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Outbound Links in SEO

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Outbound links are just one of the many factors that search engines like Yahoo! and Google take into consideration when determining a website's search engine rankings. How much outbound links matter in terms of SEO, however, and what their role is in marketing your site has been a topic of some debate. Here is a brief overview of how outbound links work and some things to take into consideration when trying to determine which and how many outbound links to have on your site.

Outbound Links in SEO
While it's true that search engines tend to frown upon sites that contain too many outbound links, the effects of outbound links on search engine rankings are rather small compared to the effect of things like tags and inbound links. Now, having outbound links to sites that are popular appears to actually help your SEO efforts. The trick here is to determine what matters most to you. Ultimately, how you handle your outbound links should probably be dictated by factors other than how it affects you in your search engine rankings, i.e. do you have a good number of outbound links that your users will deem useful?

Visitor Satisfaction
The main goal of outbound links should always be to provide readers with a good online resource, much the same as directory listing services would help you reach your target audience. If you think that a website would useful/of interest to your target audience, include a link to it. Far from drawing traffic away from you, having quality outbound links will establish your site as a valuable resource that will keep visitors coming back for more. Also, having good outbound links makes you appear like an authority in your chosen field, someone who is in-tune with the industry and knowledgeable of his niche.

Some Good SEO Tips for Outbound Links

Only include relevant outbound links, i.e. sites that you know will be of interest to readers
Try not to have an excessive amount of outbound links. Not only might it seem overwhelming to readers, it will also cause search engines to knock a few points off your rankings
Try to link to sites that are high ranking
Use relevant search terms and keywords in your outbound link's anchor text.