Reverse angle

Let's look from the linkers perspective

[johannes]

Let's say I have a page closely related to "widgets". One day I spontaneously put up a prominent link in my right margin. The link leads to Mr x's page about widgets. <a href=>Read more about widgets</a>

Mr x and I have no relationship and he doesn't link to me.

I have given him what everyone of you wants. A spontaneous link, with a good anchor text.

This is what I want to discuss:
What do I gain by putting up such a link?

[Mike12345]

"G) Outbound Links:
From every page, link to one or two high ranking sites under that particular keyword. Use your keyword in the link text (this is ultra important for the future). "

According to step G its a good thing to do. Presumably, and im probably wrong here so feel free to verbally bash me, it shows that you are linking to pages related to yours, showing that your site is on topic, thus showing that you are more worthy of the #1 spot as opposed to someone else who links to a random off topic site.

That probably doesnt make much sense, and may be completely of the mark. But if it is a true statement then you stand to gain a great deal. IMO

:)

[Monkscuba]

If you are a widget seller and so is Mr X, you might lose business if his site is better than yours or he has better prices etc... You lose but your visitors win.

If you sell widgets and he has a widget information page, with widget history, design, and widget related topics, visitors to your site have a useful link.

If you don't sell widgets but Mr X does, he wins and so do your visitors.

If you're lucky you might get a link back.

Think about visitors to your site. They win in all 3 cases.

Doesn't that make you feel good? ;)

[johannes]

Thanks for the comments. To sum it up. I can gain this by linking to a related website:

1. Better position in SE.

I've not seen any evidence of this. If I was a SE engineer, I would give a small plus for on-topic outgoing links. But only a little.

I would give some minus to a website with no outgoing links at all.

2. With luck, a link back.

If you refer visitors to another site, you will likely get noticed by the webmaster of that site. And that can never be a bad thing. A link back could come. Especially if you ask for it.

3. Happier visitors. If I link to good information, visitors are more likely to return.

Sounds correct. Link to information that is valuable for your visitors. Don't place the links on the closing page and don't link to direct competitors.

Anything else?

[buckworks]

I don't profess to understand the hub/authority concepts that some people toss around, I just know that well-worded links and descriptions can be a way to add tasty spider food to your own pages. That's where a better SE rank can come from, in my experience.

I often link out if I come across something that relates well to my content. I write the anchor text and description to suit the optimization of my own page first, and if something about that provides an extra benefit to the other site besides a basic link popularity brownie point, that's a bonus.