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The search engines probably value these links in some way, but nobody outside of the search engines nobody knows exactly what their value might be. In my opinion, it is essential to have these types of links on your pages.  They decrease bounce rates and help engage visitors. If you go to almost any of the most important news sites you will see links to their related content in  the side bars and immediately below their articles.  You will even see them within articles.  They are often accompanied by interesting images, beautiful images, provocative  images, all to get your attention.   These content blocks can direct visitors to  related content, most popular content, most shared content and serendipitous content. Some websites even make money by displaying links to content on other website using services such as outbrain, taboola, and others. Promoting your own content in this way is a very important thing to do.   Promoting the content of others might be a good idea to make money, but it might be a better idea to promote your own instead of giving your engaged visitors to other website for a few cents.