Does this count as outbound link

If i don't link it

[blue_eagle]

Hi i was wondering if I <write the url at text> on my pages but don't link it and if it stays there just as simple text would that count as an outbaound link?

Thanks.

[edited by: martinibuster at 5:52 am (utc) on July 18, 2005]

[abbeyvet]

No.

[blue_eagle]

Thanks

[cellularnews]

My experience is that it does count as far as google is concerned.

[blue_eagle]

Hmmm. two different answers :) So does it count or not?

[abbeyvet]

Can you elaborate on your findings cellularnews?

[sit2510]

>>> Hmmm. two different answers :) So does it count or not?

The answer is very simple - NO!

When you write it as simple text, how can it be counted as outbound link?

[cellularnews]

Can you elaborate on your findings cellularnews?

Yes - some sites have chosen in the past to write "as reported by widget.com" in their news articles (we are a news site) without converting them into actual hyperlinks.

When I check backlinks later on, they ARE showing up in Google.

Also - backlinks appear to use when written in MS Word and Acrobat documents that are just plain text, and not clickable links.

[goodroi]

The correct answer is that it depends on the mood of the search engine. I have also seen plain text being counted as a backlink. If you want to avoid this possiblity you could put the text in a graphic.

[martinibuster]

>>>When I check backlinks later on, they ARE showing up in Google.

Depends on how you are checking the backlinks.

If you simply do a search for domain.com then you'll see the text of that url show up. If you do a true backlink search, link:domain.com then you should not be seeing the url.

The first search isn't a backlink search. The second one is not a backlink search. That said, I recall hearing that Google can "know" about a url, but that's like being in supplemental.