How many outgoing links - Is this true?

jdonisthorpe · 11-29-2004, 07:39 PM

I just read a statement, "How many outgoing links you have is irrelevant to search engines."

Is this true?

It seems that the websites that are in the top ten for keywords I am trying to target have much less outgoing links than incoming links, so instead of exchanging they are aquiring links naturally.

I would like for the statement to be true because the more I link exchange, the more outgoing links I have.

awall19 · 11-29-2004, 07:42 PM

I have a blog in the top dozen sites for SEO and I link out to a ton of sites.

if you linked out to every good site on the web and could get half of them to want to link back to you then you would have one of (if not the) most powerful sites on the web.

jdonisthorpe · 11-29-2004, 07:50 PM

Good answer. Now I can sleep tonight. Thank you.

thebassman · 11-29-2004, 08:05 PM

That being said, if you have very few links pointing to your site, and a lot of outbound links (especially questionable links), that's not a good thing.

ferret77 · 11-29-2004, 09:04 PM

I don't think it matters

awall19 · 11-30-2004, 10:51 AM

quality on topic outbound links can help in some search algorithms.

I, Brian · 11-30-2004, 11:52 AM

Google seems to place extra emphasis on anchor text for out bound links - at least, I figure that's why Aaron does it so often.

Seriously, though, the whole "don't link out" mantra only takes into consideration a very small part of SEO linking issues, and by itself is not helpful.

awall19 · 11-30-2004, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by I, Brian

Seriously, though, the whole "don't link out" mantra only takes into consideration a very small part of SEO linking issues, and by itself is not helpful.

keep in mind that random unrequested links also probably help build some friendships. its all one big happy social network...