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External Links and SEO

Tom Stefanou
12 minutes

Article Takeaways

  • External links boost your website's authority and improve search engine rankings.
  • Linking to high-quality, relevant sources builds trust with search engines.
  • Effective external links enhance user experience by providing valuable resources.
  • Strategically using external links supports overall site performance and credibility.

Understanding External Links in SEO

External links are the digital tethers that connect your website with the vast online world. For search engines, they serve as trust signals, indicating that your content is valuable, credible, and worth ranking. But it’s not just the quantity of external links used that matters—the quality and relevance of these links can significantly impact your site’s authority and visibility in search results.

In this guide, we’ll explore the various aspects of external links, such as strategies, their impact on your search engine rankings, and the best practices worth following to keep your website ahead of the curve.

What Are External Links?

An external link, in its most familiar form, is a hyperlink, an HTML element that allows users to click an object (e.g., a segment of text, an image) and be transported to another webpage beyond the current website or document.

HTML markup of an external link element
Frontend result of an external link element

External links are typically denoted in HTML using the tag with an href attribute pointing to a different domain. They improve the user experience by providing additional, relevant information from other sources and help search engines understand the relationship between these sites in the context of the content. In contrast, internal links direct users to other pages within the same website.

Both internal and external links improve the user experience and make your content discoverable.

Examples of External Links

Outbound Links

Outbound links, also known as “outlinks”, are hyperlinks that point to other domains. Outbound links are entirely within your control and play a crucial role in adding value to your content. Users can access relevant information and resources that support your points or add additional context.

As part of Google’s Search Quality Rating Guidelines, using outbound links can greatly improve your EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), which is a ranking system that Google uses to validate quality content.

Let’s say you’re an electrician writing a blog post on how to safely check an old ceramic fuse switchboard. You’d probably list the steps that you would follow to achieve this. But if you wanted to give your content more weight and authority, you could add a link to a trusted external resource, thereby giving your readers a more comprehensive guide.

“For a more detailed explanation of the potential hazards associated with ceramic fuse switchboards and why many homeowners are opting to upgrade, you can refer to this informative guide by Energex [insert link]”

By linking to an external resource, you’re giving your readers access to official safety information AND improving your content’s credibility.

Linking to authoritative sources can increase the trustworthiness of your content and help establish you as a knowledgeable figure in your field. By supporting your arguments with links to respected publications, academic research, or expert insights, you demonstrate that you are well-informed and reliable. This increases your credibility and creates ties between your website and trusted sources, which in turn bolsters your perceived expertise in the eyes of both potential customers and search engines.

By connecting your website to others, reciprocal links or partnerships could also be formed within your industry. Such relationships could lead to collaborative projects or the development of a supportive community of professionals. Furthermore, consistent linking to reputable sites may even catch the attention of industry leaders, which could lead to more prominent collaboration opportunities.

Backlinks (Inbound Links)

Backlinks are incoming or inbound links from other websites to your site. They are often considered a “vote of confidence” from one site to another. Backlinks are incredibly beneficial to your ranking performance and can also provide relevant, engaged referral traffic to your website.

In contrast to outbound links, a backlink can be acquired from another site’s outgoing link. Using the example above, Energex receives a backlink from the electrician.

While Google encourages linking to authoritative sources, a backlink from the electrician’s website to Energex probably won’t boost Energex’s already substantial authority. This practice still aligns with SEO best practices and benefits the electrician’s site by association with a reputable source.

Quality over quantity holds true, even in the world of SEO. Just one high-quality backlink from authoritative, niche-relevant sites is significantly more valuable than many low-quality links. Remember, backlinks are essentially endorsements from other websites. Would you trust the opinion of a group of people who know nothing about a ceramic switchboard—an extremely dangerous thing to be uncertain about—or Energex, a reputable authority with years of experience in electrical safety and regulations?

This is why relevance also matters. Links from sites in your niche or industry carry far more weight than some blog run by an expert on all things MAFS. Relevant backlinks contribute to site authority and help search engines better understand your website’s context and discussion topics, improving your rankings for industry-specific queries.

A diverse, natural backlink profile with links from various sources and websites is also important. A mixture of dofollow/nofollow links (we’ll explore these later in this article), with different texts and pages linked, also creates a holistic view of your inbound links to search engines.

Do External Links Help SEO?

Search Engine Rankings

External links are a great way to boost your site’s SEO performance.
Search engines interpret external links as indicators of your site’s commitment to providing valuable, well-researched information. When readers find well-researched content with links to authoritative sources, they’re more likely to trust your site and spend more time engaging with your content—factors that can further boost your search rankings.

External links can establish your site as a hub of knowledge, demonstrating your expertise in your niche area and commitment to providing accurate, well-researched or experience-driven information. This helps search engines better understand the context of your content. Compared to generic information, your in-depth and well-researched material is more likely to rank higher due to its comprehensive topical coverage.

External links help search engines discover and crawl your content more effectively. When new content or a new website are launched, it can take a while for Google to discover it based on its indexing capabilities or potentially by what’s been theorised by the Google Sandbox. When you create an external link from your established website to another, Google might prioritise crawling the linked site over your outgoing link.

On the other hand, if your site gets a backlink from a website, Google could crawl that site first. The interconnected relationship of links affects Google’s crawling priorities, which may lead to quicker discovery and indexing of newly added or updated content on both the linking and linked sites. It’s important to note that rapid changes in linking might trigger more severe sandboxing effects. Extremes of this effect can be labelled “link spam”.

Website Authority

External links are one of the best ways to increase the authority of your website.

