To Link or Not to Link - That is the Question

When it comes to building a successful blog, nearly every blogger has heard that linking is important. After all, we are told, the search engines love to see links. But, is it really a good idea to link everything that you possibly can within your blog? Or, should you put a little bit more thought into where and to what you decide to link?

Outgoing Links

When it comes to outgoing links, there are varying schools of thought. While some believe outgoing links should only be made when absolutely necessary, others believe you should make every effort to include at least one or two outgoing links in your posts. Since the magical algorithms used by the search engines are kept secret, it is difficult to say which school of thought is best for the search engines.

When it comes to pleasing your human visitors, outgoing links are always appreciated when they are linked to relevant and helpful sites. Therefore, regardless of the outgoing link strategy you choose, be certain every link you create links to a site that is relevant to the post and is from an authoritative site. The higher the quality of the link, the higher your visitors and the search engines will rank your site.

Incoming Links

Incoming links are also touted as being highly important in order to create a successful blog. In many ways this is true. After all, if other blogs and websites have links to your blog, you will be more likely to receive visitors from those sites. At the same time, you should exercise some good judgment when trying to get a link to your blog posted on other sites. Otherwise, your link could potentially have negative effects on your blog traffic.

Having an incoming link from a less reputable website can negatively effect your blog in a couple of ways. First, if it is posted on a site that is not too reputable, it may actually hurt your reputation as an authority in the area. Second, your search engine ranking could actually be negatively impacted by an incoming link from a site that is of poor quality.

Internal Linking

The other linking option you have available is to link within your own site. Internal linking offers a number of benefits to your blog. First, it makes it easier for your site visitors to navigate through your site and to find other posts that are relevant to the topic. Not only does this make your site more informative and helpful to your readers, it also encourages them to delve further into what your blog has to offer.

Another benefit to internal linking is the fact that search engines love blogs that link within themselves. Internal linking makes it easier for the search engine spiders to crawl through your site and to determine what the site has to offer. So, as you are building up your blog, be certain to start linking your entries right away - it is much easier to do it from the start rather than trying to get caught up later!