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Is outbound linking, certainly to good sites - a bad thing in any way? does the total PR for your site drop if you have 20 outbound links to PR3 + sites? - i would have thought it would in fact be a good thing - as promoting linking is a good thing - both for visitors and for googlebot...
so should i be linking - are links pages a good thing - and should i stop trying to protect my PR?
Harley
<<(Of course, PR means next to nothing to Google these days....) >>
This is quite true. I wouldn't worry too much about passing around a little PR as it is one of many, many factors in the way Google scores sites, and not NEARLY as important as it once was. If you really are so very concerned with PR, whip out your wallet and buy a 7 - it's easy.
Rather than playing with a PR calculator, get ONE good inbound link, then you can pass your PR in and out of your site and still crush your competetion. The other option is to hoard outbound links like a paranoid freak.
Rather than discussions on how to best distribute PR through a site we should discuss the best way to use anchor text links to your money pages.
PR may not be so important now, but it does have its uses. One is clear: you get freshbot more... and NEXT... since Google is on a "fresh" kick, fresh pages are very important now. So, while PR may not matter much in terms of itself in the rankings, it is simultaneously very important in leading to pages being found and benefitting from being fresh.
So it appears that I do reduce the PR value of both the index page and the links page
"No, the equation is not over. You just sent out an infinite number of links. Did this cause zero sites to link back to you? If so, your PR for your two pages is lower than if you didn't have that infinite number of links. But obviously that isn't important. What matters is what resulting effects occur because you sent out all those links. The PR is still alive out there."
Following the flow of my argument, I started to link out to the other websites from a point at which my index page had an already inflated PR of 6+dx, due to the effect of the link from my links page to my index page. As I stated dx at some point will reach zero if no direct or indirect links come back, but I cannot go below my PR6.
Because I cannot go below PR6 (as long as DMOZ doesn't suddenly go and add 10,000 websites to my category!) I am perfectly happy to link out to other good websites, regardless of what PR they are. If some of that (dx) PR comes back, all the better. If it gets me noticed by a PR10 website that then goes and links to me - fantastic!
The only PR I can see "leaking" is that tiny fraction I have labelled "dx" - the amount generated as a result of my link from my link page to my index page.
Not playing social convener here, but aren't you and steveb essentially in agreement?
You may be right. Perhaps, when people talk about leaking PR, it needs to be stated what "PR" they are talking about. I understand that if I am PR6 as a result of DMOZ, unless something happens in DMOZ, I am not going to lose any of that PR, no matter how many outgoing links I create. But it also seems that internal links can add some PR, but I would consider it insignificant; however, I can keep that new internal PR within my site or I can send it away into the big wide world. It may come back, it may not - I don't really care. I am still going to be PR6.
Actually my site does have PR6 because of a few strong incoming links, including DMOZ. And I do link out to lots of other sites which doesn't appear to have had any negative impact on my PR or ranking.
(And yes, I know the toolbar is only integral; I may be PR6.3765 because of DMOZ et al. I would say I am still no less than PR6.3765 as a result of my outgoing links)
I understand that if I am PR6 as a result of DMOZ, unless something happens in DMOZ, I am not going to lose any of that PR, no matter how many outgoing links I create.
True, and more people have to understand that when they worry about linking out.
But it also seems that internal links can add some PR, but I would consider it insignificant
What I've seen on my site is that the available PR can be shifted around to particular pages... I wound up with a PR6 on the main page where the internal links from all other pages go back to, and PR5 on the index even though it has most of the incoming links.
This business about linking out robbing the entire site of PR needs a stake driven through its heart. If anything, as has been said in the thread, you gain from it.
"I wound up with a PR6 on the main page where the internal links from all other pages go back to, and PR5 on the index even though it has most of the incoming links."
Sounds like your available PR from you external incoming links was something like 5.99999 and your internal pages just tipped the scales for you. Nice one!
If Google ever catches up with all the new backlinks, I might get the PR7 I've been dreaming of.
I'll remove myself now from this thread in deference to the others who actually know what they're talking about.
