Will Linking to Other Websites Help With SEO?

external linking for seo

Whether you should link out to other websites (external linking) is a debatable topic. There are pros and cons and there is good external linking and not so good external linking.

A link to another site is like an editorial vote. You are telling your readers and the search engines that this site is relevant, helpful and that you trust it when you link out to another site.

The Cons of Linking to Other Sites

When you link out to another site, you are sharing or giving away some of your link juice
Visitors will leave your site when they click (affects your bounce rate)
When done in excess, you could be sending the signal that these sites are better than yours
You could be boosting your competition

The Pros of Linking to Other Sites

It can strengthen your authority especially when you link to a higher authority site
The person receiving the link can see your traffic coming in and may return the favor with a link back
When linking to RELEVENT CONTENT it helps Google understand what your page/site is about.

When linking out to other sites, don’t use your main keyword as the anchor texts. For example, if I was writing about “guided meditation for sleep”, I would not link to another site with that term. Perhaps I would use something like relaxing meditation, meditation videos or so forth and so on instead.

Every site is different. I suggest linking to other sites when it is highly relevant to your content and adds value for your reader.

If you fill up every post with external links to other sites, you are sending people off of your site regularly, telling Google that your site isn’t as good as all these others.

External linking in moderation, naturally and when it makes sense.

Another thing I think about is I don’t want just anyone linking to me. If you blog is about cooking and you link to me, it’s not helpful. If enough people do it, it may hurt me. Be considerate.

Also links from low authority sites are not always appreciated.

Links to external sites that you trust should be do follow.

Who knows, you might get lucky and the site owner links back to you building you natural backlink. Google loves natural link building.