Outbound Links to Authority sites

[VictorVC]

Will outbound links to a related topic on an authority site help, hurt or be irrelevanent for SEO purposes. And if beneficially, should it be Nofollow?

[ontarget-media]

This is another one of those grey areas, I think, where is there no perfect answer.

To draw an analogy from the world of politics and elections:

a) Your vote benefits the recipient more than it will benefit you.

b) If you were fighting the same election, casting a vote for a more prominent candidate who is a  competitor for that same position will hurt you more than benefiting you.

c) If you vote for the right candidate-  because that is the right thing to do--- it might eventually benefit you, in a roundabout sort of manner.

So, I'd apply the same rules when casting your vote for a website (ie. giving out links)----do vote, but cast your vote with care!

[BenFox]

There is an argument that linking out might increase your rankings by a tiny bit.

So long as it's a decent, none malware hosting, none spammy site it won't have  an adverse effect.

With regard to follow/no-follow - if you trust the site and think it's passing a benefit to users then why put the no-follow on it?

[Francisco_Meza]

I think it helps. I link to my BBB page to show credibility to both Google and my users. I also link to government websites. Everything is followed.

The only links I would <nofollow>would be sites I don't particularly trust, like a new site. </nofollow>

[VictorVC]

Thanks. Someone else told me it is a good sign of a trustworthy site. I was thinking of doing a link to a Wikipedia article or such of relevant reference material on topic.

[EGOL]

Plenty of webmasters do not link out for selfish or strategic reasons.....

... but the web is all about linking.  That is why they call it "the web".

I link out a lot.  I believe that it makes my pages richer information sources.  I believe that it builds credibility.

If you were a visitor would you prefer a page that has no links or the same page that links out to information sources, sites with great information on directly related subjects?  Which of those would be recommended more via tweets, links, likes, emails?

So, my vote is that google gives credit for linking out and even if they don't your visitors will.

[dbuckles]

Well put! I link out to a lot of .gov sites because they contain information that my customers find useful. As long as you are keeping your customers' needs in mind when writing content and/or linking, you are on the correct path.