You know search engines evaluate a site based primarily on the links going to it (inbound
links). The PageRank of the sites on which the inbound links are located, and the anchor
text of the links, matter a lot. But if you're like most webmasters, you don't appreciate
the value of outbound links.Outbound Link Relevance
& Anchor Text
The clearest way that outbound links can affect Search
Engine Optimization (SEO) is through their anchor text.
Outbound links' anchor text affects a page's search engine
ranking in much the same way that inbound links' anchor text affects search engine
ranking. Anchor text of inbound links is arguably the most important factor in search
engine rankings for particular keywords. For instance, if "fuzzy keyword" is in
the anchor text of a link to a webpage, that webpage may well appear in SERPs for
"fuzzy keyword" even if neither the word "fuzzy" nor
"keyword" appears anywhere on your site.
Outbound links' anchor text works the same way, though it
is slightly less powerful. If you have a particular keyword in the anchor text of a link
on a webpage, that webpage will likely show up in search engine results -- even if it
appears nowhere else on the page, and even if there are no inbound links with that anchor
text.
Don't believe me? Look at your web traffic logs. Check out
the search engine traffic to specific pages. You'll likely see plenty of instances of the
page getting traffic for search strings that appear nowhere else on the page but in the
anchor text of outbound links.
One example from a site I own is on endometrialcancer.org,
a project devoted to provided information about a disease. There are separate pages for
symptoms, diagnosis, prognosis, and other aspects of the disease. Strikingly, one page my
rank highly for another page's target keyword, if it links to the other page with the
target keyword in its anchor text. For instance, the "diagnosis" page may
outrank the "symptoms" page for the keyword "endometrial cancer
symptoms," merely because the "diagnosis" page has that keyword in the
anchor text of its link to the symptoms page.
How to shoot yourself in the foot with outbound link
anchor text relevance:
There are four main ways to shoot yourself in the foot by
mishandling outbound links' anchor text:
- Don't include relevant outbound links on the webpage. There
are many sites nearly all of whose pages have no outbound links but a standard navigation
bar, and perhaps a link to the site's web designer, host, or CMS maker. What exactly is a
search engine algorithm supposed to make of a webpage if the only outbound links it has
have anchor text such as "about us," "contact," "privacy,"
"site map," "Design by TechGnome," and "This site powered by
Mambo Open CMS"?
- Don't include off-site outbound links on the webpage. Think
about it for a moment: what is the one thing a truly informative webpage would have to
have, besides content? Links to other sites! If a page has no outbound links to other
sites, there is a good chance the page is a dead end, or worse, a billboard. At the very
least, include at least one intra-site link that isn't part of the standard site
navigation.
- Include irrelevant links. I have a client site that sells
computer equipment. After paying me all the money for my services largely in hopes of
getting more search engine traffic, they decide to sell irrelevant links on the homepage,
for a fraction of what they paid me. If you were a search engine algorithm, what would you
make of a site that had "computer equipment" in the page title, headings, and
inbound link anchor text -- but had two outbound links with "Costa Rican beach
resort" and "Low-cost mortgages" in the anchor text? If I were the
algorithm, I'd get a little confused, and play it safe by ranking the site for none of
those keywords. After all, there are plenty of sites that make a less ambiguous case for
their relevance for any of those keywords.
- Include relevant outbound links, but forget the anchor text.
If you are linking to a relevant webpage, whether on-site or off-site, by all means, use
your page's target keyword in the anchor text! Now is not the time to get lazy and use the
URL as the anchor text. You are doing the right thing by linking to relevant webpage. Make
sure you get credit for your good deed!
After all, they call it the web because the links go both
in and out, tying sites together like nodes of spider silk. If links were only meant to
flow one way, they'd just call it the chain.
Don't chain your website down. Start sharing the links. |
|
