Home » 2009 » April » Why Webmasters Should Consider Linking To Authority Sites
Why Webmasters Should Consider Linking To Authority Sites
Talk to a number of webmasters and I`m sure you`ll find that while they love inbound links, (backlinks), they have an aversion to placing outbound links on their pages to other sites. The reasoning behind that is that they imagine that all outbound links will weaken their position with the Search Engines, and have no value in them. But, does that really make any sense? Google and the other search engines are looking for a site which has good content, and provides value to its visitors.
Now, if you have a blog, for example, and write a post about Disneyland in Paris, what better authority site to link to than DisneylandParis? If visitors are interested enough to read your post then it may be safe to assume they`d like some further information about the place itself, from the actual company which runs Disneyland in Paris.
Similarly, if you have a site discussing gardening you might link to a site which is a recognized authority on the subject of gardening. A site on weather features might link to Wikipedia and so on. In other words, you are giving your visitors the opportunity to look at other sites which are viewed by many as an `authority` on the topic. You are helping them, thus providing a service, or something that may be of value to them. These sites you will be linking to will probably have high PRs,which is a strong indication they have that `vote of confidence` by being linked to by a lot of other webmasters also. Linking out is not necessarily a bad thing. There is little concrete evidence that outbound links weaken your own PageRank. Nor can it be proven that such links reduces rank position in search engines.
As for the argument that outbound links send your valuable visitors to other sites, that has to be put in to perspective. If yours is a site which relies on selling, then if you must, link to sites which don`t sell, such as Wikipedia, or government information sites. If you benefit from better placings by the search engines because of the proper use of outbound links-resulting in more visitors to your site-the loss of a few visitors to other sites is a small price to pay. In other words, you stand to gain more than you lose.
If you really are worried about weakening your own pagerank then consider using 'Nofollow' in your links which should stop the indexing robot from following them. Don`t haphazardly link to other sites. Make sure the anchor text is relevant to your topic, and link to good authority sites. Try to think about what will benefit your visitors, and hopefully you`ll be rewarded with better rankings in the search engines.
About The Author
More information on SEO can be found at the Search Engine Optimization Forum and Domain Name Forum
Previously on SearchEngineChannel
- Setting Realistic Optimization Expectations
- Dominating The Search Engines
- RSS and Search Engine Optimization
- SEO Tips - 4 Deadly SEO Mistakes You Must Avoid
- How to make organic SEO work for your website
- Website 101: No More Duplicate Content Using the New Canonical HTML Tag
- Link Building - How To Build Links Steadily and Naturally
- Avoiding Keyword Suicide
- How do I change my .htaccess for SEO
- Winning at SEO even Amidst Strong Competition
