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 SEO Practice: in title tag?
Greetings, I just discovered that some of our content was produced with
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Eric_Lifescript
tags in the title tag. Example: <title>Diabetes Symptoms <br> In Women Over 40</title> My gut says this is bad for SEO, but I couldn't find a definitive answer on the web, so I thought I would ask the community of gurus here at Moz. 🙂 Thanks in advance for any reply. Kind regards, Eric0 -
Is a link inside a video player considered an inbound link from the domain the player is embedded in?
Good afternoon...We just added a link to our homepage inside the menu of our video player. In the link below, if you click on the menu icon in the bottom right corner of the video player, you'll see a "Powered by WellcomeMat" link at the bottom of the menu. http://www.wellcomemat.com/video/kt216e25172416n/-Rancho-Santa-Fe/Ca/92067/16596-Via-Lago-Azul/1234567890/ My question for the community is would that link be considered an inbound link from any site that has the video player embedded? So hypothetically, the video player is embedded into www.abcd.com. If a user would click on that link and go to our homepage, would search engines recognize that as an inbound link from abcd.com, even though it sits within our video player? And most of the time, the player sits within an iframe. So that's why I'm not 100% sure. Thanks for reading and for your help! It's much appreciated!!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | brian7201 -
App "Review" Website with DA of 58 - Good or Bad Link?
Hi, We have a web app. All our competitors are on http://www.appappeal.com. We can suggest ourselves here http://www.appappeal.com/contact/suggest. If we get reviewed and the link is a follow link is this a good thing or a bad thing. They call themselves a directory and you can pay to get a "priority" review. Should we avoid or is it a good link as the DA is 58?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Studio330 -
SEO Ecommerce Keywords
Hi guys got a question regarding ecommerce seo do you think its a better idea to target more long tail terms and try get links directly to product pages, brand pages and categories. Rather than focus on short keywords that do bring in good traffic but are very broad, i will prob do both, but i would like a second opinion please about other users strategies thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Will_Craig0 -
Do nofollow links affect link profile?
I've read that it's good to keep a natural link profile. Some naked links, some links going to our company name, some with anchor text, etc. Do nofollow links affect this link profile, or is it only followed links that are taken into account?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | lighttable0 -
How does badly formatted HTML affect SEO?
Our website uses a custom built CMS, but uses a fairly standard WYSIWYG text editor. I've looked at some of the code it produces, and it's not pretty. My gut feeling tells me that this extra bloat is bad for SEO. Am I right in thinking that Google doesn't look kindly upon badly formatted and bloated HTML? Thanks,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | OptiBacUK
James0 -
Do I have any harmful links? If so, what should I do?
URL in question: www.nasserilegal.com/criminal.html I'm using OSE and see some questionable backlinks. At first glance, if you look at the page authority and domain authority, they look great. Once you go to the actual pages, they look spammy. If the links are hurting the rankings for the site, should I try to remove the links manually or just ignore and continue to build good quality links or even build a new site? I noticed for the last couple of weeks, the rankings started to slip. Thanks in Advance, Lucas
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | micasalucasa0 -
Local SEO for franchises
I have a client who franchises an ice cream shop. It started in Utah and there are several stores there. They are ranking well for local searches based in Utah. Now they have opened a store in Federal Way, WA. How can I get the new location to rank for local keywords on the same website?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | fivestarfranchising0