What is the Best Practice for External Links?

[Robdps]

We are currently in the process of reviewing our site on a number of fronts, and part of that involves adding quality content to our product category pages where necessary. Our practice so far has been to add relevant content, and in this content externally link to a couple of relevant, related sites for that category (avoiding the use of keywords we are trying to rank for). Should we be doing this (externally linking)? And, if so, should these external links be NoFollow?

So far, we have seen mixed results for our efforts.

[Robdps]

Thanks for the feedback.

In this case, we're talking about a birthday supplies site, and we are placing this content at the bottom of product pages. The content is generally helpful (themed party game suggestions, unique recipes, etc) if someone reads it.

The external links are in the body of the content and may link to someone's helpful video or blog post on baking a themed birthday cake (for example), but I doubt that much traffic is leaving the site through them (obviously need to test). The point of these external links is to link to relevant sites, so that hopefully in turn, Google,etc sees that we are also relevant to that subject.

The inspiration for this practice comes from post like these: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/external-linking-good-for-seo-whiteboard-friday

It sounds like you are saying we shouldn't link out at all, but if we do, it really doesn't matter if the link is follow or no-follow. Is this correct?

[RankSurge]

This is always a tough question to answer. The question about linking is, will it make the customer more likely to buy, should they visit the link? Or will they leave and never come back.

I know some people argue about the value of linking to external sites to either justify your product/service, but I've always felt that by doing that, the only one getting anything out if it is the site that was linked to. Even if you apply the nofollow element, the search engines still see that you are linking out.

So, you'll have to reach your own conclusion on this. Personally, I never link out on pages where I am trying to sell something. But, if you are composing an informational type article, it might make sense to do so.

Hope this helps!