Importance of keywords in outbound link text

What do we know?

[Nick_W]

Hi all,

We always talk about incoming link text and how that affects a page's keyword positioning.

What about outbound link text?

If you have a page on blue widgets and you have outgoing links from that page to either pages on your site or off-site sources labeled:

• blue widgets that wodget
  
• blue widgets that bodget
  
• etc, etc
  

Does the term blue widgets only count for the fact that it is your keyword or does it count more because it is a link to stuff about blue widgets?

Do any of you know anything about this?

Nick

[Grumpus]

Links TO something effect the page that it goes to.

That's not to say that it doesn't help your page that's doing the linking such that, in your example, you've got nice keyword density for "blue widgets".

G.

[Damian]

I'd say it may give your site some points for being a widgets 'hub', a place that links to the good widget sites.

Also I believe spreading keywords over different html elements, of which <a href> is one, helps.

[Nick_W]

Yes, also list items and of course headingss

I have no evidence that it makes any difference but maybe it should. Sites with keyword links are probably more relecant...

Nick