Linking is one of the most widespread SEO practices. It’s been a fundamental search engine optimization technique for almost as long as the internet has existed.

Unfortunately, due to recent algorithm updates from Google and other search engines, linking strategies have changed significantly.

Links make up the internet. Without them, our web pages would be a disjointed, disorganized jumble that would be hard to browse and find information on.

This article will cover everything you need to know about external linking and its importance. You’ll also learn some best practices and examples of how other sites implement this practice. Let’s get started!

A link often referred to as a backlink is a hyperlink that, when clicked, takes a person from one destination website to another. Added to a page by including code similar to this:

<a href="http://www.EXAMPLE.com/">Your anchor text goes here</a>

Hyperlinks between web pages on the same domain are internal links. They help users navigate the website and locate relevant content they want to read.

Internal links are crucial for SEO since they:

  • Prevent links’ value from being lost on a single page by helping link equity to move across a website
  • Promote crawling and indexing, making a page easier to find for crawlers
  • Help people with their navigation through the website

An internal link’s “value” or “equity” is not measured similarly to an external link. When it comes to ranking, Google values external links more highly.

Alternatively, a website might increase its ranking by building hundreds of internal links. And that would be contrary to the fundamental idea that links are “votes” from impartial third parties endorsing the value of your website or page.

Which is better, internal or external linking?

External linking happens when a site links to URLs on another site instead of internal linking, which happens when a site links to other URLs on the same site. External links go to pages on other domains, whereas internal links point to your pages.

Using external links has various advantages, including 

  • Drawing attention from other websites. Most websites monitor referrals. They are more likely to notice your site and even visit it to learn more about you if you link to them. This can extend your reach, particularly if you’re just getting started.
  • Giving your website more value. Your website can gain additional value if you compile and link to useful content. Visitors will depend on you to steer them on the right route rather than having to Google information themselves and wade through search results. This may lengthen visitors’ stays on your website. Your SEO can benefit from “dwell time,” as it’s another sign that visitors think your site is valuable.
  • Improving the ranks of your pages. However, the opposite is also true. Linking to spammy websites might help your site’s ranking. Your pages’ authority, knowledge, and trustworthiness determine how Google ranks them. Linking to reputable websites might help you rank higher.

External linking best practices

Any hyperlink or backlink that originates on one domain and leads to a target page on a different domain is known as an external link. It exists external to the host domain.

An “external link” is a word used in SEO to describe links created on other websites that point back to your domain. These “external links,” also known as backlinks, are evaluated for quantity, quality, and relevance in light of how they affect your page’s ranking.

Since it leads from your domain to another, an outbound link is also an external link.

You need to know how to take advantage of external links. Here are some important external linking guidelines to follow.

Do not casually add links for the sake of adding them while adding external links. Alternatively, include links that point users to the relevant stuff.

Good external links typically lead to related content. You can link to data, videos, infographics, etc., as examples.

Google and other search engines aim to provide users with the most relevant results to their queries. Since Google better recognizes the relevance and popularity of your content when external links come from websites in the same niche, this results in a higher SERP ranking.

Only link to reliable, authoritative websites when creating external links. You will lose your reader’s confidence if you link to unprofessional or clickbait-promoting websites. Additionally, it can harm how search engines rank your content.

Use a no-follow tag if you are forced to link to websites whose content you don’t trust. This tag informs web crawlers that your website shouldn’t be associated with the linked page.

set to no follow

How many external links should your article contain? There isn’t a clear answer.

You shouldn’t, however, overburden your reader with links, either internal or external. Whenever you link, your goal should be to provide readers with the best experience possible. If readers believe they are only being used as a tool in your SEO campaign, you risk losing them.

There are several reasons why your external links must open in a separate tab. However, the main benefit of having links open in a new tab is that it allows the user as much flexibility as possible when using your website.

open in new tab

Linking to websites that compete for the same keywords will be detrimental. You shouldn’t link to a website with the first spot in search engine results, for instance, if you’re targeting the keyword “Best internal linking plugin for WordPress.”

Link to content on other websites, such as pages with general information that add value to your content. You can include a link to a video about a particular SEO plugin you’re promoting that isn’t on a competitor’s website when using the “Best internal linking plugin for WordPress” example.

Spend time auditing your content every quarter (or at regular intervals) for any obsolete or broken links.

Readers’ experiences are diminished, and their trust in you may be affected when they come across outdated or broken external links in your content.

You can audit your website for broken links using a service like SEO Minion.

You can check out Linkilo’s link cannibalization report for more advanced external link auditing. This shows you exactly what anchor text you use frequently and see what you are linking to.

If you were to rank for the word “Google,” you shouldn’t use that anchor text to point to an external link. That is a bad example. But if you decide to rank for “best telescopes,” you would not want to point that to an external link.

STOP WASTING TIME! LET LINKILO FIND LINK SUGGESTIONS FOR YOUR WORDPRESS SITE