Does Google See links in Embedded YouTube Videos?

[Holygamer999]

When I embed a YouTube video on my site there is a link back to YouTube. Does Google actually see this as a link out of my site.

If so this will hurt SEO so I would like to know the answer.

[lucy24]

Well, considering that g### sees links that don't even exist...

Wouldn't they be more annoyed if you embedded a YouTube video and it didn't include a link back to YouTube? Last time I looked-- admittedly several days ago-- YT belongs to google.

[Robert Charlton]

...Does Google actually see this as a link out of my site.

If so this will hurt SEO so I would like to know the answer.

Holygamer999 - Welcome to WebmasterWorld. It's been puzzling me what you're really asking here. I think you may be assuming that an outbound link can hurt SEO by sending some PageRank away from the site, and that it's a better idea to "hoard" PageRank.

If that's your assumption, I'd strongly disagree with that way of thinking. My observation has been that Google rewards sites that are naturally a part of the web. While too many outbound links from a page, particularly from a page that's high up in a site's nav structure, will negatively affect the flow of PageRank through a site, that's probably not what you're thinking about in framing your question.

Let's just say, thinking of an embedded video in linking terms only, that judiciously-placed relevant outbound links most probably increase the credibility of a page. In site engagement terms, an embedded video that relates to the content of an article is likely to increase user involvement with the site.

The positives far outweigh the miniscule loss of PageRank that might be involved.

[Holygamer999]

That is completely wrong. If there was a benefit to your site linking to other sites then people would do it a lot more. A link out of your site hurts your site. Every SEO book I've read says that.

I was hoping for someone to give me a definite answer on this, not an opinion.

My site doesn't have much content on pages and so a link out of my site would hurt my site. So that's why I wanted to know if Google actually sees a link out of my site on a page where I embed a YouTube video because the video has a link back to YouTube. As far as I know Google can't see links in videos but I wanted to know what you guys know about this.

[MonkFish]

Holygamer999, only linking out to poor websites or websites which are spam would be a problem. Linking out to a quality source would not hurt you in any way. If you trust the source link to it. Youtube is a large reputable brand, so I would not worry if I linked to youtube.

[Robert Charlton]

A link out of your site hurts your site. Every SEO book I've read says that.

I was hoping for someone to give me a definite answer on this, not an opinion.

Holygamer999 - Definite answers are hard to come by in SEO, and SEO books are opinion too.

We can only tell you what we've seen. I myself have observed that linking out to good sites appears to help boost a page's ranking, and many other SEOs I respect have observed the same.

For Google SEO, Matt Cutts is perhaps the highest "authority" one can find. That said, not everyone trusts Matt's answers, and the algo changes over time. I have seen some SEOs say that the idea that linking out will help you is an SEO myth, but of course those comments are also opinions.

In any event, here's a blog post Matt made about PageRank and linking a few years back, in which he touches on the subject of hoarding PageRank and linking out. It's not likely that Matt's going to get more specific than the answer I quote below...

PageRank sculpting
by Matt Cutts on June 15, 2009
in Google/SEO
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/pagerank-sculpting/ [mattcutts.com]

I wouldn’t recommend closing comments in an attempt to "hoard" your PageRank. In the same way that Google trusts sites less when they link to spammy sites or bad neighborhoods, parts of our system encourage links to good sites.

[Zivush]

I wouldn't look at the pure SEO part of linking to a video, but to the user engagement, which is for me, more important then what Google may think about it.
My rule of thumb is -
1. If the video supports your content and provide useful info for the readers, most probably the page is going to improve its user engagement (i.e time on site, BR, p/v).
2. If the video is annoying, most probably the page is going to waste credibility - the user engagement will tank(i.e time on site, BR, p/v).
Although Search Engines are robots they come to the point that artificial methods such as linking out/in wouldn't trick them.
Penguin update was all about that.
I've never put any efforts on building links to the site while linking out to useful information without even considering SEO impact.
The site gained about 15%-20% on the Penguin update, so it speaks for itself.
It is logical: SE put more value to natural links to reward websites while chasing the other types of links.

[lucy24]

We can only tell you what we've seen. I myself have observed that linking out to good sites appears to help boost a page's ranking, and many other SEOs I respect have observed the same.

For Google SEO, Matt Cutts is perhaps the highest "authority" one can find. That said, not everyone trusts Matt's answers, and the algo changes over time. I have seen some SEOs say that the idea that linking out will help you is an SEO myth, but of course those comments are also opinions.

I picture a sort of Link Pyramid, where the world's leading authority on widgets could never outlink, because what would they say? "Here are some sites that mean well but don't know as much as I do."

If you're on the rung below, you link upward. And maybe downward to rung 3 if you're feeling generous and there's a site that talks about certain fringe aspects of 18th-century Bohemian widgets that nobody on rung 2 is interested in.

If you are many, many rungs below and don't link to anyone, it means your site is autistic and/or ignorant and/or arrogant because it's acting as if it's the only widget site in the world. It's hard to see that as a positive.