15. Adding Outgoing Links for SEO

Welcome to Day 15 of the 30 Day On-Site SEO Challenge. Today we’re looking at adding outgoing links for SEO.  

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In the early days of blogging, people were concerned about using outbound links. They believed that they would weaken their link juice and links were an open door for web visitors to leave their site. These days, the search engines want you to link out to authority sites. Not only are you providing extra information for your readers, but you’re proving that you know your stuff and that you have done your research.

Here’s why you should be linking out to authority sites:

You may get spotted by the authority site

If your link sends a lot of traffic through to a site, then you will probably get noticed by them. If your information is good, then they may even link back to you.

A good link adds value to your site

A link to an authority site signals to the search engines that you are providing valuable information.

Search engines like outbound links

There’s another angle to why you should link to good authority sites – and that is to confirm to Google what the topic matter of your posts and website are.

Increase in engagement

By linking through to others in your topic community, who are authorities in their field, you can help to increase engagement with them. This will help you in many ways, in addition to becoming more of a name or an influencer in your field.

How to link to authority sites

Of course, as with all search engine optimisation work, the more natural the link appears to be, the better. Here are a few ideas on how to go about it.

Link to A Relevant Resource

Any site you link to needs to be an authority site AND be relevant to your audience. You don’t want to send web visitors to your competition, but if you link to a study or information from another third party that confirms your point, it will be in your favour.

Use In-Content Links

Link to other content from within your content to provide your readers with further information about the topic. Again, ensure the link is an authority site such as an expert, a university or other reference site.

Link to Valuable Resources

Let’s say your site is about travel. You can link to the airport information pages for each country. This will transform your site into a valuable resource in itself if you combine important information of this nature. This tool from Moz provides a way to check the authority of any site.

Link to High-Value Content

Although it’s not recommended to link to other bloggers or your competition, if the content is valuable and relevant, it could be helping to build your community.

When you come across useful information, you should link to it and share it. You are not expected to be an expert on everything in your niche. By linking to bloggers who are well-known specialists, it will confirm to the search engines that you’re part of that community for that topic.

Adding outgoing links for SEO is worth the effort and recommended to improve your results.

More information on on-site SEO

Here’s the previous few SEO related posts to save you from looking around for them:

The Benefits of Interlinking Your Content for SEO

How to Find your Keywords and Phrases for SEO

Helpful WordPress Plugins for SEO

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