Outbound Links

[Asteg]

I have a page on upstrap-pro.com that provides weights of cameras and lenses.   The user/buyer of my on-slip camera straps needs to know the weight his camera and lens to determine the proper pad size... large to small.  We have put together a long list of the most popular customer cameras.  The way it was done (by my daughter) was to also provide a via a link to dpreview.com which is an excellent site for camera information including specifications etc.   My personal feeling about this is mixed.  I can do it by having it open dpreview.com in a new tab but then the user/customer could still get distracted and go down the rabbit hole.  On the other hand dpreview is such a good site that if they are new to photography and don't know about it, they should.  I don't get a dime from dpreview.  If fact I doubt they would ever link back to me because they do not write about camera straps.

I hear mixed things about outbound links.  In this file there are quite a few outbound links to dpreview to keep it consistent.   I could do a nofollow on all of them but I read that this is the easy way out.   Google is jump ball and I have no clue what Cutts and his merry men are going to decide is cool or not cool.

I'd like some thoughts or options...   Thanks...  A small part of the file below.

Canon EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM

Wideangle prime lens

Canon EF

22.8 oz

645 g

Canon EF 14mm f/2.8L USM

[BCutrer]

I would just go with the no follow if the issue is that you are concerned about bleeding page rank. I don't think it is a big issue either way though.

[ChristopherGlaeser]

It is my understanding that follow and nofollow external links bleed the same page rank.

Best,
Christopher

[BCutrer]

I don't think you are correct. Google isn't the most truthful at times, but straight from the horse's mouth:

How does Google handle nofollowed links?

In general, we don't follow them. This means that Google does not transfer PageRank or anchor text across these links. Essentially, using nofollow causes us to drop the target links from our overall graph of the web. However, the target pages may still appear in our index if other sites link to them without using nofollow, or if the URLs are submitted to Google in a Sitemap. Also, it's important to note that other search engines may handle nofollow in slightly different ways.

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/96569?hl=en&ref_topic=2371375

[ChristopherGlaeser]

Right, I was commenting on your use of the word bleed, which refers to the affect on the page with the link, not the page that is linked.  I agree, nofollow does not transfer PageRank; it just bleeds to the dirt below.  At least, that is my understanding.

Best,
Christopher

[Cyrus-Shepard]

I wouldn't worry too much about losing PageRank. In the old days, SEOs used this technique known as PageRank sculpting, but a few years ago Google changed how they handle nofollow links so that you don't actually save anything by using them.

Nofollow should be used on links you don't trust or can't vouch for, and for paid or non-editorial links. Since these links don't fall into any of these buckets, there shouldn't be an issue.

As far as linking out, the real question here is what would make your visitors most happy? Sometimes a visitor that clicks away and goes down a rabbit hole is happier than one who doesn't find anything interesting on your site, so it's best to weigh all sides.

Best of luck!

[Asteg]

Thanks.. so if I understand you this page can't be in the site map .

[Asteg]

This is jargon I do not understand.   Bleed...dirt below?

[Asteg]

That helped....thanks.   So the short version is to use them in no follow mode and do not put them in the site map.   I might do a generic header with the link to dpreview that allows the to go there if they want but not a link on every single one. Besides, there are other good sites such as Ken Rockwell.

[ChristopherGlaeser]

Bleed is just slang that means that portion of the PageRank is lost.  If a page has multiple outgoing links, the PageRank is divided among them.  If some of these links are nofollow, the portion of the PageRank associated with those links is not only not passed on, it is lost.  In other words, the PageRank is divided among all outgoing links, both follow and nofollow.