 70 right now. Is there a reason, why MOZ wouldn't necessarily find all 300 domains? What's the BEST way to clean this up??? I saw there's a DISAVOW option in the Google Search Console, but it states it's not the best way, as I should be contacting the webmasters of all the domains, which is I assume impossible to get a real person on the other end to REMOVE these link references. HELP! 🙂 What should I do?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | TysonWong0 -
Link building… how to get high rewarding links?
Hi Guys, I have a few people whom I have built relationships up in my industry with that would like to link to my site. Is there any particular things I need to be mindful of before having them link to me? I'm just mindful of the unknown. Also, which links to use etc? Thanks in advance
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | edward-may0 -
Link Building
I have to develop a strategy for link building. The SEO guy I have been speaking with has started putting links on .edu sites etc . To me - this "stinks" of manipulating the search engines - which I know we will get stung by at some point. I hope this isn't standard practice - but I don't know what the best way to improve rankings in terms of links etc. We sell health products and are starting to put out 3-4 high quality articles per week. Ideas? Kind Regards Martin
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | s_EOgi_Bear1 -
How does a competing website with clearly black hat style SEO tactics, have a far higher domain authority than our website that only uses legitimate link building tactics?
Through SEO Moz link analysis tools, we looked at a competing websites external followed links and discovered a large number of links going to Blog pages with domain authorities in the 90's (their blog page authorities were between 40 and 60), however the single blog post written by this website was exactly the same in every instance and had been posted in August 2011. Some of these blog sites had 160 or so links linking back to this competing website whose domain authority is 49 while ours is 28, their Moz Trust is 5.43 while ours is 5.18. An example of some of the blogs that link to the competing website are: http://advocacy.mit.edu/coulter/blog/?p=13 http://pest-control-termite-inspection.posterous.com/\ However many of these links are "no follow" and yet still show up on Open Site Explorer as some of this competing websites top linking pages. Admittedly, they have 584 linking root domains while we have only 35, but if most of them are the kind of websites posted above, we don't understand how Google is rewarding them with a higher domain authority. Our website is www.anteater.com.au Are these tactics now the only way to get ahead?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Peter.Huxley590 -
The format for image SEO
Hi there. After looking at a few SEO videos relating to image SEO it seems important to ensure images are SEO'd just as well as pages. I however have a question. If the page is Meta titles the following: Online for Equine | Riding Clothing | Just Togs Latina Ladies Breech And this particular page contains five images which are each variants of this product, how is it best to SEO them? Would you go with the: Online for Equine | Riding Clothing | Just Togs Latina Ladies Breech Front Online for Equine | Riding Clothing | Just Togs Latina Ladies Breech Back Online for Equine | Riding Clothing | Just Togs Latina Ladies Breech Side and so on... Or would this result in keyword stuffing with Google's new over-optimisation rules. Would it be better to rename them so they are all individual? I am considering deleting the images, renaming them on the server as the SEO proof name and then re-uploading them so the Image caption = filename. Am I on the right track? If you need the page: http://www.onlineforequine.co.uk/jodhpurs-breeches/22-just-togs-ladies-latina-denim-breech.html
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | onlineforequine0 -
Are free WordPress templates bad for SEO?
Hello, I often build sites using WordPress. The other day I read an article in which the author stated that the sites built using the free WordPress template are not SEO-friendly. Could someone please confirm this statement? Does this mean that I need to develop themes myself or buy WordPress templates? Thank you for your help.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | salvyy0 -
Indirect SEO boost from links
I have 2 ecommerce sites, each with a blog. I am increasing my linkbuilding efforts, but I don't want to build too many links directly to my 2 sites over a short period of time. I have decided that I will add a certain number of links to sites/pages that are already linking to my main sites (for example, a blog post on my blog, guest post on another blog, article submission, etc.). How much of a benefit can I expect in terms of rankings? Has anyone tested this out or experimented with something like this? What are the pros and cons? I appreciate thoughtful comments.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | inhouseseo0 -
Will Linking To "Offical Sites" Increase My SEO?
I own a movie trailer website. (Where you can watch movie trailers) Will having links on each page that are for "offical website" of each movie, increase my SEO?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | rhysmaster0