Most bloggers/webmasters think that by mostly linking in, you’ll increase PR, increase the average amount of time a visitor spends on your site, and increase traffic. While at the surface this may be true, I believe that linking out is just as good if not better than linking in and here are my reasons why:
SEO:
I’ve seen this one debated across the web. The results of a linking out experiment to determine SEO benefits appear different depending on who did the experiment. As a rule of thumb, who cares if you link to your competitor just as long as it benefits your audience. By the way, there are certain cases in which linking to your competitor is seen as a classy move. Besides, if it helps the reader, then you are doing your job better! Be open to those opportunities.
Backlinks:
If the blog owner approves of your pingback/trackback url to be published, that is one more backlink you have for your blog. Plus, it lets other blog owners know that your website exists which may mean future links. Some call this linkbaiting, whatever you call it though, when you cite another source for information it shows you respect that source and you trust it.
Knowledge:
Linking out provides a way for your audience to expand their wealth of knowledge by picking up websites they may not have known about before. This aids in reading content from multiple perspectives. Also, providing links related to whatever niche you are writing about will help establish your expertise in the field and that you keep up with the latest and greatest for that particular niche.
Networking:
Linking out when publishing an article generally initiates what are known as Pingbacks or Trackbacks. These little notifications inform a blog owner that someone has linked to one of their articles. I can tell you based on experience that I’ve personally discovered some great sites by checking out my trackback/pingback notifications and it’s also proven to be a great opportunity to network with other blog owners.
Unselfish:
It’s very easy to continuously link in to other articles you have produced on your site but if you do it too much, your readers might think your selfish and have no desire for any one else’s opinions. Linking out takes care of this before it becomes a problem. Will discusses Google PR Greed and how by only linking out he got 2 PR3 pages on a site, which confirms my theory that number of incoming links is not as important as the quality.
Audience:
If you continuously link out to great content that your audience finds useful, they will keep coming back for more and will most likely tell their friends. The key is to link out to great, resourceful material on a consistent basis. People love it when their desired subject matter has been filtered out so that only the most interesting or useful content appears before them.
Cite Resources:
While it is easy to state nonfactual claims all day long, you’re only doing your readers a disservice (and most likely yourself). Instead, back up your claims by linking out to third party sites who agree with your line of thought or who have produced the research that supports your statements.
Conclusion:
Don’t be afraid to link to your “competitors” (I like to look at them as colleagues myself). In my opinion, if you only have links coming in your site becomes a dead end and I can’t see one reason that helps the end user. Remember, Google is searching for sites that help people find the information they are looking for.
27 Comments, Comment or Ping
I was looking for one link in this post but it was missing – [Google Pagerank Greed by my friend Will].
LOL
I thank you for this post anyway.
January 7th, 2010
Now I’m curious as to why you would be asked to remove a link?
January 7th, 2010
I agree with you Keith. Plus….I’ve seen that you link out all the time and actually practice what you preach!
January 7th, 2010
I guess I misunderstood him, the link is in the post now.
January 7th, 2010
I actually don’t link out enough. But I have seen people link out to high PR sites like Wiki on every post, I don’t recommend that.
Outbound links should be natural and fit the content, don’t just link to Wiki’s SEO page because you mention SEO, but if you are quoting from it then link to it with proper anchor text.
Thanks for stopping by Todd.
January 7th, 2010
I’ve always linked out because I’ve always felt it the right thing to do. Sometimes when writing a post, if I’m not sure if people will get my point I will link to a source that will hopefully explain it better. This enhances the post.
I’ve never thought of the SEO benefits, and if there actually is some that’s a bonus
January 7th, 2010
I am trying to link to sites and posts I find interesting.
I’ve never thought that someone may not want me to though..
January 7th, 2010
Going to read it now.
January 7th, 2010
Just a warning, he has a unique writing style…
January 7th, 2010
Ivan Seidenberg, Linking out to help the reader is EXACTLY why Google like it. Some people are just scared to give away any PR….
January 7th, 2010
Most people will want you to unless your site is spammy. It was a misunderstanding I had through email with Will, I try to ask some people before I link to them.
January 7th, 2010
Speaking about PR, have you ever noticed that most of the Probloggers are all nofollow? Seems all take and little give, apart form their posts, to me.
January 7th, 2010
I have noticed, and I was only aware of the do-follow community of bloggers recently, but I am so glad I discovered it… I am not in this for PR, I hope to get some as my site grows, but I really don’t think it is as important as some make it out to be.
January 7th, 2010
I believe in citing my sources. I think I put more link-outs that I get in. lol
January 7th, 2010
I wasn’t going to read it but after reading all this thread I just have to check it out.
>Just a warning, he has a unique writing style
That sure gets my curiosity up.
January 8th, 2010
>I’ve seen this one debated across the web
Why a debate? Google says right out that linking to quality sites helps your ranking.
January 8th, 2010
Wow, I feel like I was misled. Your friend’s post talked about greed and although he did mention you, he didn’t even link back to your post. And what, NO COMMENTS!! Ok, is it just me or does anyone else find that to be quite “greedy”?
I have a suspicion that his former “friends” didn’t want to link to him, not out of greed, but they just don’t find much value for their readers in linking to his blog. Just because you read a blog doesn’t mean you think your readers would like it.
Who the heck has to ask their friends for links anyway? Did I say “who is the greedy one yet?”
Sorry for airing my comment here, but I had no choice.
See you over at Blog Engage! No need to ask for links from friends there, especially if you have something valuable to share!
January 8th, 2010
I warned you his writing style is unique, Will is a friend and colleague, my main point was that he got PR to a site that literally had only outgoing links, so don’t be afraid to link out.
January 8th, 2010
It is a debate because some people still see your site as a balloon filled with water, and every link out creates a leak letting out precious PR (PageRank), and it simply isn’t true.
January 8th, 2010
Bring on the criticism, funny how it’s okay for people to criticize directly at me on here but should I criticize people in general, my remarks get removed. The point is I don’t have to justify myself to anyone. I didn’t give him a link because I am not getting caught up in excessive cross linking. My website doesn’t have comments because no one wants to read a bunch of trash like this. The articles speak for themselves, I don’t care about anyones 2 cents, all y’alls can save it for your kid’s college fund, because most bloggers are just wannabe SEOs anyways.
January 8th, 2010
Linking out is a great strategy. Not only for the points mentioned above. But it also lends credibility to a story or fact. It shows that this is not you sucking things out of your thumb, but you can back up your argument with evidence.
What I like about what you said is that it is all about giving your readers the best possible experience you can. Who cares if you link to your competitors, as long as it benefits your readers. I like.
One thing of caution though. Don’t fall into the trap of linking to so called bad neighbourhoods, you know, Link farms, Gambling sites. It is my understanding that Google penalises this type of linking and you could get banned by association.
January 9th, 2010
Good point, and that includes letting those links get into your comments as well (spammy site links).
January 9th, 2010
Very informative article for first time blogger. I never knew about Page Ranking.
January 11th, 2010
I have heard matt cutts say that part of google’s algo recognizes good out going links and it helps too, so outgoing links are definitely important too
January 12th, 2010
I have to say bro that I am pretty excited about the fact that you stopped by to comment on my blog, I always visit blogs of my contributors and honestly 75% of the time I hate the blog. I like your writing style and how you present your content here, bottom line I’m happy I added your site to my reader.
Keep killing it bro.
January 13th, 2010
That is quite a compliment coming from what I consider one of the best writers (style and content) that I read! Thanks man!
January 13th, 2010
I totally agree.
Give credit where credit is due and link to good content when you find it.
January 14th, 2010
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