Keeping a close eye on outbound links is essential to your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. These links are like votes of trust from other websites. They help pass link equity from one page of yours to the other, and they have both positive and negative effects on SEO.
Link Equity
Creating a followed outbound link can be an important part of your SEO campaign. These links can give your website more authority and help users find more relevant information. However, a few factors can affect the link equity these links pass. Knowing the factors can help you make better decisions regarding your link-building campaign.
Links can carry more link equity if they are higher up on the page. However, links in the footer, sidebar, and hidden links can have limited link equity. This is because these links are less likely to be clicked and have limited interaction with other links.
Links with a nofollow HTML tag are less likely to pass link equity. This tag tells Google that the link does not belong to a link scheme. It also tells search engines not to pass link equity to the linked page.
The amount of link equity a page passes is determined by the number of links on the page and the page’s authority. Links from high-domain authority websites pass more link equity than links from low-authority sites.
Positive and Negative Effects on SEO
Using outbound links isn’t inherently bad, but it has downsides. For example, linking to a site that isn’t trustworthy or has a poor user experience can negatively affect SEO. If you plan to link to other sites, use nofollow links.
While outbound links are only sometimes the best way to improve your SEO, they can improve your credibility and build trust with your audience. Links from trusted sites to your website can also give your visitors more information, increasing their chances of returning.
It’s common for sites to get spammy over time. The best way to counteract this is to give your readers value for their time. For example, if you provide your readers with step-by-step guides or other resources, you can ensure that visitors stay on your site.
There are many myths about outbound links. For example, some claim that links can drive visitors away, while others claim that links need to be a better ranking signal.
Checking That No Links are Broken
Any site owner must keep an eye out for broken outbound links. They can lead to a bad user experience and lower a site’s performance. The presence of broken links will also interfere with the indexing process. Fortunately, a few tools can help you identify and fix broken links.
A free tool can be used to identify broken outbound links. The tool will notify you when it finds problems. It will also give you a report of the problems, including the index status, description, and searcher clickthroughs.
You can also check out internal links on your site with the Site Audit tool. This tool will scan your website every week and send you a report. It includes over 120 different on-page SEO checks.
Makes Relevancy Signals Better
Search engines can start to connect the dots between various websites thanks to outbound links, which tell Google that your page is somehow associated with the pages relating to these third-party domains.
Use appropriate anchor text in your outbound links to further connect your pages to the subject of your page and pass authority to other domains.
Promotes Sharing
Although not specifically related to organic visibility, linking to other domains may persuade them to distribute your material on their channels. In addition, they might feel compelled to retweet or share your content with their audiences, further amplifying it if you mention specific brands or influencers in your post, link to their websites, and tag them in your social posts that include your page.
