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Link building is a secret weapon used by every marketer in the digital arena.
The majority of the time, internal linking (which severely affects PageRank and Bounce Rate) and backlinks (that strengthen your website authority) make up the priority section of these strategies.
But the question that arises here is, “Are these the only elements of link building?”
The answer is “no”.
Outbound links SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is another way to strengthen your link-building strategy.
Because even though your website has interlinks to charge your traffic engagement (interlinks), and inbound linking works as the mainspring for the organic ranking, it is still up to the outbound links SEO to accomplish the overall SEO marketing strategy.
However, it is rarely recommended to small businesses by SEO experts, who divide the marketing industry into sections for and against it.
But a 2019 study by Databox points out that,
Over 25% of SEO experts say external linking is one of the most important SEO factors.
So, in this article, I will cover the overall information on outbound links so that you have a clear picture of their usage in an SEO strategy.
Let’s get started.
What Are Outbound Links?
Outbound links, or external links, are hyperlinks that direct your users to a target domain and away from the domain webpage they were on.
Let me explain it to you with the help of an example. Here is one of the websites from where I got a backlink.
So, if any user goes through this page and sees this hyperlink, he may click on this link and visit my website.
The need to add links that would direct the customers out to another website (the target website) is essential for supporting purposes because Google and other search engines crawl through links only, so indexing and ranking depend on the link’s authority.
That is why outbound links are also referred to as “authority links”, which crack up the can of “ranking” through authority domains (resources) and improve your website’s authority.
This, furthermore, affects ranking as well as the visibility of your website online.
So, let’s further some differences between link-building elements – “External Links Vs. Internal Links”—to better understand the requirements of SEO link outbound strategy.
Internal Links vs. External Links
Now, with the clarity of what is outbound link SEO, let’s go deeper into the link-building strategy to get an understanding of the basic differences, and the need for each of the elements.
Internal links, or inbound links, are well-known among marketers and aid the PageRank algorithm of search engines for your business website.
Simply put, it helps both the target users and the search engines to find content on your website easily, making this a must-to-have SEO to gain authority as well as visibility.
One webpage’s content supports the content of another webpage in the same domain so that each topic gains as much traffic as the engagement rates allow, as shown in the flowchart below, supporting content and vice-a-versa in your domain through links.
So that your website’s users and the search engine can operate these links to navigate your website with a responsive path, making the content relevant to the searcher’s query. Hence, decreasing the bounce rate and increasing the engagement rate for your website.
Now, the question that arises here is, “Why are external links needed?”
An external link is a broader term that includes both backlinks and outbound links.
Now, for a fact, both bring your website authority as it is linked to powerful domains that are ranking on SERPs.
And although outbound links don’t have equal importance to backlinks, which are votes of confidence from another website and make your website much more authentic.
Outbound links do work for your website’s growth when you are new to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and want authentic backing from domains in similar industries.
So, the way I see it, outbound links are as important as Inbound links.
Okay, yes, this might take a while to understand, and for this, the next section would greatly help to expand the need for outbound links vs inbound links in SEO strategy.
Do Outbound Links Help SEO?
Outbound links are hyperlinks to the webpage from other websites on your domain’s content, and so are natural linking opportunities that major websites seek.
Have you heard the saying “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” or the Latin phrase “quid pro quo”?
Well, to put a marketer’s sense on the outbound links, these links are “give” to the “take” you asked from the other websites of your website.
To say the least, your website and the target website are both mutually beneficial situations from webpage A to B of the other domain, as shown in the illustration below.
Now, the fact is that outbound linking is the foundation of Google’s original PageRank algorithm and thus increases organic traffic performance on your website.
In a powerful statement,
“The outbound link from your website to a target website is a backlink to the target website and vice-a-versa”
As the topic suggests, let’s inspect the credibility that outbound links offer and discover “how do outbound links help SEO.”
Here are the four ways outbound links affect SEO.
Better Content Relevance & Connections
When Google crawls your website, the content on one webpage linked to the one on another domain determines the quality of the website, and as your website is linked to a high-quality website, the search engine favors the content on your website.
To completely understand the importance of outbound links SEO, you have to understand somethings below:
- Outbound links are backlinks to the target website and, thus, create better connections to the other authority domains relevant to your niche.
- The hyperlinks within your website work as a mark of good reading material and thus attract the target users.
- The authority domain makes your webpage a linkable asset for the target website as well as for the search engine crawlers when trying to provide relevant content.
So, as the symbol of good material, and being recognized as the linkable assets on SERP results, outbound links provide a better relevance of your content to the search engines.
Now, internal links provide easy access to the indexed and ranked material within a website, but the outbound links from authority websites that are attached to your business are more influential than others, as shown in the illustration below.
