Should You Include Outbound Links In Blog Posts?

It might seem prudent, if you have a business blog, to make all of your links point inward – that is, to your internal web pages. Indeed, I think you should for the most part, but there are times when you might want to do a little outbound linking.

The most important thing to understand about links is they are the currency of the web. On the one hand, “paying” another website owner with a link is an act of good will. But even more importantly, providing valuable information for your readers builds your own credibility and authority. If that means linking out then by all means do what is best for your readership.

But you do want your readers to stay on your blog, right? Of course you do. So should you chain them in and never let them leave? Let’s not be harsh. Here are three ways you can link to other websites outside of your property and benefit yourself and your readers:

1. Source Links – I usually just add the word (Source) – exactly like that, parentheses and all – in front of blockquotes that I use from other websites and link the phrase to the source to show attribution for what I borrow. This technique is best used sparingly, but it’s a useful technique. It gives attribution without encouraging the click through.
2. Trackbacks – Trackbacks are links out that also link back. You see a blog post on another blog that you want to comment on. Instead of commenting directly on the blog, you write a blog post about it and link to it. Your blog post will appear in the comments of that other blog with a link back to your post. This is a useful technique for sparking dialogue among peers and readers.
3. Outbound Anchor Text – The least desirable of the three methods is the outbound anchor text. You are actually benefiting the website that you link to with the anchor text, which is relevant, but the link also benefits you through relevant outbound linking. One thing to keep in mind is those outbound links keep you “tied” to relevant information elsewhere and if you do that often enough then the search engines, Google particularly, sees you as willing to provide valuable information for your visitors and rewards you with higher PageRank authority. That in turn benefits you with more readers and commenters.

The Internet is one big web where all the pages are interconnected. It’s OK to link out as long as you realize that you may lose some readers temporarily. But if your blog provides useful and valuable information, those readers will come back time and time and time again.