Case Study:How 5 Outbound Links Gave Me 500 Incoming Links

Sat, Dec 27, 2008

Blogging Techniques, Link Management, Traffic, Work From Home, seo

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When I first started giving out my weekly Link Love in my Links Round Up in my home business blog some 4 months ago, the thought that excessive outbound links would be bad for SEO specifically page rank bleeding, never crossed my mind. I did it in the spirit of sharing with my readers and my subscribers some interesting posts I’ve read in the blogosphere for their benefit.


Dofollow or Nofollow

Well I have to say during the last 4 months, this topic of whether dofollow or nofollow your blog or comments has been highly debated umpteen times by many bloggers. At the end of the day, there is no right or wrong decision to this, it’s a personal choice that each of us has to make.

Do Outbound Links Kill My Google Ranking?

Everyone likes to have more incoming links. The more the better for your page rank, your SERP. But what about outbound links on your page.  How do they affect your link building efforts especially improving your page rank? Is too much linking out bad for SEO particularly to the page you put these outbound links? Well playing the devil’s advocate, even if there is some truth, I think it’s probably insignificant to deplete your page ranking and we should continue to do this as it provides more information to the readers. Here’s what others have said…

DOFOLLOW- What happens is you kill your Page Rank. Link juice on a page is like a 9 volt battery that last long time if you you have a small LED light attached to it. However it will DRAIN DEAD if you use it to power something bigger like a car head light…..Internal PageRank contributes to the overall site PageRank health, DOFOLLOW is like cancer deep inside your belly - Garry Conn, garryconn.com No Outbound Links- One reason people blog is to generate inbound links to their website. It’s a great benefit of blogging. However, in the pursuit of backlinks, don’t forget to link out to others. Forget about this notion of withholding your link juice. That’s silly. You have to be willing to link out to others. It shows your readers that you are providing them with well-rounded information, and it captures the attention of the bloggers you link out to. By making them aware of your blog, they’ll be more willing to return the favor by linking to you or even letting you guest post on their blog - Gerald Weber, http://sem-group.net

My 5 Outbound Links Gave Me 500 Incoming Links

My most recent Link Love-Links Round Up N0.16 listed like in all other link love posts, 5 posts I read for the week and shared with readers. However when I last checked, this post generated 501 incoming links. It’s a pleasant surprise and it just shows that the spirit of sharing good information with my readers or my subscribers does somehow find a way to repay back my link love. The Three outbound links that surprised me were:

    Garry Conn’s Playing Online Games Can Be Dangerous for IE Users (363 incoming links received- post has 10 comments, Alexa 83K; blog PR4:45K Yahoo inlinks) Grizzly’s Niche Support (9 incoming links received- post has 88 comments; Alexa 85K; blog PR3:8K Yahoo inlinks) Courtney Tuttle’sout How Many Links Does It Takes To Get #1 In Google (26 incoming links received- post has 43 comments; Alexa 152K; blog PR0:3K Yahoo inlinks) ** The rest of the 100 incoming links resulted from my own domain**

    Case Study Conclusion

    While this study is not conclusive given that there may be some other factors which may have contributed to this, it suffices to say that the good result was achieved by linking to Gary Conn’s blog post as the blog, garryconn.com has the highest page rank, traffic, and an incredible amount of incoming links it has accumulated. Although for practical reasons we may not always be consciously looking for these attributes when you link out, nevertheless, it just proves that linking out to quality sites is extremely important for link building and it’s something to keep in mind. Given that this case study on outbound links and incoming links has also revealed what a quality blog Garry Conn has from an unbiased review, you may want to head over to his blog to see what else this man has to offer you. If you are into blog monetization especially adsense or generally make money blogging, this is the blog you would want to go to. google top 10


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This post was written by:

Peter Lee - who has written 159 posts on Work From Home Business Blog. A Legitimate Home Internet Business researching work at home ideas this blog was started by yours truly, a banker by day and a home business owner by night helping others start and grow their business, finding new ways to make money online. Read More About Me

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  • Cool, I might be first again. :) That's a cool test. I like to think that by sharing great content with your visitors it pays off in the end. By being more selective you can speed it up. I'm leaning a lot from you my friend, thanks.