Also, this influence builds relationships between the target website and lets search engine crawlers easily access the indexed content so that the search engine provides the indexed content fast, which is better and relevant for the searcher’s query on SERPs.
That is, outbound links improve the relevance of the content on your website and help rank the content on the SERPs by helping Google crawl your site better and understand your niche.
Provides Credibility To Your Website
An ongoing relationship with the target website whose hyperlink you have provided on your webpage helps to build relationships, which makes your website much more trustworthy and credited with more traffic due to increased ranking.
So, authenticity is the result of the outbound links.
That is, your website is linked to one or many trustworthy and relevant websites, which increases credibility with the high quality of ranking that they have reached, as shown in the illustration below.
These target hyperlinks are referred to within the articles and blogs on some authority websites, which in turn gives their credibility through this bond of the linking system in SEO.
Also, if your website has given outbound links to such a website and they are not your direct competition, you can reach out to them and ask them to provide a backlink for your digital domain page too.
So, the SEO outbound links from this website to your website provide E.A.T before Google, which is quite important.
Develop Authority
Users are only able to see a website when it is ranked on SERPs, so if your website is not shown on the first page, the lower the rank goes, the harder it is for your website to shine amongst the target audience, and as such, they are won-over by competition.
Here, authority comes in handy.
How?
Let me explain.
Suppose your website has a product page as shown in the illustration below. This page had all the “boring” marketing stuff containing the product, its pictures, costs, and other navigable buttons.
But the authority pages already rank on SERPs and so, one reference of your websoage on your website creates authority for it.
Now, the product pages have similar descriptions.
So what we can do is make the other domain’s pages into linkable assets to produce content that is properly backed by new outbound links from target websites, and this (outbound link) baked information would help aid the authority of your website.
Also, according to a report on SEOs surveyed by Moz, external links through anchor text make up 20.26% of the components of Google’s ranking algorithm, as shown in the graph below.
When helpful information is shared online and is backed by outbound links, the trust and loyalty of customers increases in your brand making them believe in your website and its content.
That is why a high-quality website linked to your webpage would impress the target users by providing better suggestions to the searcher’s query because most are unable to reach each and every means available on your website.
Boosts Readers’ Trust In Your Content
Your website is ranked low in SERPs or you have just started the optimizing process.
Meaning, your website is at the beginning stage, so how do you catch the eyes of your target users and, most importantly, build your reputation online.
Readers respond better to websites with content from well-known sources and those with authority on SERPs. Therefore, to build this trust, research must be done by them.
And as much as you want your original content, the information such as statistics, facts, and quotes used in your content to attract users must be backed by the sources.
For example, the quote “Content is king.” was from an essay written by Bill Gates in 1996.
When you click the hyperlink “Bill Gates”, it will open on Mr. Gates’ Twitter profile, and the outbound link of the quote by him is the closest URL of the page (source) that I could provide.
For a reader, it is more trusting to learn through well-researched content so that it can be considered more relevant to the searcher’s query and, thus, be read more confidently.
And that is how you build the reputation of your business online through well-researched content with outbound links. This all together boosts the readers’ trust in the content of your website.
Outbound Links Example
I can show you some of the example for outbound links…
See the example below:
Here in this blog, YouTube SEO For Beginners: Rank Your Videos On YouTube
You can see I have written “YouTube” and provided a link to it…
The link that I have provided is not from my own website… but it is from youtube.
I have given a link pointing out to other website. This is what is called outbound links.
This is the perfect outbound links example that I could ever give you.
Conclusion
In this article, the SEO strategy for linking building is explored and the outbound links have been discussed to enhance the relevance of your content and provide authenticity as well as authority to your website while boosting the reader’s trust.
The outbound links from a website are, thus, equivalent to backlinks for another website target and vice-a-versa.
Although outbound links are often criticized for their limited use, applying them within your domain in a beneficial way could build content awareness, credibility, and authority online.
All these SEO efforts are required to boost the reader, and the stats, facts, and quotes make them trust your content.
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FAQ’S
1. Do outbound links help SEO?
One of the best thing that an outbound links can do is boost the readers’ trust in your content. Also, it helps in developing authority along with providing credibility to your website.
2. Why are outbound links important?
Outbound links can have a big impact on search engine rankings because they are considered as an external votes in a webpage along with a sign of credibility.
3. Do outbound links hurt SEO?
No, outbound links doesn’t hurt SEO rather it helps in boosting SEO of the page or the website. It helps in showing relevancy to the content.
4. How many outbound links is too many?
You can add atleast 3 outbound links to high authority website on your web page.
5. How do I set up outbound links in SEO?
While creating an outbound link, you can use a descriptive anchor text and put a link on it. Make sure the keyword that you choose must describe the link you are providing.