Topical authority benefits the most from both inbound and outbound links, depending on the niche relevance of the content the link features. This interconnected, relevant content helps search engines recognise your website as a solid source of knowledge in your field.

As SEO specialists, we’re often asked about domain authority (DA). While external linking and acquiring backlinks can increase your DA, it’s important to understand that this is an indirect benefit rather than a direct cause-and-effect relationship. DA, a third-party metric, isn’t the be-all and end-all of SEO success. Instead, you should consider it a useful indicator of your site’s overall health and potential to rank well.

Strategic external linking and quality backlinks improve your site, which is what search engines value. But remember, search engines don’t directly use DA in their ranking algorithms.

User Experience

Although primarily focused on SEO, external links greatly improve a site’s user experience. Strategically placed external links create a more engaging and interactive journey for your audience, promoting deeper exploration of topics and potentially increasing the amount of time users stay on your site (Pro tip: Set external links to open in a new tab). Ultimately, these links should enhance rather than divert attention from your main content.

External Linking Best Practices

You’ve learnt why external linking helps SEO; now it’s time to put it into practice.

Best PracticeDescriptionKey Points
Use descriptive anchor textEmploy informative and relevant text for hyperlinks– Make anchor text inviting and contextual
– Encourage clicks through clear descriptions
Balance link quantityStrike a balance between external references and original content– Add value with external links
– Maintain your own voice and expertise
– Support claims with factual information
Audit links regularlyPerform ongoing checks for broken or outdated links– Remove or replace outdated content links
– Update links to current content
– Maintain proper content management
Prioritise user experiencePlace links strategically to enhance reader engagement– Insert links where they naturally fit
– Avoid interrupting reading flow
– Open external links in new tabs
Diversify your link profileSeek a variety of link sources and types– Include links from various relevant sources
– Mix dofollow and nofollow links
– Balance high-authority and niche-specific links

Link Attributes

Nofollow

The “nofollow” attribute tells search engines not to pass link equity (also known as “link juice”) to a linked page. This attribute is commonly used for paid links, user-generated content (comments, forums), or links to content that are not trustworthy.

For example, if you’re writing a blog article that’s exploring a fairly recent topic that links to an unverified source and the reference hasn’t been independently verified, you need to use a nofollow link.

Example: <a href=”https://example.com” rel=”nofollow”>Example</a>

Sponsored

Launched by Google in 2019, the “sponsored” attribute highlights links associated with advertisements, sponsorships, or other legitimate forms of compensation agreements.

Example: <a href=”https://example.com” rel=”sponsored”>Sponsored Link</a>

UGC (User-Generated Content)

The “ugc” attribute is designated for links in user-generated content, including comments and forum posts.

Example: <a href=”https://example.com” rel=”ugc”>User Comment</a>

External Linking SEO Concepts

Link Equity and PageRank

Link equity, or “link juice”, represents the SEO value transferred from one page to another via hyperlinks. It closely connects to Google’s PageRank algorithm, which evaluates the significance of web pages based on their linking framework.

Anchor Text Optimisation

The clickable text within a hyperlink, known as an “anchor” or “link text”, offers context regarding the linked page. Optimising anchor text can positively impact SEO. However, sustaining a natural and varied anchor text profile is vital to preventing penalties relating to over-optimisation. Use a diverse mix of anchor texts, such as branded terms, naked URLs, generic phrases, and relevant keywords.

Link Velocity

Link velocity refers to how quickly a website gains new backlinks. Google typically perceives a consistent, natural increase in high-quality links positively. This is in contrast to a surge of low-quality, irrelevant backlinks, which can appear suspicious to search engines and may be disregarded or penalised.

Co-citations and Co-occurrences

Co-citation happens when two websites share a link from the same third site, regardless of whether they link or not. Co-occurrence involves brands or websites cited in content without necessarily including links. Both factors can affect how search engines interpret relationships between websites and topics.

Common Practices to Avoid

Buying Links

Purchasing links is a risky shortcut that violates Google’s guidelines. While it might seem tempting to quickly boost your link profile, this practice can lead to severe penalties, including a significant demotion in rankings and even removal from search results (known as deindexing). Instead, focus on earning links naturally through high-quality content and genuine relationships within your industry.

Reciprocal Link Schemes

While some reciprocal linking can occur naturally, search engines view insistent link exchanges as manipulative. This often results in irrelevant or low-quality links that don’t add value to users.

Over-optimised Anchor Text

Using too many exact-match keyword anchors can raise red flags with search engines. Viewed similarly as keyword stuffing, using exact-match anchor text when link building can trigger spam filters from search engines.

Ignoring Link Quality

Low-quality links from irrelevant or spammy websites, such as those obtained through cheap link-building schemes that promise large quantities of backlinks for a low price, won’t do your site any favours. These sites often promote low-cost link building schemes that claim to generate numerous links, including directory spam, link farms, improper social bookmarking, and private blog networks (PBNs).

Neglecting Internal Linking

Don’t overlook the power of a strong internal linking structure. Internal links help pass link equity, improve user navigation and information architecture, and help Google understand the hierarchy, taxonomy, and relevance between pages. Regular auditing of your internal linking strategy will ensure it works effectively for users and search engines.

Improving Your SEO With External Links

It’s been widely proven that external inbound and outbound links improve your website’s SEO. We’ve covered how to build a successful external link strategy through high-quality, relevant backlinks from credible sources and proper link placement for user experience and engagement.

Now you should focus on creating engaging content that attracts links organically, prioritising quality and sustainable connections over bulk-scale link building.

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