Linking Out: Finding the Benefits
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What are some of the pros and cons of outbound linking? Will linking out from your site provide you with benefits or help the site you are linking to instead? Wayne Hurlbert discusses these issues and more such as becoming a hub site.
Few topics in search engine optimization (SEO) cause as many heated disputes as the concept of linking out to other sites. Whenever the subject of linking to other sites arises in conversation or on and Internet message forum, the sides in the debate are certain to become very polarized.
How quickly people take sides and the lack of compromise on the issue is always amazing to many impartial observers. Why people feel so strongly either one way or another usually boils down to the outgoing link value.
The SEO community usually examines the issue of linking out based on the search engine algorithms. Their questions surround whether or not the search engines give the activity any weight. Many SEO experts even believe that the practice of linking out to other sites is harmful. The answers to these issues and questions are important to the entire discussion.
The search engine marketing community, along with the Internet informational community, take the opposite point of view. They believe there are hidden short and long term benefits to linking out that don’t show up immediately, if at all, in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
The believers in linking out usually consider the search engine rankings to be given far too much importance. Linking out, they contend, has far more benefits than the search results can begin to measure.
As with most discussions concerning the more contentious issues involving search engine optimization, there are valid points made on both sides. Pluses and minuses to any search engine related activity can be debated. In the end, the best answer is what is right for the website owner’s individual goals. Not all sites share the same objectives.
A closer examination of the pros and cons of linking to other sites is required for a fuller understanding of the topic. Finding the costs and the benefits of linking out in an open and objective way is helpful to all webmasters. Knowing the value or cost of any search engine optimization or search engine marketing activity is a step toward maximizing the value of your own website.
Armed with the facts, from both sides of the outbound links debate, you can decide which course of action is right for your own website.
Next: Seeing the Dark Side of Outbound Links >>
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