Should I add links to external informational sites?
-
.
-
2011 eanking factors survey finds acorrelation: those sites that contain outbound links are tending to rank better: http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors#metrics-5. It further more states somewhere (maybe in the video, I could not find) that linkig to Microsoft may bring better results, while linking to some other big company (exact company name is there you can look for it) triggered a fallback in rankings.
So linking to quality content by itself may should not cause a fallback.
-
In fact, NOT linking out and hoarding your PR/link juice could actually hurt you instead.
I don't have any proof that this is true but this is what I believe.... I believe that if you do lose linkjuice by linking out you receive instead an optimization bonus for linking out that is proportional to the value that would be delivered by a link from the target site back to yours. This is why I regularly link out to sites that are much better than mine.
-
Sorry, I noticed later that you have above the fold buy noe button as well.
-
Yes. So you adapt the content and you are able to place those buy now buttons that you have on your home page for example. if user goes off your page than he may be just wandering around, reading the content, than starting another search for surety bonds. Don't misunderstand me, I don't say that exactly this will happen for sure, but you give a chance for it to happen.
In our short term memory we can deal with 5-6 infos at a time. Your page is one. the content of the new page is the second. The environment the user sits in adds the third and maybe the forth. Changing channel on the webradio while reading: fifth. So I am trying to make you see that if short term memory is overload than you may be getting off the original path you came from. This is human nature and psychology: you can't hold everything i mind. You give user the CHANCE to go away.
I would not give a chance by publishing the same content on my site and placing the buy now conversion buttons so that you offer users the next step to take to become a customer.
Back to your main page: I would place that Buy now button a bit higher. I have once read a survey that states that around 80% of clicks on a website happen above the fold. I could not fond that for you but here is a comparison for you between above the fold and below the fold advertisements: http://emediavitals.com/content/improving-ad-performance-above-fold-repetition-brings-more-clicks. Above the fold is absolute winner.
-
"Links to external sites would cause me to lose out on link juice and would hurt me in google's eyes."
That may be the case back in 2001 but not so much anymore. In fact, NOT linking out and hoarding your PR/link juice could actually hurt you instead.
-
Thanks for your input. You are of the same mindset as me. I just want to make sure i'm not nuts for thinking this. Someone in my office said that placing links to external sites would cause me to lose out on link juice and would hurt me in google's eyes.
-
I created the links so that they always open in a new window. That was my attempt at keeping the user from forgetting where they came from. I'm not fully understanding your comment on conversion points and adapting the content to my site. Are you suggesting I have all content on my page vs. sending them away from the site?
-
Maybe I would adapt the content to my site so that the user is still able to read it, but you are able to add conversion points that lead the users back to your conversion channel. If user leaves your site can find another intresting link on government site than click through than not knowing where he came from. As far as the content is on your page you can control where the user is able to click from a specific page.
-
Well, you said it "Either way, in my mind, it's useful to the user and that trumps everything"
Optimize for the end-user, and the rest will fall into place. Don't be scared to link out if it's useful information for your user.
These days, nobody wants to link out to anybody. It's ridiculous. The internet is supposed to be a complete world of information, but every site on the net wants to keep everything to themselves.
I've come across articles in the past about how Bing takes this into consideration. They share the same ideology as you in that your website should be a 'one-stop shop' for the user.
And there's sure nothing wrong with linking to any government agencies as their content is usually 100% legit and accurate. Nothing to worry about there.
Go for it.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Unknown index.html links coming to my site.
I'm getting a lot of domain/index.html urls on my site which I didn't create initially. We recently transfered to a new site so those links could come from the old site. Does any know how to get a comprehensive list of all the urls that lead to 404?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | greenshinenewenergy0 -
Google WMT/search console: Thousands of "Links to your site" even only one back-link from a website.
Hi, I can see in my search console that a website giving thousands of links to my site where hardly only one back-link from one of their page to our page. Why this is happening? Here is screenshot: http://imgur.com/a/VleUf
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | vtmoz0 -
Is it posible to improve site rankings working only with an other site?
Hi everyone, i´ll try to explain a situation is happening to me, i´m goint to try to explain the case (im writing the sites without links for explication purposes. Site 1: Adventurerooms Site 2: Adventureroomsmallorca Site 3: Adventureroomsmadrid (the new site) What happen is that at first there was only Adventurerooms and Adventureroomsmallorca, Adventurerooms was for Madrid and linked to the one in Mallorca too, was kind of giving the information for Madrid but in first page split with a link to Mallorca. In a new strategy we create Adventureroomsmadrid for Madrid, and leave Adventurerooms for Spain (with links to Adventureroomsmadrid and Adventureroomsmallorca. We redirect the info for Madrid in Adventurerooms to Adventureroomsmadrid with 301 redirections. We work during this 3 months in Adventureroomsmadrid making content in the blog, and improving (now Adventureroomsmadrid is Moz 15 (perhaps even more), and Adventurerooms is Moz 10. Surprising Adventurerooms is getting better in its search rankings, even when we took away content from it and even without working well. Adventureroomsmadrid is also improving but not as much as Adventurerooms (i know that is a new site, only 3 months), but Adventurerooms gets better results with no content and only DA of 10. I hope i´ve explain the case with my english so the question is: "Is it posible to improve site rankings working only with an other site?" Thanks in advance
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | webtematica0 -
URL Value: Menu Links vs Body Content Links
Hi All, I'm a little confused. I have read a number of articles from authority sites that give mixed signals over the importance of menu links vs body content links. It is suggested that whilst all menu links spread link juice equally, Google does not see them as favourably. Inserting a link within the body will add more link juice value to the desired page. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks Mark
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Mark_Ch0 -
Outbound link to PDF vs outbound link to page
If you're trying to create a site which is an information hub, obviously linking out to authoritative sites is a good idea. However, does linking to a PDF have the same effect? e.g Linking to Google's SEO starter guide PDF, as opposed to linking to a google article on SEO. Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | underscorelive0 -
What's the best internal linking strategy for articles and on-site resources?
We recently added an education center to our site with articles and information about our products and industry. What is the best way to link to and from that content? There are two options I'm considering: Link to articles from category and subcategory pages under a section called "related articles" and link back to these category and subcategory pages from the articles: category page <<--------->> education center article education center article <<---------->> subcategory page Only link from the articles to the category and subcategory pages: education center article ---------->> category page education center article ---------->> subcategory page Would #1 dilute the SEO value of the category and subcategory pages? I want to offer shoppers links to more information if they need it, but this may also take them away from the products. Has anyone tested this? Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | pbhatt0 -
.GOV Link - same impact on my site's rankings whether link to home or Gov related category?
I own a job site and I am about to get a link from a .GOV. My site has a category called "State Jobs". Should I ask the ".Gov" to link to my homepage or to the state job page and use the anchor text "State Jobs". I understand "State Jobs" page would get a big kick by that being the anchor text and linking to that specific page, but the question I have is this: for my site as a whole (homepage and various categories) would they get around the same "push up" whether the linking is to 1) my homepage with anchor text being my site's name or 2) to the state job specific page and in this case the anchor text would be "State Jobs"? thank you
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | knielsen0 -
I am SEO amameur and have bee adding links slowly to site. I cannot seem to increase my domain authority from 20 however, Anyone any advice please????
I updated meta tags on website 2/3 months ago and saw a significant improvements in rankings for keyowrds, however since then I have been dropping back down. I am wondering if this is because of low domain authoriyty. it is currentyly 20. www.babskibay.com
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | babski0