Too Many External Links A Problem
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Client is thinking of adding a directory to an eCommerce site which users would find useful. It would help users find other services and vendors that are specific to the niche of products this site is selling. My only concern is it would create a number of external links to other sites. Even though they're related, would this diminish our standing with Google search?
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Thanks for the input SamuelScott. Generally, I plan to keep the external links well under 100 per page, by breaking them into sub-categories. I agree with your assessment that if it's good for the viewer, then it's good with Google because all they're suggestions on site design is geared towards the end user.
My main concern, as you've stated, is that by leading users off the site, would I not reduce the page rank, and ultimately ranking. I appreciate that you seem to think, not.
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In general, I would say no -- with a few caveats.
The general rule is that "what is good for the user is good for Google." In other words, "good SEO" is anything that makes your website more helpful to the audience that you want to attract. So, if your list of outbound links and resources are truly helpful for visitors and not some type of advertising or marketing ploy, then you should be fine.
One of my personal websites is a large affiliate website for a certain TV show. All of the pages are quality and helpful for fans of the show. (And it's got a huge social following, too.) The only page (for the most part) with affiliate links is my "merchandise store." And I've got probably close to 100 links to Amazon on that page.
At first, I blocked Google from indexing it because I thought a page full of Amazon links would hurt the site as a whole. Later, I did an experiment: I opened the page for indexing, and it ranks 3-4 for its main keyword target. Even though that page is selling something directly, it is still very helpful for my niche audience -- as is the website as a whole.
Now, that being said, there are other opinions. I'll post some links to Moz and elsewhere for your reference:
Some thoughts from Matt Cutts (but back in 2009 -- might be outdated)
There are some who state that having more than X number of backlinks on a page will drain the page's "PageRank." But personally, I wouldn't worry about that. I'd gladly lose some "PageRank" (if it even exists anymore) in order to have a comprehensive resource for my audience.
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