To Link or Not to Link – That is the Question
When it comes to building a successful blog, nearly every blogger has heard that linking is important. After all, we are told, the search engines love to see links. But, is it really a good idea to link everything that you possibly can within your blog? Or, should you put a little bit more thought into where and to what you decide to link?
Outgoing Links
When it comes to outgoing links, there are varying schools of thought. While some believe outgoing links should only be made when absolutely necessary, others believe you should make every effort to include at least one or two outgoing links in your posts. Since the magical algorithms used by the search engines are kept secret, it is difficult to say which school of thought is best for the search engines.
When it comes to pleasing your human visitors, outgoing links are always appreciated when they are linked to relevant and helpful sites. Therefore, regardless of the outgoing link strategy you choose, be certain every link you create links to a site that is relevant to the post and is from an authoritative site. The higher the quality of the link, the higher your visitors and the search engines will rank your site.
Incoming Links
Incoming links are also touted as being highly important in order to create a successful blog. In many ways this is true. After all, if other blogs and websites have links to your blog, you will be more likely to receive visitors from those sites. At the same time, you should exercise some good judgment when trying to get a link to your blog posted on other sites. Otherwise, your link could potentially have negative effects on your blog traffic.
Having an incoming link from a less reputable website can negatively effect your blog in a couple of ways. First, if it is posted on a site that is not too reputable, it may actually hurt your reputation as an authority in the area. Second, your search engine ranking could actually be negatively impacted by an incoming link from a site that is of poor quality.
Internal Linking
The other linking option you have available is to link within your own site. Internal linking offers a number of benefits to your blog. First, it makes it easier for your site visitors to navigate through your site and to find other posts that are relevant to the topic. Not only does this make your site more informative and helpful to your readers, it also encourages them to delve further into what your blog has to offer.
Another benefit to internal linking is the fact that search engines love blogs that link within themselves. Internal linking makes it easier for the search engine spiders to crawl through your site and to determine what the site has to offer. So, as you are building up your blog, be certain to start linking your entries right away – it is much easier to do it from the start rather than trying to get caught up later!
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Linking is the number one priority for ranking success. Internal, inbound and external links all play an important role determining the complete “profile” of a site or blog.
Larry, as long as you provide some useful articles to the readers, then they’re happy to give you some “link juice” here…
wilhb81s last blog post..Keep Your Auto Insurance As Low As Possible!
If you are using wordpress platform, use the related post plugin to do the internal linking for you.
Internal linking is the most neglected practice specially among new link builders. A poor internal link structure can harm your rankings in a sense that you might have to work extra hard building external links to achieve better results.
Kashifs last blog post..Extract URLs From WebPages in 1 Click
Great article Larry, too many bloggers still don’t “get it”. Here’s how I basically see it…
Outgoing links are most useful for building rep with readers and other bloggers (the ones you link to). Although I think the phrase “authoritative site” is somewhat subjective.
Incoming links have been the backbone of Goolges ranking algorithm since it’s inception, so yea very very important.
As for being careful, it is difficult to say the least in maintaining good vs. bad “neighborhoods” unless it’s manually linked…like comments.
Fortunately Google can determine (a large percentage of the time anyway) which is natural and which isn’t, and not penalize you for it.
Internal linking is the least understood in my opinion. A good structure without turning your blog into a link farm is crucial for both reader navigation and Google ranking.
Although it IS much easier to do it from the start rather than trying to get caught up later as you pointed out, here’s the kicker so many leave out – depending on how often you post, go back over older posts from time to time and add more internal links to and from newer posts.
Of course never forgetting “without turning your blog into a link farm“.
Dennis Edells last blog post..As Promised Now You Can Edit Comments Too!
Good point Kashif, Thanks
Thanks Dalirin, I will check it out
Thanks wilhb81, I try my best
Thanks Dennis, What a well written Comment!
I am guilty of not linking enough to fellow bloggers and I should try to keep up with it. Like what Dennis has mention, incoming links are like currency in the online world and the more the merrier. Cheers on our link building efforts Larry.
Wei Liang
Wei Liang | Earn Money Onlines last blog post..Lesson 24: Affiliate Marketing (Part 1)
incoming links are like currency in the online world
Hey, I really like that analogy!
Dennis Edells last blog post..Do You Use Google Alerts?
Thanks Wei, and Like Dennis Said, Great Analogy!
Thank you for your post! It is really helpful information.
It seems that you an expert of insurance, because its post is unique.
I’l read your articles from now on. I am in anticipation of your next post
Keep up the good work!
Do you have another related information about Link?