Hi, Are there any known negative SEO issues pertaining to having no outbound links in any of the pages of a site? In general do you have any view about this? Thanks Ajeet
I would tend to add masses of outbounds, particularly to authorities, to give yourself a boost in the SERPS Pictures of Houses : Andalucian Horses
How many is too many? What is it about one-way linking to authority sites that the search engines find appealing?
What? No other site is remotely related to your site? has related information backing up your site? has info you get asked about but don't want to cover? amazing...
My sites have very few true outbound links just because of the nature of the site (corporate site that does not link to anything but it's other divisions, etc.) and they do very well. Linking out, imho, does not have any effect on serps. Oh, even though I hate the page rank crap (cuz to many people fixate on it) the sites are PR5.
Hi, I am seeking to make a very niche information site that might be complete. I might be badly mistaken here, of course, but I am at the early design stage. It would be structured as a tutorial where one can start on any one page and circle around all the rest. From the content point of view, at this point I feel that there would not be a reason to have outbound links. But, that seems so unnatural in the web-world. Hence the question. Any opinions? Thanks Ajeet
Sarahk, those are not the reasons for no outbound links. I agree with you that in the usual course of things there are many reasons to out-link. But, I am being open minded to the fact that I am now faced with a situation where that might not be the case. In addition to finding the very thought amazing, are you in the camp that finds OBL to be of no effect in ranking, or are you in the camp which thinks that linking to authority sites helps ranking? Thanks Ajeet
I think, right now, I am in the camp that accepts that the (Google) rules have changed but: * I don't have a clue what the new rules are * I don't have a clue what the outcome of those rules might be So, while we wait, I'm making sure that my site is what I want and what I think my users will find useful. Ethical practice is always recommended. If your site, with no outbound links, is the right site for you and your users, then the bots will probably recognise that. Sarah
When I put up my first website in 1999 there were no other websites with anything useful to my visitors. That is gradually changing, but until I saw this thread I had never even considered that a site without outbound links was unusual I had never heard of SEO or PR until six months ago, and have never requested links. Yet over time the site has develped 8-9 PR6 pages, scores high in the SERP's for search terms I didn't even know about, and AdSense has been a very plesant shock. I have no way of knowing if outbound links would have accelerate the process or gotten better rankings, but at least in my case it worked well enough without them.
I wouldn't worry about it. I see no reason to apply a penalty for not linking out. I see no reason for boosting a sites ranking for linking out.
I do. If you are not linking out to anywhere, what chance does google have of understanding the context of the page in question? Sure, it can look at the copy on the page, but it is known that google uses both inbound and outbound links to judge a sites content. Without those outbound links (Which I am sure would raise a flag of some kind - a WHOLE SITE without outbound links? I don't think so ) there is nothing for google to reference.
Just an added point... This is how google will define an "expert document" in regard to Hilltop... So, in theory, you HAVE to have links in order for it to be classed as an authority (or Expert) site.
SE, I disagree. The whole notion that you have to have outbound links is bunk. I have one site that has no direct outbound links (they are redirects so I can capture the click info) and several more that do not have any links out at all. They all do just fine. IBL's are all that matter (imho). OBL's are meaningless to a sites rank (other than the sites they link to getting those votes).
The quote I took above was direct form the google patent for Hilltop technology. The way an authority is classed as such, is by looking at non affiliated links to other sites of a similiar content type. You are right that inbound links are the key to achieve good rankings, but that goes hand in hand with the PageRank algo, not the hilltop one. I am not saying that things haven't changes since hilltop was first implemented, but to quote what Ajeet said... He is trying to produce an "authority site" (correct me if I have misenterpretted what you said Ajeet), and in order to do this, outbound links are essential.
Authority site seems about right. It is the second part "outbound links are essential" that I am thinking about. Based on the discussion thus far, I think that we are talking about Hilltop requiring you to out-link to establish context. Is it also to be understood that there would be heightened ranking as a consequence? Thanks Ajeet
Well that's what I think. I may not be right, but it is my personal opinion that in order to produce an authority site, that you HAVE to have outbound links.