Outbound links and their pro's and con's
-
So I was wondering if there was a general consensis regarding the amount of outbound links you have coming from your domain to other domains and if there is a correlation between the more you have going out, the more (for want of a better word) damage you can do to your domain.
EG: is a site with good domain authority better to keep the short leash on handing out links to external sites? Does this make the link juice from the site more valuable?
-
Wait.... your question is so extreme that I must answer in a realistic way...
Apple is never, ever, ever going to link to every computer website. Some of them are not relevant enough to content on Apple's website. Some of them are not good enough for Apple to give them a link. Some computer websites are blackhat.
The day that Apple starts linking to everything everywhere is the day that their links are worthless. Keep that in mind when you start linking out. Keep that in mind when you evaluate the value of a link coming to you.
Link only to relevance. Link only to quality. Link only to good sites. If you do that you will have a great site.
You keep looking for a "limit". The limit isn't a number. The limits are relevance, quality and virtue.
-
Great. Thanks guys. I guess it was more a question of 'do you think there is a limit to outbound links'.
EG: If you're a computer company, then getting a link to your site from apple.com would be gold. But if every computer website in North America got a link from the apple site, would that devalue either a) The link value or b) apple's domain value.
I know thats an extreme example, but thought it might shed some light on the 'how many links it too many' question.
Thanks again.
-
According to the tools offered by SeoMoz, there is some value to outbound linking. For sites I work with,. I will frequently link out to other websites I feel could be beneficial to the end users experience (without linking to the competition of course). I see no reason why there would be a penalty. In fact, I would think any search engine would respect that you are not an island but contributing easy access to relevant information to the greater internet community.
Don't worry about passing PR and losing it because you are linking out. Too much thought goes into PR and it's effectiveness. Personally, I have sites that outrank high PR websites that reflect a 1 or 2 (compared to a 5 or 6).
-
...general consensis regarding the amount of outbound links...
Just go out and look at other sites. Most of them do not link out freely. They worry about giving away linkjuice, they worry about helping competitors, they worry about losing traffic, they worry about damaging their income.
if there is a correlation between the more you have going out, the more damage you can do to your domain.
If there was a problem with linking out then wikipedia would not rank for anything.
The web is all about linking and I highly doubt that google would penalize sites for doing it. In fact, which would you rank higher... a kickass article with no external links or the identical kickass article that links out to all of the most important information on the web about related topics? Which would you value if you were a searcher?
Link out freely and links will flow back to you.
is a site with good domain authority better to keep the short leash on handing out links to external sites?
You don't need to keep a leash on the links what you need to watch out for is linking to trash. I you are linking only to site that are better than your own then I am betting that you will be rewarded with links, likes, domain queries, rankings and more.
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
-
Moz bot not discovering important links (high DA sites link)
Moz bot is unable to crawl and discover my links on the high authority websites like microsoft, linkedin, pinterest, etc. Where is the problem?
Link Building | | TechG0 -
Best Methods and Tools for Monitoring your Website's Backlinks
Recently, I've launched two websites. I want to make sure I'm doing a good job monitoring our link building efforts. I'm see a lot of tools out there to supplement my use of Open Site Explorer. What I want to know is what tools I should be using to monitor my links? My ultimate goal would be to have the data to track the number of links I'm adding a month so that I can use it for reporting. There is another layer. Because the sites are new, OSE is actually not reporting any links found. I can only find reported links through Google Search Console. Any advice? Is this something where I will just have to wait for everything to get indexed?
Link Building | | JasonKhoo0 -
How much 'ranking power' would a link from a privacy policy page of a Big Brand have if the site content is totally unrelated?
Let's say that Site A is a large brand with high authority ( Moz shows it at 90 DA). Site A is about “Blue Shoes”. Site B is about “fishing”. If Site A links from their privacy policy page to Site B … would that inbound link carry enough weight in a way that could impact rankings for Site B given that the content is totally unrelated and it's a link from a privacy policy? I’m asking if the work to get clients/partners do this help. I have a hypothetical question for you all! Site A is a large brand with high authority ( Moz shows it at 90 DA). Site A is about “Blue Shoes”. Site B is about “fishing”. If site A links from their privacy policy to Site B … would that inbound link carry enough weight in a way that could impact rankings? I’m asking if the work to get clients/partners do this help.
Link Building | | RosemaryB0 -
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 -
Help! Someone's inserted my link in the footer of another site!
There's a site in my industry where (I'm guessing on flawed SEO advice) all of their pages contain footer links to rival sites – with each page containing a different set of links. One page has a link to my site, which I've just found out from GWT as the link now produces a 404.
Link Building | | Jeepster
Should I
a) ignore it?
b) ask them to replace it with a live link from my site (their site's highly relevant to mine)? or
c) ask them to remove it altogether as no-one wants footer links?0 -
SeoMoz says I have no link, when I know I have. What's going wrong
I know I have backlinks to the site, they are not showing up on SeoMoz. I've only recently started the account. Can anyone help?
Link Building | | jeffshrimpton0 -
Back Link: Is LinkedIn keywords in profile good Link building strategy?
I distribute industrial products B2B with e commerce. I have a personal profile on LinkedIn. I listed the products I sell and I could have all my partners and associates list my web site on their profiles. Do search engines review LinkedIn personal profiles or company profiles and is it a good marketing strategy to have my web site, keywords, and my two largest selling products on LinkedIn?
Link Building | | Wales0 -
April Fool's for Link Building
Is there a better day for link baiting than April 1st? The time has come for everyone to share their April Fool's Day link building campaigns! This is our second attempt at capitalizing on April Fools with the first attempt (2010) falling flat. http://bigfi.sh/aFd2011
Link Building | | RyanOD0