How important is linking out to relevant, authoritative sites?

[scanlin]

As I write blog articles for my site I often come across a situation where I'm quoting something from another site, or using a piece of data from that other site to make a point. I know it's nice and courteous to link to the source when I do this but from a pure SEO point of view, does it matter?

Is there any benefit to linking from my site to other sites that are related and authoritative on the subject I'm discussing? I know I'll bleed off a little link juice to that external site that would otherwise go towards my internal links on the same page, but are there other benefits to linking out to known good sites? Is that any kind of signal to Google that I'm playing in a good neighborhood?

[katemorris]

You are never bleeding link equity. Link equity does not ever leave the page if you link out to others. It's more like you are sharing what you have with others. There is no SEO benefit to linking to others in terms of link equity but I believe the engines do pay attention to if you are link hoarding. Being a good member of the community is vital to growing in importance. Look and act like a leader in your space and soon people will regard you as such. Besides, backlinks to others are good ways to build relationships which can get you links later on. That is worth it alone.