    <abbr>Brian D. Hawkinss last blog post..Blog Gone Mobile</abbr>
  • @Brian D. Hawkins: Hi Brian, thanks for being the first to comment. You are amazingly fast my friend.I agree with you, somehow we always get our just rewards don't we. Good to see you here again. How's your new site doing?
    -Peter
    Work At Home Ideas
  • Well being as how you quoted me in this post It's pretty obvious you already know my position on this issue. Thanks for the mention and the link by the way. However I do have something to add. Let's think about this notion of not linking out or not following comments in order to "not link page rank" or "link juice" but we are wanting others to link to us in order for our page rank to go up? Putting SEO aside for a moment, to me there is something fundamentally wrong with this mentality. You have to be willing to give in order to receive. Thanks again. ;-)

    <abbr>Gerald Weber SEM Groups last blog post..Gerald Weber Dancing with the Elves</abbr>
  • @Gerald Weber SEM Group: That's an interesting thought. Well if this is what people are thinking it's also fueled by what they fear that Google is penalizing blogs who are dofollow ones.
    ****
    Peter
    Work At Home Ideas and Opportunities
  • I understand that is what some people fear. However coming from an SEO background I'll say that Google does want you to link out to other sites of relevant content so the idea that Google will penalize you for linking out I also find a bit silly. There are many things that Google may penalize you for however linking out to quality sites of relevant content is not one of them. Just actively manage your blog and delete any spam comments.
  • Hmmm. I like the math of it all, so while linking out to quality sites is useful- there is a threshold where you do have too many outbound links and you leak too much PR to other sites so you can never flow enough through to your internal pages to boost PR and gain real authority.

    PR is leaked in this fashion - you leak up to 85% of your PR to other sites from each page of your site. The value of the links you give to others diminishes as you link out to more and more pages, so over linking is not helping you or your friends. SEOmoz.org suggests very specific link limits to pages of specific PRs - check out their whiteboard Friday for PR sculpting/siloing and it will all make sense.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank

    <abbr>Mary McKnights last blog post..Have Cold Blooded Christmas, Hearts and Kisses, NikNik and REBlogGirl</abbr>
  • @Mary McKnight:Thanks Mary for your insightful comment.I'm not sure just how much is too much in terms of having a limit or threshold in outbound linking.
    ****
    @Gerald Weber: Gerald, what's your opinion on what Mary has just said about PR leaking up to 85%. That's pretty substantial.
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    Peter
    Online Business Ideas
  • Peter,

    There are over 200 factors that affect page rank. I believe that the idea that linking out in the form of do follow links affecting page rank or "linking link juice" is a falsehood belief that is very much perpetuated in the blogosphere.
  • I totally agree with you on this Gerald!
  • See Peter! I told ya giving link love is a good way to build backlinks too..

    <abbr>Ben Peis last blog post..Do You Have These 10 SEO Plugins?</abbr>
  • I must say that I am guilty for limiting my amount of link love. It should be time for me to start my own link love as well. Like what Gerald say, outbound link is just one of the many factors that affect page rank and thus we shouldn't really worry too much about this. Great article once again Peter.

    Cheers
    Wei Liang

    <abbr>Wei Liang | Earn Money Onlines last blog post..Lesson 22: E-Book Marketing</abbr>
  • Great read and nice blog by the way!

    Regards,

    Jeff McNamee
    www.johnpaulraygoza.com
  • @Ben Pei: Yes I believe so. 4 months giving and still loving it.
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    @Wei Liang | Earn Money Online:Yes, there is no better time than NOW my friend.
    ****
    @Jeff McNamee: Hi Jeff, welcome to my blog. My you are pretty fast in getting here as I just left a message to your myspace site a short while ago. Keep in touch.
    ****
    Work At Home Ideas and Opportunities
  • The thing is that if you are giving someone credit, as is their due, for information that you have used in your post then the idea of withholding some of the juice by making the link nofollow would seem to be a little insincere. It's a little bit like giving the teacher and apple with a bite taken out of it.

    <abbr>Sires last blog post..Blog No Evil,The Fourth Wise Monkey</abbr>
  • @Sire: Absolutely, I sure won't want to be that teacher with the half eaten apple. No thanks!
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    Peter
    Passive Income Ideas
  • 556 links now!

