View Full Version : How many links out?
tatley
9th February 2009, 23:19
Quick question here, what the number that should be the maximum of links out from your site to external sites?
ForexPro
9th February 2009, 23:52
The maximum number you should have at the very most I believe is 100 however keep them as low as possible.
A trick to let no link strength be carried on to the external site is to add the no follow tag
<a rel="no follow" href="http://back-links.org">SEO Tips</a>
iamlijo
11th February 2009, 07:28
its better to keep the out going link from a page less than 20 , eventhough there is not any actual figures.
Be all external links related to the topic of your site , if not attach a nofollow tag as suggested
fisicx
11th February 2009, 07:39
It really depends on the site. If you are a directory then you will have thousands of outbound links. If you run the hamster appreciation society you will have lots of links other hamster sites. If you are a family firm selling cheese the you might only have 1 or 2.
As long as the outbound links are relevant to the content then it doesn't really matter how many. But as already suggested, adding rel="no follow" to you tags solve any potential problems.
shef26
11th February 2009, 08:58
The optimum number of outgoing links should be less than 100..
Ali-v-8
11th February 2009, 09:23
If a car can carry exactly 1 ton in weight would you put 1 ton in it or .75 tons.
The performance would be effected the more weight put into the car.
The same thing goes with websites.
More links out to other websites dilutes the strength of yours
fisicx
11th February 2009, 09:57
If a car can carry exactly 1 ton in weight would you put 1 ton in it or .75 tons.
The performance would be effected the more weight put into the car.
The same thing goes with websites.
More links out to other websites dilutes the strength of yours
Not always. For example:
If you run a model railway then outbound links to model suppliers, clubs and other useful sources of information actually strengthen your site as an authority on the subject.
If you offer SEO advice and a cite a number of resouces in your articles it adds weight to your advice.
If you have a medical condiditon and list all the self-help sites and consultants it will become a useful reference.
Sensible outbound links that help your visitors can result in new business.
If everyone took your view that outbound links dilute a site there would be no linking.
Ali-v-8
11th February 2009, 09:59
Not always. For example:
If you run a model railway then outbound links to model suppliers, clubs and other useful sources of information actually strengthen your site as an authority on the subject.
If you offer SEO advice and a cite a number of resouces in your articles it adds weight to your advice.
If you have a medical condiditon and list all the self-help sites and consultants it will become a useful reference.
Sensible outbound links that help your visitors can result in new business.
If everyone took your view that outbound links dilute a site there would be no linking.
I wasn't saying no links. I was saying performance of a website is effected.
fisicx
11th February 2009, 10:15
I wasn't saying no links. I was saying performance of a website is effected.
But I argue the opposite, more links can improve performance in certain circumstances. If you have a site that summarises all the SEO fora and blogs you could well have hundreds of outbound links (to the source material). As an infomation source your site could be come invaluable and you visitor numbers go up.
(but I agree that hundreds of outbounds from a small brochure site are bad juju. It's a bit like running google ads that take your visitors off to your competitors).
Ali-v-8
11th February 2009, 10:18
But I argue the opposite, more links can improve performance in certain circumstances. If you have a site that summarises all the SEO fora and blogs you could well have hundreds of outbound links (to the source material). As an infomation source your site could be come invaluable and you visitor numbers go up.
Please explain how sending spider to another website helps.
It is however proven that it helps if you have links coming in.
fisicx
11th February 2009, 10:23
Please explain how sending spider to another website helps.
It is however proven that it helps if you have links coming in.
Who said anything about spiders? I'm talking about user experience.
I agree that there is no SEO benefit but I add outbound links to help my visitors. And if I do that successfully then they will return.
Ali-v-8
11th February 2009, 10:41
Sorry if I misunderstood.
Thought that that was the point.
Too many links coming out of a website hinders the serp's
ken_uk
11th February 2009, 12:47
Linking to bad neighbourhoods can cause problems, even google states that, so it is quite within the realms of possiblity that (even if not now, then maybe later) linking to extremely good sites will do the opposite - increase ranking.
Google already knows what it considers good and bad sites.
It knows what you link to.
It wont take a genius to figure out a method of assigning another metric to the serps (if not already done) based on which sites are linked to.
And as fisicx mentions, good quality, contextual links can benefit the user - which can result in a increase not just in return visitors but also in people linking to your site.
Write sites for people, sod the search engines* - do what your users want and the rest will come in time.
*within reason, dont neglect the obvious.