If you talk with marketing and SEO departments in large and mid-size companies you quickly notice a debate about whether or not to link to other websites. In most cases those that do not want to do this are afraid. They think that when they link out:
- The reputation of the company could be hurt.
- Search engine rankings can drop.
- Authority would drop.
- Users would just leave as they follow the links.
Truth be told, these are all concerns that are unfounded. Linking is really common all around the internet and the possibility that this damages the reputation of a company is really low. Visitors will not care that much about ending up on a website that was hacked or that was sold some time ago to someone that now uses it to share pornographic content. As long as the links you add are high value when you add them, you are safe.
There are many articles online that talk about the fact that search engines penalize rankings when linking to sites that have a bad reputation. This is not the case since now Google analyzes all links when doing this. If the vast majority of your links point towards high quality resources, there is no problem.
Besides all this, linking out to high quality resources actually offers some great advantages you do want to learn more about. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:
Trackable Traffic Is Sent
When linking to other websites and sending some traffic the site owners realize that this is the case. They will visit online resources to see who links to them. Then, they will visit and will see why you linked. This can bring the possibility of setting up partnerships, exchange links, articles and basically expand the entire business. You can get free advertising just because you link to other sites, which is something few webmasters consider.
Search Engines Reward Linking Out
In order for a search engine to figure out if an article is good or not it needs to check authority and popularity. What better way to highlight that something is good than to offer it as an extra resource in the article you write?
Who you now link to is actually a very good indicator that you are interested in offering a really high quality resource for your visitors. If your authority is low but you do link to websites that have higher authority it is a sign that you do your job well for the search engines. While most people just focus on the links they receive or gain for their sites, an experienced online marketer will also think about what he links to as a part of the overall marketing strategy.
The Value Of Your Site Becomes Higher
In just one article it is really hard to talk about everything. Fortunately, you do not have to since those links you use can so easily point the visitors towards resources that allow them to learn more whenever interested. Leverage the entire power of the internet in order to make the experience of the visitor a lot better.
In time, the fact that you focus on delivering high quality content for site visitors becomes visible for everyone, including search engines. Those links that you add increase your reputation even if they are not that important for the actual ranking algorithm.
You Get More Links In When You Link Out
Most of the websites that are ranked high in search engines get numerous links but they also link out a lot. As you link out a signal is created that you are interested in being a team player. This might not seem like much but it is important for serious content creators and website owners. As you link out there is a much higher possibility someone is going to contact you with some sort of collaboration and other site owners, especially bloggers, will check out your articles. If they are high quality, they will link to your resources.
Final Thoughts
There are surely many other things that can be mentioned about why you should link out to other websites. However, those highlighted above should be enough to show you that linking out is something you absolutely have to consider. Do be sure that you use links in your sites and choose them carefully so they add true value to your articles.
