Linking to competitors / importance of outgoing links

Can links to competitors harm my online travelguide?

[wolfadeus]

I am currently working on an online travelguide that provides local information on a European city - the main part of the content consists of descritpions of sights and attractions, as well as some practical advice. I just added outgoing links (two or three at the end of each page) to relevant info - ie, if it is about a museum, to the official website and a wikipedia article on the subject of the museum. Now I have two questions:

1.) How important are these links to make my website more "plausible" for SE?

2.) How can I avoid to support competitors without receiving backlinks? (Some information is available on similar pages, ie other travelguides).

Thanks you,

W.

[idolw]

incoming links are more important, not the outgoing ones.
it will be difficult to avoid links exchanges with competitors as most relevant sites are your competition :)

[stever]

1) I think they are a quality signal if they are to quality sites (such as the ones you mention)

2) I wouldn't be linking to competitor sites. NOT for the reason that they are my competition but because the sites I link to "augment" my content (such as tourist offices, trade associations, accommodation, etc.).

In other words, they are additional resources, and my competition shouldn't possess any additional resources that I don't have on my site.

There is also a subtext to your question which often comes up in discussions about links and that is detailed in your subtitle "Can links to competitors harm my online travelguide?".

People are often extremely reluctant to "allow" visitors away to the competition's site (whether we are talking informational or commercial sites).

However, one could also look at the larger picture and argue that both sites are benefiting (if the links are relevant) against other sites.

And, more importantly, if an owner - as the one person who should be positive about their site - believes that they may come out on the "losing" side of any exchange, then do they have deeper problems with their site or product than worrying about links?