Hi, I'm looking for a link (preferably something from Google or a really authoritative site) that explains the following. Site-xyz builds up a pagerank of 4 by building quality incoming links. If site-xyz links out to site-abc, are they physically giving away any of that pagerank? I'm doing a website design, and my client is terrified of linking out to anybody, including the standard link I usually include on the homepage back to my service. He is insisting on nofollowing everything. To me that undermines the principal Google was founded on - using links to establish credibility. Can anybody settle this for me? I can't imagine that Google intended for webmasters to hoard their pagerank like that... That doesn't seem to me to be a good usage of the nofollow attribute, nor would it make any sense if everybody acted that way - it would eliminate the usage of links from SERP's completely. Does anybody have an authoritative link that settles this question? He won't budge on it unless I send some proof. Thanks in advance
Yes, it affects the amount of linkjuice he can pass internally. For example, if he has a PR4, and his homepage has 5 internal links on it, then his homepage passes (4 * .85) / 5 to each of those internal pages. But if he has those 5 internal links on it, plus your external link, then his homepage passes (4 * .85) / 6 to each of those internal pages.
I have read lot many views on this topic but none are conclusive as people are found divided in their opinions. You might find a bit of respite in the statement below... Source: http://www.vicconsult.com/seo/Outbound.Links.html Regards, RightMan
Yes, outbound links do affect page rank. As selectsplat mentions, the link juice of your page will be shared with the page you link to. This is why it's best to build up the number of inbound to outbound link ratio as high as possible, but also make sure your inbound links are quality links. You don't want inbound links to come from junk sites, since that will also drag your page rank down too.
In my own experiences, if you want to link out, you should like to a higher PR destination page and don't use to many outbound links on pages. Have a nice day,
I wouldnt believe these mathematical proofs that try to calculate the amount of link juice divulged or divided between outgoing links. These calculations are of yesteryears, 2005-2008, What I would say now is that a link is a link whether dofollow or nofollow and as long as it is relevant (or even irrelevant) it should be fine. A page doesnt dilute its PR by linking out to another site (especially like one other site as in your case). I have this link from seomoz discussing pagerank sculpting which you can see if it helps you out: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/an-update-to-our-testing-on-pagerank-sculpting-with-nofollow
I think what you're asking is whether outbound links will affect your sites Page Rank, and the answer is NO. Your site's page rank is not affected by outbound links, it is only affected by incoming links. What I think everyone is referring to is that the number out outbound links will affect the page rank/authority you pass onto others. So for example if you have a page rank of 5, and have 5 outgoing links, then your PR5 is not affected in anyway, but the "authority/PR" you provide to those outgoing 5 sites is split up between those links. So in answer to the original question, it is perfectly fine to link out to other sites without fear of your site PR being affected. Cheers Graeme