    My advice to anybody starting a new blog is to link out frequently as you can - it brings your blog to other bloggers attention and you can also gain backlinks out of it as this example demonstrates.

    <abbr>Andy @ Do Follow 001s last blog post..Here's Some Link Building Tips to Help You in 2009!</abbr>
  • @Andy @ Do Follow 001: Hi Andy, it's your first visit so welcome aboard to this community. Thanks for checking up on the links and yes it's 556 incoming links now. Isn't it amazing. Hope to see you around.
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    Peter
    Work From Home Ideas
  • Awesome case study, Peter. I truly agree that link love will not affect your PR, or at least not to the point that you should withhold linking out or making such links "nofollow."

    A great post once again. Thanks!

    <abbr>Alan @ Work From Homes last blog post..Retirement Income Not Enough?</abbr>
  • @Alan @ Work From Home: I agree. Even if we don't talk about PR leaking, I can't imagine writing a topic without referring, mentioning and linking to relevant sites for the readers.
    ****
    Work At Home Ideas and Opportunities
  • Hi Peter,

    Great stuff shared once again! Giving out link love is very important to get incoming links but in my opinion, it's better to build up one's incoming links manually first to get certain pagerank before giving it out.

    This is just so that you still have constant link juice coming to your site while you are giving out some link love.

    Asher

    <abbr>Ashers last blog post..How Do Search Engines Work</abbr>
  • @Asher:So I guess this means that you are of the opinion that giving outbound links do drain your PR.But you could do both since linking out whenever you write will definitely benefit your readers, and do this now, why wait?
    ****
    Work At Home Ideas
  • Outbound links drain your PR but not that much unless you're doing a lot of linking. It's the adding up of linking to the same domain that leaks the most PR.

    However, I'm not against giving outbound links. What I believe in is to build up inbound links first and make sure that your site has sufficient juice before giving it out.

    Asher
  • Very cool study and congrats on the links. I know my own outbound linking (which I think is pretty good now) will increase considersbly in the coming year. :)

    <abbr>Dennis Edells last blog post..Twitter for You and I in ‘09 - The Post You’ve Been Waiting For ;)</abbr>
  • @Dennis Edell: Yep, I do see that you give out link love quite generously too and that's why your readers love you my man. Yeah we are all looking forward to 2009!
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    Peter
    Passive Income Ideas
  • Great post Peter and I agree with you completely.

    LMAO..."do-follow is like cancer..." This paranoia of bleeding link juice is just paranoia. I wonder if Gary offers any proof of this statement, I doubt it.

    There is an appropriate time to use no-follow of course, but overall, there is no connection between "losing page rank" and do-follow links. Matt Cuts and Google have discussed this several times on their blogs. I have never seen it affect my blog where I have lots of do-follow comments and a PR3 that I got with one update, nor have I ever seen any evidence or any proof from anyone that is so.

    Good for you Peter, sharing the link luv is good for you and good for them, the rewards are much much greater than any risks. Many bloggers understand the importance of link luv and they will hit you back!

    <abbr>JR @ Internet Marketings last blog post..15 Great Wordpress Plug-Ins: SEO, Subscribers, Bounce Rate and More</abbr>
  • Great results Peter. You have got a lively debate going, just need Mr Google to let us know what the real facts are!

    <abbr>Alan Thomass last blog post..Take Your Internet Home Base Business Opportunity To The Next Level</abbr>
  • @Alan Thomas: Hi Alan, I don't think that's (Mr G revealing anything) going to happen and even if we do, it's probably going to be a double talk.
    ****
    other Passive Income Ideas
  • Hi Peter,

    A very interesting article and one which I am paying close attention to as I need to build some backlinks for my new niche site.

    Your blog is looking great..very professional.

    Graham
  • @Graham Maddison: Hi Graham, good to see you here. Well I highly recommend doing lots of blog commenting for your new site. It's proven to be one of the fasting ways of increasing backlinks.
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    Peter
    Passive Income Ideas
  • Peter, in some case I got a great result too. In my note; as long as we pointing our link to a great source, this will make our user happy and Google too.

