Linking Out: Finding the Benefits - Seeing the Dark Side of Outbound Links
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Many search engine optimization experts oppose needlessly linking out to other sites. They cite some powerful reasons for reaching that conclusion. The opponents of outbound links will point out that the SERPs tell the story, and the search engine algorithms are not friends to those who link outwards.
Most SEO professionals tend to agree that linking out provides no real boost in link popularity. They rightly point to the fact that the search engines, and especially link-obsessed Google, reward incoming links. The search engines provide no weight to the links going to other websites. With that in mind, many website owners are reluctant to link out to other sites.
In addition to this there is also a widespread fear of loss of Google PageRank. Google PageRank, of course, is Google’s numerical measure of the importance of a web page on the Internet. The PageRank calculation is based on the number of incoming links and the quality of them in the form of the transferring page’s own PageRank.
Since PageRank flows from one web page to the next, there is concern among many webmasters and SEO experts, that PageRank will be lost through leakage. That alleged loss of PageRank requires constant replenishment, they say, and outgoing links are merely a drain on its level. In other words, the worry is that too many outgoing links will drain away a web page’s PageRank to other pages on other websites.
Many webmasters are strongly opposed to linking out to competitors, even if the competing site is considered an authority site by Google. An authority site is one that Google rates as among the most important websites in any particular theme area. These webmasters don’t like the possibility of sending potential customers and perhaps their business to other sites.
Some SEO professionals prefer not to provide competitors with any more inbound link popularity than they already possess. If a competing site is an authority site, they argue, they want to help them even less with link power. With links being important to the search engines, and especially Google, the last thing these SEOs want to do is to help their competition to defeat their own or their clients’ sites in the rankings.
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