Outbound link don't hold any SEO authority

Cristian Level X³

February 26, 2017, 11:18 am

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Outbound link don't hold any SEO authority

Google had told us time and time again that outbound links or the number of external links you publish on a page don't hold any SEO authority and it isn't a ranking factor.

With that in mind, I'm still intrigued that people still ask Google this very same question. John Mueller was asked the exact same question a couple of days ago on twitter. The answer, of course, was "no", linking externally doesn't help.

I personally don't believe this, my experience has thought me, time and time again that linking externally to high authority sources can help you rank better of that specific pieces of content. It only makes sense if you think about it, outbound link to already established sources in the eyes of Google offer a better users experience compared with the ones that don't do this, therefore Google will rank your page higher in the SERPs.

What do you think about all this? Are outbound links important for SEO and organic traffic?

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Beverly

Google is purposefully contradictory to keep people from guessing their algorithm or methods. Just think of all the university papers that have been published online and how well those rank. All those papers and thesis are usually well documented (by necessity and requirement) linking out to 'source' content. And what about wikis which almost always rank well for any topic? Those are well documented, citations provided. Relevant outgoing links that document a content's source are essential, if not for SEO then at least for the sake of the reader who needs to see what's on the page isn't pure fiction or opinion.

9 years ago

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Cristian

I agree user experience should be first in any case.
Also, regarding Google making contradictory statements, as far as you don't go around making things Google sees as bad practices, anything goes, including outbound links, there is no limit for them or potential penalty.
I think we should test everything and figure out for ourselves is something works or not.

9 years ago

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Corzhens

Pardon me for this comment. I have noticed that in the several forums with a board about SEO, there’s always the item about Google updates, algorithm changes, and some other Google snippets that are related to SEO. I wonder why there are rumors or myths about SEO. Isn’t it funny to read that SEO is dead or backlinking has no effect in SEO? Those speculations were posted in forums that some readers think it is true.

7 years ago

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SEOClerks

Outbound link don't hold any SEO authority

Outbound link don't hold any SEO authority

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Beverly

Cristian

Corzhens

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