Are outbound links a Google search ranking factor?

You can’t throw rocks in SEO without hitting the link builder.

Links have been an integral part of search optimization since the early days of Google.

But what about outbound links?

These are links within your content (source) to different websites (target).

But are outbound links actually a ranking factor?

Disclaimer: Outbound Links as Ranking Factors

Google considers a link from one site to another as an endorsement.

When a site refers to another site through a link, they are more likely to do so because they believe the content they are linking to is reputable, authoritative, and trustworthy.

Is this always the case? No.

As long as there have been search engines and links, marketers have been trying to find ways Manipulating Google’s perception The actual meaning of the link.

We know that when a website links to you, it can help you improve your search rankings.

But when you link to another site – does that also help your site rank higher?

The SEO industry has never fully agreed on whether outbound links are a direct ranking factor in Google’s algorithm.

Many people believe that outbound links are not a ranking factor at all and have no SEO benefit to the linking party (source).

However, some people see the people you link to as a signal that can help you improve your rankings, as well as the pages you link to.

Evidence of outbound links as a ranking factor

Google’s John Mueller answers this question in the inaugural Ask Google Webmasters video July 2019. He said:

“Linking to other sites is a great way to provide value to users. Often, links help users learn more, see where you came from, and better understand the relevance of your content to the problems they’re having.”

In the same video, Mueller warns that the reason behind the link matters — and Google is Very good at sniffing out bad links.

He refers to reciprocal links, paid links, and user-generated reviews as the types of links that Google might deem of questionable quality. For these links, you should use rel=”nofollow”.

See Julie Joyce’s guide, When to use Nofollow on a link and when not to use it,learn more.

Simply put, Google wants to see outbound links that you think the page you’re linking to is a good fit for users.

Therefore, we know that user experience and value to searchers/site visitors are top priorities for Google.

As Mueller said, outbound links are a great way to provide value to users.

Plus, we have plenty of other SEO experts and bloggers saying:

• “…Valuable outbound authoritative links are part of what Google loves Think of it as part of its recent Google Panda update. “
• “By sticking to some Follow best practices when optimizing outbound links – you may see results About your popularity and rankings. “

Some even quantify what outbound linking “work” needs to do, and recommend including at least two or three per piece content.

(I’m not linking to these sources because I don’t want to lend them our credibility. See how it works? Suggesting a certain density of outbound links in 2021 is SEO magic that makes as much sense as optimizing for keyword density by 7% .)

In addition to industry chatter, Reboot’s Shai Aharony did a small experiment In 2016, his team created 10 brand new websites with articles of “comparable structure and text length” to test whether outbound links affected rankings.

The study has drawn some attention after it was endorsed by Rand Fishkin, who said,

“This study of outgoing links affecting rankings is as close to the ‘evidence’ we have in the SEO world as…”

Half of the sites contained three links – one each for Oxford, Cambridge and the Genome Institute. Two use the name of the institution as anchor text; the anchor text for the third is the completely fictitious test subject heading “phylandocic”.

Another fictional control word, “ancludixis,” was placed in unlinked content so they could determine if anchor text was a ranking factor. All domains were purchased at the same time, none of them were optimized for “phylandocic”.

The study declared:

“The results were clear. Outgoing relevant links to authoritative sites were factored into the algorithm and did have a positive impact on rankings.”

The analysis continued:

“The main takeaway from this test is that while we don’t know and haven’t demonstrated how strong outgoing links are in the overall scenario, we’ve shown that they do have a positive impact when used properly.”

However, this evidence is not entirely convincing.

This is what we see in the results. The authors note that the graph shows where a site is in the rankings.

• blue line = Site with outgoing links.
• orange line = Website without external links.

As you can see, sites with outbound links are in the top five Google search results, while sites without outbound links are in the next five.

Without looking at the content itself, it’s impossible to know if there are other factors at play.

But we do know that the fabricated target keyword “phylandocic” is used as anchor text at least once per article. Does it increase rankings because it’s anchor text, or just because the word appears on the page?

This test is too small. The fact that there is nothing else in Google’s index for this fictional word almost guarantees that you will get the top 10 results for 10 articles.

All other things being equal – and they do seem to take steps to make all other things as equal as possible – it might just be a matter of additional keyword mentions making these articles more relevant to the query.

