Links are essential for search engines. Having a well-crafted link-building strategy will increase your website’s chances of ranking higher among search results. Crawlers use all types of links to navigate through pages and understand their content. Links within a website’s content helps bots adequately index and rank a website.
Any hyperlink on your site that points to a domain different than yours is called an outbound (or external) link. Also, links from other sources that link back to your site are considered outbound. Mainly, they direct visitors from pages on your website to other sites on the internet.
External links are considered as third-party votes by search engines. They are highly valuable because they relate to the importance of your site within your niche. By having many websites link to yours, you can slowly (but surely) become a credible and reliable source in the eyes of both users and search engines.
What’s the importance of outbound links?
Having your site rank on the first page of search results means that your business has succeeded in being relevant and valuable for your target audience. When used effectively, outbound links can help you achieve this.
The importance of external links comes down to one thing: relevancy. Links to your website from high-quality sites validate your content. Being popular and respected among your community is extremely valuable for search engines. If your peers recognize your content as relevant and of high-quality, your site’s success is nothing but assured. Enough external links will tell search engines that your site is an authority in its niche. Gaining authority is one of the most important aspects in the Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Having an authoritative website is the perfect indication that your business is booming. Similarly, linking to authoritative sites tells crawlers that your content is good by association.
So, what do you need to consider when linking to other websites?
The implementation of external links needs to be top-notch to take full advantage of their benefits. Here are a few tips for maximizing your link building strategy.
– Match the relevancy of your content between your site and the target page.
– Optimize your links’ anchor text, so it reflects exactly what the link is about.
– Avoid linking to spammy pages or sites that seem suspicious.
– Only link to sites that are trustworthy and recognized in your niche.