Importance of outbound links (if any), and does 'nofollow' matter?

[Marvin Hlavac]

I've read a few threads (older ones) here at Webmaster World on the topic of outbound links and if they could contribute to a website's position in search results. The postings I read didn't give clear answer if Google rated websites differently based on the quality of outbound links.

Let's suppose outbound links are important. My question is, does it matter if the links are 'nofollow', or would it be preferable for SEO purposes to not use 'nofollow' for outbound links to quality/trusted sites?

[tedster]

I'd say there is no clear answer, or at least there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Some types of sites naturally have many outbound lins, and other types have few or none. Anchor text is definitely an on-page factor as well as affecting the page it points to, so that's one way outbound links can help a page.

My approach is to be very natural - link out when it helps your visitors. More happy visitors is what the end target should be, and Google finds more and more ways to reward sites that achieve that state.

The nofollow is your own choice - but if a site is something you feel good about showing to your visitors, then I'd just link naturally. The small (really, very small) PR "leakage" effect is not worth getting concerned about, IMO.

[edited by: tedster at 9:44 am (utc) on April 14, 2008]

[Marvin Hlavac]

tedster, thanks much for your reply. My (vBulletin) forum is presently setup so that all outbound links are 'nofollow'. However, there is an option to manually add URLs to a 'follow' list, and I thought I could use the 'follow' list for some quality/relevant/trusted sites, if it would help SEO. But I will not bother doing it now, since it would likely make no difference.

Great forum, this Webmaster World. I'm glad I found you guys!

[Bewenched]

I've always been curious as to whether or not linking to another site would help "relate" your site to the other. Like if you were linking to the manufacturer's website would it potentially help you rank for that brand? Would you be listed as being associated with them?

[tedster]

It can happen exactly that way, at least for your own site's "Related to" results. It's not as likely the other way around, unless you get a link from the big site, or you both get links from third party sites.

[youfoundjake]

As it has been mentioned, link to other sites when it will help your current visitor. Keep in mind that the Internet is a collection of documents linked to each other. As far as passing juice, that's completely up to the individual.
I pretty much leave the link natural, rarely do I link to a bad neighborhood, and if its an questionable link, then of course, nofollow on top of it.
It's good to link to sites related to your's, somewhere I read, (WebmasterWorld, seomoz) about how there is value in linking to like minded sites.