Apologies if this has been asked a thousand times already: I've been working under the premise (delusion?) that outbound links "drain" Pagerank from your site. In this light, I've tried to keep the majority of my outbound links on one "Links" page. (Like the Googlrithm-analysis papers suggest, right?) Lately, though, I've read that this is not such a clear-cut issue -- that Google wants to see outbound links pointing to other sites in your niche / field. I already rank #1 or Top 6 in several of the terms I was initially gunning for, so it may all be a moot point, and I'm wasting mental energies on something that matters not so much. Anybody have any insight they'd care to share on this? Should I be afraid of scattering out, or proliferating, same-niche outbound links on my site?
This is probably not the answer you're looking for, but since the real answer is proprietary, you're really going to hear a lot of opinions, some worth more than others. My guiding principle is to try my best to offer a good, helpful site that doesn't trick people or use tricks to get uninterested people to visit. If that means linking to another page, I will. If I'm writing an article about various options for universities, that page may indeed have many OBLs. If it drains my PR, so be it. My job is to do what's best for the user. Just my two cents, of course.
Outbound links will send some PR to other sites. However, it really isn't too big of a deal if you have lots of links on your pages (and navigational links count). If you find that you have a large number of external links on many pages, especially your home page and other key pages, then you might want to consider making some changes like using rel="nofollow" in your anchor tags (but just be aware if the link is part of a link exchange many webmasters expect the link to be "clean" and pass PR, etc..).
I'm probably letting this topic bug me, when in fact it doesn't matter a byte in my particular case. (It's not like I'm counting on my site to get food on the table.) For whatever reason, though, the voice in my head is telling me, Mind your Pagerank ... mind your Pagerank. Thanks for the responses so far. I'm thinking the "Do what's best for your users" route is the way to go. Now if I can just find a way to turn off that voice . . ..
And the other thing is that no matter what may work today, we really don't know what could work tomorrow. With rumors of TrustRank coming and posts like this one, I think it's best to play it safe, at least if you're in this for the long haul (and not bent on building spammy sites just for money). I personally have more important things to worry about than what G is thinking at the moment and how their algos are working; my philosophy is simply to do what I think is honest and trust that it will work out eventually. I focus most of my energy on improving things that are important and meaningful to me. But as I said, I'm not in this just for the short-term, and if you're looking to rise in the SERPs as quickly as possible, my advice is not the advice to follow. But I know "that voice." I've heard it many times and have sometimes followed it. It's funny to look back at things I did a couple of years ago, thinking I was being clever. Kinda like watching a video of yourself when you first started doing martial arts or speaking a new language.
Of course thats the best way. No doubts. When you have good positions, get your visitors satisfied. If that means a few links, so be it. On the other hand I do mind PR that leaves my websites. Thats why I rarely add extern links on my front pages, and thats why I only link to related websites (except for the mess the coop makes ) Linking to a very good websites might get your page more related? Maybe now or maybe in the future? Perhaps you give away a bit of PR, but you get more satisfied visitors, and relevance to your page? If you got good content, a few extern links to good websites, dont mind. Just dont add tons of them. Watch out with nofollow pages. You might get angry webmasters I always have my doubts about websites that do nofollow things. Even if its on other pages than the ones I am linked on.
I run several commercial sites that do pay a fair few people's dinners and I don't even know the homepage PageRank. IMO you have more important things to worry about. If you want to link to somewhere, do it. If it ads value to your content and user experience it's 1000 fold more important than PR drain (if that exists).
Hmz. Yeah I ment to say something like that. I am just an easy-to-scare person, and even I add links when I think its better for the visitor.
There is technically no such thing as PR leak and as T0PS has said, worry about your rankings. I have seen many tests that showed a SERP boost by linking to authority sites in your industry. Although they were small, it is signifigant as your stinginess to provide good resources to your visitors may be costing you a place or two
The premise is false (and delusional). It's a myth that should have been put in the dumpster a long time ago.