Do you link out to good content?

[ThomasHgenhaven]

I have noticed that there are a bunch of questions in the Q&A about people are concerned about allowing blog post comments or linking out in general.

My question is: do you avoid linking out to other websites, even though they have good content? I am not talking about direct competitors here, but just linking to other websites in general.

[MarieHaynes]

I have no problem linking out to good content!  In fact, I believe that this can help your SEO.  My pages that link out to authoritative stuff that will help the reader seem to do better than ones that do not.

[DanDeceuster]

I allow links in my blog comments and publish them all the time. I share on facbeook and twitter links to stuff I enjoy as well. If an article has a tweet this button or a share button that makes it all the easier. I also post things I like to my blog from time to time, so yeah, I have no trouble linking to content I enjoy. It's too bad more people don't think that way though, it would make this whole SEO thing a lot easier

[EGOL]

We make between four and ten blog posts per day and 90% of those posts include a followed link to another website.  Our goal is to feature news, developments and good ideas in our topic area.   We have no philosophical or SEO problem with linking out.  We think that it makes our site a good information source and that attracts links, subscribers and repeat visitors.

The only downside is that we get lots of weasels trying to get a link to their crappy site.  However, our goal is to link out to sites that are BETTER than ours.

We also link out on article pages... much like Wikipedia does.  Again, we are linking to sites that have great information that is superior to ours in some way.  Don't link down, link up.

To answer your original question.... "Do you link out to good content?"

The answer is "NO" .  We link out to GREAT content.

[SteveOllington]

Yeah as long as it's relevant and decent stuff then you should definitely link out to it... I link to this site loads.

[EGOL]

...""people are concerned about allowing blog post comments"....

We have not discussed this part of your question yet...  but it is the potential issue.

If you allow comments then there will be a lot of people trying to use your site as a source of links and that could have you linking out to a lot of bad neighborhoods.  You might then find your blog listed on a low-quality SEO's list of "DoFollow Blogs".. and then you will be hit with a landslide of SPAM comments.

(side comment.... this very issue explains why I recently started to post on the SEOMoz Pro Q&A.  the forum where I have posted for years allows signature links and that has brought such a large number of trash postings that I burned out over there.  That will probably not happen here because signature links are not allowed and the ability to post here must either be paid for or earned.    /rant)

[vforvinnie]

I link to quality content on other sites too.  Most of the time it's to authority sites (for e-commerce I might find a good page on a manufacturers site that has a lot of useful information).  I will also link to news outlets or blogs that have some relevant content that I simply don't have time to cover or can't do a better job of covering.  The only exception to this is that I never really link to direct competition, but I feel like most people here will do the same thing.

I think some outbound links can help you in terms of SEO.  It looks natural, and shows that you are offering more than just your own content to the readers.  You are giving them other valuable resources outside of your own site.

[ThomasHgenhaven]

Cool - seems like we all agree that linking out is good / the right thing to do.

I am still amazed that many people are still fearing that they will lose all their "page rank juice" if they give a single link to Wikipedia or whatever.

[AlanBleiweiss]

"That will probably not happen here because signature links are not allowed and the ability to post here must either be paid for or earned."

And people like you, Jennita, me and a bunch of others would instantly turn those to toast the minute they're spotted

[SteveOllington]

Or they could allow one, totally non-spammy sig link once you get to a certain point... i.e. 10,000 moz points or something. I doubt spammers would hang around that long to get a link