How Effective Are Outbound Links? – Moz
Skip to content
Moz logo
Menu open
Menu close
Search
Products
Moz Pro
Moz Pro Home
Moz Local
Moz Local Home
STAT
Mozscape API
Free SEO Tools
Competitive Research
Link Explorer
Keyword Explorer
Domain Analysis
MozBar
More Free SEO Tools
Learn SEO
Beginner’s Guide to SEO
SEO Learning Center
Moz Academy
SEO Q&A
Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
Blog
Why Moz
Agency Solutions
Enterprise Solutions
Small Business Solutions
Case Studies
The Moz Story
New Releases
Log in
Log out
Products
Moz Pro
Your All-In-One Suite of SEO Tools
The essential SEO toolset: keyword research, link building, site audits, page optimization, rank tracking, reporting, and more.
Learn more
Try Moz Pro free
Moz Local
Complete Local SEO Management
Raise your local SEO visibility with easy directory distribution, review management, listing updates, and more.
Learn more
Check my presence
STAT
Enterprise Rank Tracking
SERP tracking and analytics for SEO experts, STAT helps you stay competitive and agile with fresh insights.
Learn more
Book a demo
Mozscape API
The Power of Moz Data via API
Power your SEO with the proven, most accurate link metrics in the industry, powered by our index of trillions of links.
Learn more
Get connected
Compare SEO Products
Free SEO Tools
Competitive Research
Competitive Intelligence to Fuel Your SEO Strategy
Gain intel on your top SERP competitors, keyword gaps, and content opportunities.
Find competitors
Link Explorer
Powerful Backlink Data for SEO
Explore our index of over 40 trillion links to find backlinks, anchor text, Domain Authority, spam score, and more.
Get link data
Keyword Explorer
The One Keyword Research Tool for SEO Success
Discover the best traffic-driving keywords for your site from our index of over 500 million real keywords.
Search keywords
Domain Analysis
Free Domain SEO Analysis Tool
Get top competitive SEO metrics like Domain Authority, top pages, ranking keywords, and more.
Analyze domain
MozBar
Free, Instant SEO Metrics As You Surf
Using Google Chrome, see top SEO metrics instantly for any website or search result as you browse the web.
Try MozBar
More Free SEO Tools
Learn SEO
Beginner’s Guide to SEO
The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.
Read the Beginner’s Guide
How-To Guides
Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.
See All SEO Guides
SEO Learning Center
Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.
Visit the Learning Center
Moz Academy
Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.
Explore the Catalog
On-Demand Webinars
Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.
View All Webinars
SEO Q&A
Insights & discussions from an SEO community of 500,000+.
Find SEO Answers
August 7-9, 2023
Lock in Super Early Bird savings for MozCon
Snag tickets
Blog
Why Moz
Small Business Solutions
Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.
Grow Your Business
The Moz Story
Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.
Read Our Story
Agency Solutions
Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.
Drive Client Success
Case Studies
Explore how Moz drives ROI with a proven track record of success.
See What’s Possible
Enterprise Solutions
Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.
Scale Your SEO
New Releases
Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.
See What’s New
New Feature: Moz Pro
Surface actionable competitive intel
Learn More
Log in
Moz Pro
Moz Local
Moz Local Dashboard
Mozscape API
Mozscape API Dashboard
Moz Academy
Avatar
Moz Home
Notifications
Account & Billing
Manage Users
Community Profile
My Q&A
My Videos
Log Out
By: Tim Grice
February 23, 2009
How Effective Are Outbound Links?
Link Building
This YouMoz entry was submitted by one of our community members. The author’s views are entirely his or her own (excluding an unlikely case of hypnosis) and may not reflect the views of Moz.
Before I start my first post here on YOUmoz, let me say a quick hello.
Hello, everyone!
That’ll do. Over the past couple of months my mind has been drawn to outbound links, and there is a good reason for this that I will go into shortly.
Whenever outbound links are mentioned in an SEO environment, the response is usually negative. I have read recently on some blogs that it even casts a very negative shadow over outbound links, stating they could “harm your site’s PageRank.” I know this is simply referring to the old “bad neighbourhood,” but I have wondered for a while now what the effect of outbound links are.
Not even 3 weeks ago, I had the opportunity to sit down with a client who had attempted to optimise his pages himself (his SEO knowledge was modest, to say the least). He did not understand why he was not ranking for keywords in his content. To be honest, there was no surprise in his rankings when analysing his links, keyword theme, etc….
However, one aspect of his site that got my attention was his ‘anchored’ outbound links. Why did this get my attention? Because one of the keywords he was ranking in the top 3 for was one of these anchored outbound links. This baffled me, as he did not include this keyword in his main tag’s title, meta, heading, etc…
Why did he rank so highly? Is there something in outbound links we’re not considering? I wish I could show you this site but I never took the client on and would not want to break any privacy laws. All I can say is that it is a fishing site that describes the best areas in the UK to fish and what fish you will find (riveting, I know 🙂 ). The sites he was linking out to were .gov sites and local businesses with pretty high authority. He had very little in the way of backlinks and his site was around 6 months old.
It has been common knowledge for a long time that linking to authoritive sources can help establish some visibility; however, I am beginning to think that outbound links hold a lot more weight than is generally perceived. What do you guys think?
About Tim Grice —
Tim is Director of Search at Branded3, a digital agency in the UK. Over the last 8 years Tim has worked with multiple businesses including some of the biggest brands in the UK & US, developing natural search strategies to dominate the most competitive terms.
For more link building tips, check out The Beginner’s Guide to Link Building:
Read the Guide!
Read Next
Link Relevance vs. Content Relevance in Link Building
Read this post
In Defense of Spam Score and the Concept of a Toxic Link
Read this post
Measuring Link Building
Read this post
Comments
Please keep your comments TAGFEE by following the community etiquette
Comments are closed. Got a burning question? Head to our Q&A section to start a new conversation.
Moz logo
Contact
Community
Free Trial
Terms & Privacy
Jobs
Help
News & Press
Copyright 2022 © Moz, Inc. All rights reserved.