SEOenthusiast

Outgoing links
Your outgoing link quality says something about your own quality of site. It's a case of 'who are your friends'? Linking to a dubious site is like hanging out with dubious friends. People make their mind up about you - the search engines make their mind up about you too. You may have noticed that many directories now say that they don't welcome submissions from sites that contain things that are considered indecent - you know the list of subjects. They don't want to be connected with anything that the search engines may misunderstand or misinterpret. Follow the same path. Also, avoid link farms and link exchanges which are seen as unethical by search engines because the process of linking is harmed by such arrangements.

Outgoing links are about more than just avoiding bad neighbourhoods. If you link to appropriate sites, the engines and other sites see that you are an honourable member of cyber society and a good site in turn to link to. Link to sites that are appropriate, whatever the current traction it has with search engines - but first make sure that it is at least indexed by them. If the site has been previously de-indexed then it shouldn't be linked to. Within this context, focus on making the visitor process enjoyable and their forward journey enjoyable too. Obviously this is with the exception of linking to competitors, which is just bad business. Authority sites are safe sites to link to, where they provide good information on your topic. Your site should provide at least one good outgoing link per page.

Think carefully about your outgoing link strategy - link to clean sites that are on-theme, make sure they are indexed by the search engines - particularly Google, and make a good and sensible image for the engines to favour.

Further Reading: Effect of Outgoing Links on SEO | Outgoing Links Effect

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