Use External Links
-
Hey
I noticed when analysing my pages that Moz gives the following advice about adding external links to my articles;
"On any page specifically targeting a keyword, link externally to at least one (and possibly more than one) relevant, trusted resources as a best practice."
As a small business I work pretty damn hard to get visitors to my website, so why on earth would I want to go to all that trouble just to send them away again to a trusted resouce?
Secondly, what exactly is a "trusted resource"? Can I simply use search and use the top competitor, for example Moz or Wikipedia and does the anchor need to be an exact match or will a partial suffice. I say this because I already have the top spot for my longtail, so an exact match would be pointless.
And lastly, I notice that pretty much all quality sites use external links to open in the same window i.e. not target=_blank, I never thought of it before today, but now that I'm considering using external linking in my articles I guess it's important to know the answer - i.e. Is this a best practice and does this give any seo benefit?
Cheers, Lee :)
-
thanks for the share Linda, the first picture made me laugh out loud lol
Have to say this guys makes a relevant points and as you say definite food for thought.
Cheers, Lee
-
Google's ranking factors are designed to improve the user experience [or so they say
], but a lot of them are definitely subjective ["Would you trust the information presented in this article?" for instance], so yes, it is sometimes hard to know exactly how to make that improvement.
But linking to a random high-rank site will not improve the user experience--the site has to be relevant. If you are writing on a very niche topic, there may not be a very high-rank site that is very relevant. Linking to a good (even if not super high rank) site that is very relevant will create an association for Google between that good site and its relevant content and your page, which is a positive thing. Google is looking at many quality signals at the same time and no single SEO "rule" can really apply equally in all situations.
[You might find this article interesting. The author has gathered a list of "known" Panda factors and where they were found (not the slickest piece you have ever seen but food for thought--a lot of comments as well).]
-
Hi Linda,
thank you very much for taking the time to respond
The Moz advice (which I obtained from the page grading tool) definitely states that there are "seo benefits" from using external links to "trusted sources."
If we follow the logic behind this statement, it implies that these are Google trusted sources and not a personal preference (even given my niche related expertise), otherwise this would mean I could link to any external source, for example another site that I control or a colleagues or business partners site and gain an seo benefit.
Best Lee
-
I wouldn't add an external link for the sake of an external link, but if I were writing about something and I thought that perhaps some of my readers could benefit from some background or additional information, I'd link to it, rather than making my article unnecessarily long and complex. A "trusted source" would be one that you, as an expert, trust. It should be a good-quality site but does not have to have rankings like Wikipedia.
As far as opening links in a new window, this is not considered to be a good thing. The user should be in charge of their browsing experience and should have the option to open a new tab or window only if they choose to. (An exception to this would be if there is some reason you need both pages open--say you are referring to content on another page and going through it step-by-sep, for example.)
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
-
Difference in using dividers in TITLE TAG
Hi everyone, i know that dividers in title or even title tag doesnt have much of an impact on better rankings. I had great rankings for many keywords, not using dividers or using only one divider. However for better reading comprehension and usability, and also aesthetics i started to use the pipe as my main divider and other secondary dividers. I saw many pages drop in rankings vs other less competent and with less content pages. My format was as follows: Product Brand | Product description - Additional info or local info ie. Fiber Glass MBI | Insulation Batts for Home and Commercial use - Acoustic and Thermal Insulation I changed the format for a handful of pages, and saw immediate results on rankings and traffic on those pages. Product Brand with Product Description - Additional Info ie. Fiber Glass MBI Insulation Batts for Commercial use - Acoustic and Thermal Insulation. Does it sound like something i should implement page wide. I personally like the aesthetics of the pipe as it gives a cleaner look, but the better rankings on the changed pages with using only one divider makes me think. Does it sound familiar, or its just a coincidence, Regards,
On-Page Optimization | | JesusD0 -
Alt text / internal linking
Hi everyone A question about best practice when linking from pictures on our homepage - hirespace.com We have an option of using divs with background images (nicer in terms of design) but it means that we can't use anchor text or alt text to show Google what these internal links are about. The other option is to use images which do not allow us as much flexibility in terms of CSS but would allow us to use alt text. There is also an opinion that we should have separate text links at the bottom of the homepage to get the anchor page in. What is best practice in this situation - is alt text worth sacrificing some CSS flexibility for? How important is anchor/alt text for internal linking? Thanks guys.
On-Page Optimization | | HireSpace0 -
I'm using Canonical URL but still receiving message - Appropriate Use of Rel Canonical
Hello, I checked my site and it looks like everything is setup correctly for canonical url but I keep getting the message that it's not. Am I doing something wrong? SORRY I FIGURED IT OUT! THANK YOU! HOW DO I DELETE THIS?
On-Page Optimization | | seohlp440 -
Too Many On-Page Links
Ok so I am very new to MOZ, and we have just set up our PRO account and campaign. When we got our crawl results we had 4 pages with "too many on-page links". All of these pages correspond with our blog, which is a wordpress hosted blog that is integrated into our site. Our site is www.moxicopy.com and the blog is www.moxicopy.com/blog I am confused on how we have over 100 on page links on these pages, as we have very few links on our blog.
On-Page Optimization | | Moxicopy.com0 -
Multi-Site SEO using Host Headers
Hi - I'm working on a proposal for a client who runs 3 different career websites. He uses "host headers" to direct the website visitor to the correct website. For example, if the visitor comes from Washington he goes to one url. If he is in Kansas, he goes to another URL. Does anyone have any experience doing SEO with this type of system? What do I need to know? What are hurdles I'll encounter? Thanks, -Hunter
On-Page Optimization | | HunterW0 -
To many links on page and penguin
Could to many links on to many pages be a factor that the penguin update would effect your site. I know this is a broad question , but I am curious what people think.
On-Page Optimization | | cbielich0 -
Product links on homepage
Hi, I;m wondering if it really does aid SEO or even hinder it now to have lists of top selling products as links on the base of each page. This was recommended to us sometime ago by a consultant so we did it but is it outdated? I'm concerned it may penalise our pages now by creating too many links? opinions appreciated. wwww.gourmetdirect.com and scroll down to see what I mean
On-Page Optimization | | GourmetDirect0 -
Should I show and allow following of deep navigation links?
Hello mozzers, I am currently designing an e-commerce system for various companies, my pilot being www.containerpadlocks.co.uk. I you look on the left in the navigation, you will see only the top level categories are visible (and in the html). Sub categories are only shown if viewing a parent category, or a product in that category/subcategory. My question would be, should I be listing all my subcategories in that navigation (hidden from the user) to allow Google to index my pages easily, and will this promote more PageRank and internal links for my site, or will this just dilute my page juice? Many Thanks,
On-Page Optimization | | jcarter
James0