Linking to external sites

F

fatmt

Member
#1
#1
Hi @Jon

When posting stuff I have a tendency to link some of my remarks to external URLs (such as YouTube) to provide more context, and I have come across a post of yours in AP that says 'Links to external sites have a negative impact on ranking of Access World.'

Presumably this affects this forum too, and any other site for that matter.

Do you know why that is?
 
Jon

Jon

Administrator
Staff member
#2
#2
Links are the currency of the internet. Google uses them as a vote for how high they should rank peoples websites. More links = higher rank. You get authority by having more incoming links. If you give out loads of links, you lose some of that authority. Otherwise, you would get sites that have authority just selling tons of links to other people, for example.
 
F

fatmt

Member
#3
#3
Jon said:
More links = higher rank. You get authority by having more incoming links. If you give out loads of links, you lose some of that authority.
Click to expand...
okay, I would have thought that the higher the no. of incoming links, the higher your sites ranks. In other words, you should be rewarded if you get lots of referrals, but why should you be penalized for posting external links?

Or is it the case that you don't get penalized but, by posting external links you are not helping your site which, I'd say, is slightly different?

Just curious.
 
Jon

Jon

Administrator
Staff member
#4
#4
Let me answer by asking you a question. If an authority site just perpetually sold links from its site to other sites, are these real votes or fake votes? And if that happened all over the internet, how would you know which site had real authority? It is a bit like printing money.
 
F

fatmt

Member
#5
#5
Jon said:
Let me answer by asking you a question. If an authority site just perpetually sold links from its site to other sites, are these real votes or fake votes?
Click to expand...
It's difficult for me to answer your question as I don't have a frame of reference for it: by authority site do you mean a site that ranks highly?

For example, would YouTube, CNN.com or Stack Exchange be authority sites in your definition? They don't sell links though.

And if that happened all over the internet, how would you know which site had real authority? It is a bit like printing money.
Click to expand...
I am aware of the concept of Link Farm, I have never heard of an authoritative website selling links, that's why I have trouble understanding the question.
 
Jon

Jon

Administrator
Staff member
#6
#6
SEO is not a simple topic. Google nowadays has over 200 factors that goes into what ranks websites and they don't release the information on what goes into ranking. Link juice is a concept to read up on. Historically, outbound links hurt your websites ranking because of the link.

But Google monitors signals like time on site. If people leave your site due to a link that reduces average time on site and so Google thinks your site has less value. Its a complex topic.
 
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