In today’s digital age, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) plays an important role in improving the ranking of the website and its visibility in search engines. SEO has many parts, such as On-Page SEO, Off-Page SEO, Technical SEO, etc. A very important topic in all these parts is “External Linking”. This blog post will explain in detail about External Linking – what it is, how it works, its advantages, disadvantages, and its importance in SEO.
What is External Linking?
External Linking means giving a link from one website to another website. When you add a link to another website in the content of your website or blog, it is called an External Link.
For example:
If you have put a link to a trusted website like Wikipedia, Google, or a news portal in your blog, then it will be called an External Link.
In simple language:
When a link is given from your website to another website, it is an External Link.
Types of External Linking
There are two types of external linking:
1. Do-Follow External Link
Do-Follow links are those links through which the search engine bot can follow that link and the SEO value (link juice) is transferred to that linked website. This link helps in increasing the domain authority of the website.
2. No-Follow External Link
An HTML tag (rel=”nofollow”) is added to the no-follow link so that the search engine does not follow that link. This means that no SEO value is transferred to the linked website.
Why is external linking important?
External linking is important not only for SEO but also to improve user experience. Let’s understand some important reasons for this:
1. Credibility increases
When you give links to trustworthy and authoritative websites in your content, the user realizes that your information is based on good research.
2. Improvement in SEO
Search engines give priority to pages that are linked to good sources. This improves the ranking of your site.
3. Improvement in User Experience
If any information on your site is incomplete and you are explaining it in detail by giving external links, then the user experience is better.
4. Help in Search Engine Crawling
External Linking indicates to the search engine that your website is linked to valuable and related content.
Difference Between External Linking and Internal Linking
| Features | Internal Linking | External Linking |
| Definition | When pages on the same website link to each other. | When a website is linked to another website. |
| What does a link do | To other pages on the same website. | A page of another website. |
| Impact on SEO | Improves website structure and shares page authority. | Helps in increasing the credibility and authority of the site. |
| Purpose of use | Directs users to other important content on the website. | Sending the user to another website for more information. |
| Control | The website owner has full control. | The website owner does not have control over the other site. |
| Examples | Linking example.com/about to example.com/services. | Linking example.com/blog to wikipedia.org. |
| From Google’s perspective | Good for improving website structure and navigation. | Very beneficial for SEO if it is from a trusted site. |
| Importance of Anchor Text | Helps clarify the topic of the site. | Helps in giving authenticity and reference to the linked topic. |
| Link Juice (Flow of Page Rank) | Divided within the site itself. | Transferred to an external site. |
Benefits of External Linking
There are many benefits of doing External Linking, which are as follows:
1. Link Juice Transfer
The site linked with Do-follow External Links gets Link Juice, which increases its Domain Authority and Page Authority.
2. Search Engine Trust increases
When a user goes to a trusted website from your website, Google gets the signal that you are providing correct and useful information.
3. Content Credibility Increases
External links increase the credibility of your content. When you provide links to reputed sites for research based information, the reader trusts you more.
4. Opportunity for Networking and Backlinks
When you link to other sites, you are also likely to get backlinks from those sites in the future.
5. Bounce Rate Decreases
If users get important external links from your site, they consider your site valuable and visit it again and again, which reduces the bounce rate.
Things to keep in mind while doing external linking
It is important to follow some precautions while doing external linking, so that it proves beneficial for your website:
1. Link only to trusted and authentic sites
Always link to reputed websites like Wikipedia, government websites, news portals or related niche websites.
2. The link should be related to your content
Give only external links that are related to your content. Linking to any unrelated website can harm SEO.
3. Keep a balance between No-Follow and Do-Follow
Do not make all links Do-Follow. It is also important to keep some links No-Follow so that link spamming does not occur in the eyes of search engines.
4. Open in new tab
Whenever you give an external link, make it open in a new tab (target=”_blank”) so that the user does not leave your site completely.
5. No-Follow Affiliate Links
If you do Affiliate Marketing, then always No-Follow the affiliate link, otherwise Google can penalize you.
External Linking SEO Mistakes You Should Avoid
- Linking to Low Quality or Spammy Websites: Linking to websites that are of low quality or penalized by Google can harm your site.
- Giving links without anchor text: Anchor text is the text on which the user clicks to go to the link. Anchor text should be clear, clear and keyword-rich.
- Giving too many external links: If you add too many external links, the search engine will think that you are spamming links.
- Not updating broken external links: Old or 404 error giving links should be updated or removed immediately. This can be harmful for SEO.
Also Read:Â What is SEO
External Linking SEO Tools
There are many SEO tools available to track and optimize external linking:
- Ahrefs – tracks backlinks and external links
- SEMrush – shows competitors’ external linking strategy
- Ubersuggest – shows link opportunities
- Google Search Console – shows the performance of external links
- Screaming Frog – checks broken links
Best Practices of External Linking
- Check all the external links of your website from time to time.
- Link as many informational websites as possible.
- Always no-follow affiliate and sponsored links.
- Use only anchor text related to the content.
- Understand the linking strategy of your competitors and learn from it.
Conclusion:
External Linking is an important SEO technique whose correct use can greatly improve your website’s Trustworthiness, Ranking, and User Experience. It links your content to other reliable sources which gives positive signals to both search engines and users.
If the right strategy and balance is followed while doing External Linking, it can take your website to new heights. But remember, unnecessary or wrong linking can also cause you loss in SEO.
Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it.
Look advanced to more added agreeable from you! By the way, how could we communicate?
Hello to every , since I am truly keen of reading this web site’s post to be updated daily.
It includes nice material.
First off I want to say superb blog! I had a quick question which I’d like to ask if you don’t mind.
I was curious to find out how you center yourself and clear your mind before writing.
I’ve had difficulty clearing my mind in getting my thoughts out there.
I do take pleasure in writing however it just seems like the first
10 to 15 minutes are lost simply just trying to figure out
how to begin. Any suggestions or tips? Cheers!