Linking to other simialr sites.

Does this help in getting page rank or with the serps?

[flaxmac]

I would like to know if placing links on my site to highly ranked sites on the same topic will actually help me get a higher page rank or better placement in the serps?

[keep it loose]

One-way outbound links to other sites, whether they are relevant or not, will not improve your SERPs placement or PR.

These links, however, may be useful to your patrons...

[glengara]

Won't help with PR, as for the SERPs, the picture is less clear.

In theory the anchor text of a link can reflect on both the linking and linked-to page, so if both are relevant to the anchor text, both could benefit.

[keep it loose]

Excellent point, Glengara. I guess if the anchor text were relevant to your website and keyword rich, it would count as actual content. ;)

I was thinking about simply displaying a link to another site w/o any real anchor text. For example: One's site reviews software and in an attempt to artificially boost one's rankings one places a link to Adobe on a couple pages with the address or simply "Adobe" as the anchor text.