Outgoing links and SEO

Getting links is essential, but it is often necessary to judge external or outgoing links to other sites. There are several reasons:

• A site has caught your attention, you feel it deserves to be known and you put a link to it: it is the natural link, the one relied upon by the PageRank algorithm (for which a link represents a vote). It is also
• You have created a directory or a comprehensive resources links (not link farms).
• You do link exchanges with other sites as you seek to improve popularity (within the meaning of the web).

To whom to link?

At first you can make a link to the site (or page) you want, freedom of expression are also on the web! Nevertheless here are some tips from the perspective of optimizing your SEO:

• Choose sites with the same subject as yours.
• The value of selecting sites in the same area as yours is to increase the chances of having the same keywords in the text of the page that links to you, which may play into Google’s algorithm.
• Regularly check your external links, in order to avoid pointing to pages that are missing (Error 404). This will not only appreciated by your visitors but also by the robots of search engines (like Googlebot).
• Also watch not to link to a site that has been banned, blacklisted by Google or number of visitors are declining in 120 degree slope.
• Be careful not to become paranoid and confused that a site not indexed in Google or with a PageRank of 0 with a site banned. Avoid, for example, to link to a link farm style website. Linking to forums may be dangerous (this has many points both in favor and against).
• If you do a link exchange, take the opportunity to give an example of HTML code to use to make a link to your site by placing your keywords.

• On your side, keep your partner by making a link that is taken into account by search engines (no JavaScript for example).
• When you cite any text (say definition or characteristics) or reference from any online Encyclopedia (count Wikipedia too), your post might get a plus point. Some people says, it is not valid for product related writings, because people already has abused it too much. For example, if you have thought to write about the history of fountain pens and gave citations, they might carry good weight. But, if you think you will write the history of iPad and site Wikipedia, Apple’s site; that might be not counted (depending on other posts; if all your posts are “Wikipedia based”, definitely it is not good at all).

Good to know

Do you know that:

• Adding an outbound link on a page (internal or external) does not reduce the PageRank of the page (it depends on backlinks, content, SERP and hundred of things.)
• The words found in the links of a page (outbound links, not backlinks) are just as important as the words written in bold, underlined or in subtitles?
• Google recommends links to be limited to 100 links per page but this is not a golden rule. You can put 400 on a page, Google will follow them all … but this is nevertheless a little too much anyway! Simply, Google bot might crazily leave after tracking 200 (for example) among them, so it is better to add rel=”nofollow” to them. That simply means, rel=”nofollow” might direct Google Bot (only) not to search for those links, instead to concentrate on your text, got it?
• We must make the most relevant links possible, that is to say first and foremost for the visitor. Google knows very well which links are completely off topic : they have less and less weight. For example, if I want to push you to an automobile website, that website will not get that much benefit.