Benefits of having outbound links

[WebRiverGroup]

Are there any strengths (benefits) in having outbound links within the site regarding SEO?

If linking to reputable sites, would that help increase our SEO strength or does that only work if they links back to us?

[BrickPicker]

Sorry I don't have an answer, but I would love to know one as well. This is a great question.  Even when I know and work with a fellow webmaster in the same category, everyone always puts rel=nofollow.   I understand doing this in forums or comments, but in article content or other site areas is this helpful or hurtful.

[crackingmedia]

Hi, I don't think there is any SEO benefit that's been proven. If you had asked the question a couple of years or so ago, the answer would have been make sure you use nofollow on your links.

But the web is changing and Google is rewarding authenticity in what you do online.

If you were to write a technical article in a magazine for example, you would typically cite anyone you referenced in your article to give them credit for the piece you referred to. So, if you write a blog post for your site, why shouldn't you do the same? It seems normal and authentic to do that and if you are going to credit them, why wrap a nofollow around it?

Technically, you are passing SEO value from your page to theirs and diluting your own page's SEO value. But I don't know now if Google sees it and treats it that way.

So, that may not have answered your question but it may give something to discuss further.

Peter

[MickEdwards]

Would you prefer to browse a site that is flat in terms of just providing static one dimensional information, or a hot site that is offering external resources and links to further information to give you the best experience possible?   Always think of the user experience.  Google probably knows that if you add links out within your content and in context to external authority sites you are attempting to give value to the visitor.  So if you do link out don't use no-follow, as you are telling Google you don't trust the sites!

[EGOL]

If you were to write a technical article in a magazine for example, you would typically cite anyone you referenced in your article to give them credit for the piece you referred to. So, if you write a blog post for your site, why shouldn't you do the same? It seems normal and authentic to do that and if you are going to credit them, why wrap a nofollow around it?

I agree.  If you write an awesome article and it includes reference links out to other websites that are superior to your page on some aspect of the topic then your article becomes a much more valuable document for the reader.

The more valuable your article to the reader the more likely it will be that your article receives links, likes, tweets and other positive attention.  That is the SEO and social value of the citation links.  So, in my opinion, they do indeed have value and I often include them in my articles.

In addition, there are many pages on the web that link out to hundreds of other webpages.  Let's say you are linking out to all of the medical centers and physicians who provide treatment for a rare disease.  That is something that you can't find in a simple search and could take hours and hours of expert research to compile.  It could be a lifesaving resource for some people.  So a page that is nothing more than a list of links and one paragraph of explaination can be quite valuable and merit links and social attention from many directions.

[RuthBurrReedy]

In general, I would link out to websites as needed and as your users might find valuable, rather than trying to link out for SEO benefit. The method of creating a links resource as EGOL suggests above can be valuable, but if you're going that route you should make really, really, really sure that you're creating something of value (and something that will be updated regularly), and not linking out to every site that asks or that will link back to you in exchange. In general as far as linking to other websites goes, I would just do it where you otherwise would anyway and don't worry about/try to get any SEO benefit from it.