Keywords in outbound link anchor text

advantages and disadvantages for my rankings

[bluecorr]

I've used the search but couldn't exactly what I'm looking for. Can someone please explain to me whether liking out using my keywords (or part of it) in anchor text is beneficial to my rankings or can it hurt them? In your experience, does the Google algo place any emphasis on this. If yes, to what degree?

The reason I'm asking is because I've decided to transform the links section into one link per dedicated page. Each page has 2-3 paragraphs and an outbound link. If I use a good anchor text that includes a keyword of mine, can it hurt or help my rankings?

Thanks

[plasma]

Keywords in linktext are good for the linked page.
If you link to competitors with 'your' keywords certainly this would be bad for you :p
I think it won't boost your site, but the reader will appreciate descriptive links instead of "click _here_" or "go to _www.foo.bar_"

[Marcia]

I have a couple of links pages that are ranking top ten for the keyword phrase used in outbound link text as well as the pages linked to, but it's supported by other factors on the links pages themselves. They're not restricted to that one link either; but there are only a few on each.

They're not totally unrelated, however; they're all roughly in the same somewhat related theme group. That's out of about 750K pages, but it's not one that would be heavily contended for, it isn't a money-making search term by any means.

Outbound link text does add relevance, if supported by other legitimate factors.

[edited by: Marcia at 6:33 pm (utc) on Mar. 17, 2003]

[heini]

I use this technique, albeit sparesly. It's more of a just in case thing. No proof for effects whatsoever.
If I apply those, I generally link out to sites, which are above the crowd, authoritative sites, mostly noncommercial.

[Marketing Guy]

If your links page is on a particular theme (ooh, let's say "widgets"), then having keywords in the links and description will add to the keyword density of the page.

Link 1 - Bob's Widgets - Provider of Green widgets
Link 2 - Widget Farm - Grower of widgets
Link 3 - Widget repairs - Widget repairer

If your links page is "niche" enough you can easily target specific keywords with it.

When this happens you will also get more requests for link exchanges too. :)

So, the keyword density can be beneficial to the ranking of that particular page, yes.

Perhaps having lots of external links with a particular keyword in them may help the page rank better - ie - if someone searches for "blue fuzzy widgets" then your links page with lots of links for blue fuzzy widgets sites is pretty relevant, therefore it should be ranked higher.

IMHO! :)

Scott

[bluecorr]

Thanks for the great replies. The keywords used in outbound links are not my primary keywords although they are similar. For example my main keyword is "red widget" while the outbound link says "red widgeter directory" or similar. I don't indend to help my direct competitors but the red widget domain is so vaste you can find related sites without having to compete with them.

I have followed advice here on Webmasterworld regarding a certain way one can describe links. As I said I created a dedicated 2-3 paragraphs page for each website in my links section. No need to hide behind the bush here, they're all link exchanges, not highly authoritive sites (those are linked out from the really important pages ;). What I had in mind is gain a bit from linking out by

1) creating more content pages for Googlebot, not just links.
2) because of 1) I can target a wide range of keywords
3) the incoming visitors would have to think twice before going to the site I'm linking out to or just having a browse through my website ;)
4) users won't find it so discouraging like when they see a list with links each with a brief description.
5) help theming the site like Marcia said.

Considering the above, is it a good strategy or not?

Thanks again!