So does this really justify the value of outbound links as a direct ranking signal? No.

Evidence against outbound links as a ranking factor

Outbound links can tell Google a lot of positive information about the site the link points to—for example, it’s considered authoritative and trustworthy.

Or the person creating the content is an expert in the field.

That’s exactly what Google wants to see in the content it recommends answers to searchers, and they tell us this in Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines.

Get it for free SEJ Google EAT and SEO Guidelines learn more.

But Google also has to take into account that there are many ways to manipulate links. They are commodities that can be bought and sold.

People can exchange links for other links or anything of value to the parties involved – for example, discounts on free products or services.

Links can even be placed on a website without the owner/webmaster’s knowledge by code or URL injection.

Links can be played in a number of different ways. Especially outbound links are troublesome as search signals.

Can’t I just link to a bunch of highly authoritative, popular sites in my niche and tell Google I’m a cool kid too?

At some point, you can. This PageRank Sculpting blog post by Matt Cutts Resurfaced in a 2019 Twitter conversation about the benefits of linking to authoritative content.

One user asked Mueller if the conclusions drawn in the chart citing “multiple SEO experiments and studies” were correct.

Although the fine print makes it clear that the study found correlation rather than causation, the article makes a bold claim. Mueller’s answer was clear:

No

— 🐄 John 🐄 (@JohnMu) December 29, 2019

This is the source of the aforementioned PageRank sculpting post:

Hey @JohnMu, during Matt Cutts’ tenure, he repeatedly told us that outbound links are beneficial. For example, in this blog post (https://t.co/hx6I5LhLaD), “There are parts of our system that encourage linking to good sites,” he said. Can you help reconcile the conflict?

— Corey Northcutt (@corey_northcutt) December 30, 2019

But here’s the thing – Katz’s post is from 2009.

Search is constantly evolving. Ten years from now, the advice at the time will be different, it’s not a “contradiction”.

problem Appeared in 2015 When Mueller answered a Webmaster Central Viewer question about any potential benefits of linking to a trade association website:

“We would say there is no SEO benefit to linking to other people’s sites.”

again 2016 Videos Mueller was asked:

“External links from your page to other sites – is this a ranking factor? What if they are nofollow?”

He responded:

“From our perspective, external links to other sites — that is, links from your site to someone else’s site — are not a specific ranking factor.

But it can bring value to your content, which in turn is relevant to us in search. It doesn’t matter to us whether they are nofollow or not. “

Google search liaison Danny Sullivan echoed this suggestion that the value of outbound links is in the user. This is in a series of tweets from 2019, one of which suggested that SEO professionals should consider them in terms of journalistic integrity:

I think links are only part of proper attribution. You are a journalist. You write a story and you cite your sources. If these sources provide readers with more information online, the citation should link to them. It’s just good news. Should be standard…

— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) October 16, 2019

This is where outbound links really shine.

When used properly, outbound links can tell Google the following:

• You know who and websites in your industry are considered authoritative and trustworthy because you are an active member of the community.
• you have done your homework And invest the time to really understand the subject.
• you value multiple viewpoints And do our best to provide fair and balanced information to readers.
• you care about accuracy The information you forward has been fact-checked, which is important to you.
• You value your readers’ trust And want to make sure they have the option to verify your statement.

These are quality metrics that help Google understand how accurate, relevant, and authoritative the content is.

But is the link itself a ranking signal?

Outbound Links as a Ranking Factor: Our Verdict

Here’s what we know:

• the presence or absence of outbound links, Not a ranking factor by itself.
• The words in the anchor text of outbound links are used to help Google understand the content of the source page – just like all other words on the page. They have no more or less value.
• Linking to high authority sites is not an indicator The authority of the source page because it’s too easy to play with.

Your best strategy is to use outbound links as Google intended—citing sources, improving user experience, and as an endorsement of high-quality content.

Trying to use them to whisper to Google about your authority or relevance can be counterproductive.

Excessive use of outbound links looks like spam, and overuse of any other optimization looks spam, which can cause Google to ignore the page entirely.

Outbound links may have been a ranking signal in the early 2000s. However, Google has a lot more reliable and less noisy signals to consider today.

Featured image: Paolo Bobita/Search Engine Magazine