Outbound Links

Improve your search engine placement with outbound links. When used properly links help your web pages perform better in the search engines. In order to use outbound links properly you must know why links exist, what outbound links, the problems with outbound links are and how to use them to your advantage.

Just over fifteen year ago it was virtually impossible to find documents on other computers unless you knew it was there or had access to the tools to acquire those documents. The World Wide Web was born out of a need to connect documents with documents other documents. Hyperlinks became the tool to meet this demand.

An outbound link is any link from one document to another document. This includes links within your domain. However, the focus in this dialogue will specifically cover links to documents outside your domain. Outbound links are created with the following code <a href="page.html">outbound link text</a>.

Outbound links can also be created using images instead of text. Links using images are created using <a href="page.html"><img src="image.jpg" width="150" height="20"></a>.

The major problem with outbound links is people don't know how to use them.

When you use images to link to other documents you must use the ALT attribute. Ignoring the ALT attribute or using it improperly fails to aid your web page in its search for high search engine placement. While some think images are fantastic for navigation they increase web page size and more often decrease your search engine placement.

Outbound links are created using text links or images. Text links use anchor text. When people link to other pages they often use "click here" or "more information" as the anchor text. Text links like "click here" or "more information" are non-descriptive.

Some browsers allow the visitor to view a list of all links on a web page. When you consider this fact and you have an anchor text that says "click here" or "more information" you're not telling your visitor enough information for them to make an educated decision to click the link.

Using Outbound Links

Your use of outbound links can help your web pages perform better in the search engines. As previously mentioned, using "click here" or "more information" doesn't help your web pages. Neither do images. Using the URL as the anchor text doesn't help either.

Your outbound links should include your keywords. Keywords in your anchor text help with your search engine placement. Some people recommend that you link to pages with high PR values, but this view actually lends PR value to the page you link to. You should be linking to articles you have written and had published on other web sites.

Outbound links are links from one document to another. They can be used to your advantage or disadvantage. Now that you know what they are, why they exist, how to create them and why you should use them you should use them to your advantage.