    <abbr>Dewaji SEO Tests last blog post..Busby SEO Test</abbr>
  • @Dewaji SEO Test: Thanks for dropping by. Absolutely this experience just shows the benefit of linking of high PR and high quality site.
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    Peter Lee
    Work At Home Ideas and Opportunities
  • Giving out link love can be a good thing. If your blog is working for you and others then you have to ask yourself how important is your PR?

    I do a mix of both. Comments are moderated but always dofollow and select links in post are as well.

    <abbr>Jordan Pearces last blog post..Random Twitter Blog Posts For You :)</abbr>
  • @Jordan Pearce: Thanks for dropping in. It's good to see others like you give link love too. Just visited your blog and left a comment. Hope to see you around.
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    Peter
    Passive Income Ideas
  • You know how I feel about it all. The universe will give you what you give out, and linking to others in some fashion is always a good thing as far as I'm concerned. Link juice yet; bah! :-)

    <abbr>Mitchs last blog post..My Search Engine SERP Tests</abbr>
  • @Mitch:Hey Mitch, I haven't seen you here for sometime so glad you dropped by.
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    Peter
    Passive Income Ideas
  • Hi Peter this is a very interesting post. I had seen link love posts like the one you are talking about in many blogs but didn't imagine that it could generate such a big amount of backlinks. Will try It in my blog soon. A very well explained case study. We need more posts like these in the blogosphere.

    <abbr>Archie Penniess last blog post..Reporter vs Expert - Why Most Bloggers Are Stuck Reporting</abbr>
  • @Archie Pennies:Thanks for the visit and I've just visited yours too. You've got lots of interesting stuff and I'll be visiting it again. Hope to see you around here too.
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    Peter
    Online Business Opportunities
  • I'm glad the outbound links have worked for you. Part of the whole idea behind blogging is to connect and link to other bloggers. I try to find as many credible sources on any subject I blog about and link to them. Eventually you'll end up getting a lot of nice backlinks.
  • @Dave (The Other One): Thanks Dave for dropping by. Yes the key is to link to relevant blogs in your own niche. Having quality and relevant backlinks definitely have more value in the eyes of Google.
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    Peter
    Online Business Opportunities
  • I don't see why you should DoFollow if the reason for that is just so other bloggers that you linked to will see that. Because they will receive pingbacks anyway, it doesn't matter if it is a DoFollow or a NoFollow link. That way, you keep the link juice and still let other bloggers see that you've linked to them. Isn't that cool? :D

    And great post really! Thanks for sharing such useful case study with us. I stumbled it.

    <abbr>Gennices last blog post..Internet Explorer 8 RC1 Now Available For Download</abbr>
  • how to check outbound and inbound links?because i try to websitegrader its not show up.just written N/A.

    <abbr>joe comps last blog post..Eyeglasses For You That Really Cheap</abbr>
  • On my blog I have a page where I thank a list of blogs, with link to their post at that time. It has hundreds of links out. I haven't got punished.

    I link to them to thank them for doing something a special day, if Google punished me for that I would ban all Google's IP-addresses from every site I own. :)

    <abbr>Øyvinds last blog post..Skiing weekend at Furedalen</abbr>
  • @Øyvind:Thanks for the visit and for adding to the conversation. That's interesting.
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    Peter
  • if it were true then none of catalogues would have better than PR1 since theyh ave loads of links ;)

    <abbr>Blogging Tipss last blog post..Girls and alcohol</abbr>
  • Yeah sometimes unexpected things happen to our blogs :) especially since you had the right motivation in sharing and connecting to other bloggers

    <abbr>Michael Aulias last blog post..Fight against spam – Round IV, AntiSpam Bee enters the war</abbr>
  • @Michael Aulia: Thanks for dropping by.I think even if I don't get so many inbound links, I would still share and connect to all my friends and other bloggers. It's the right thing to do.
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    Peter
  • Sometimes you get picked on on top commentor and tracbacks get picked up. I have seen some post get picked up and listed on so many pages from a few links out. You never know what site can get you hundreds of links back so it does make sense to mention some every now and then.
  • @cheap web hosting: Yes that's a very logical reason.Once your link appears on the blog homepage, you will get linkbacks and in this case Garry's blog has lots of links, so that explains it.
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    Peter
    Work At Home Ideas and Opportunities
  • i came here in search of answers to something I thought wasn't true. I have experienced that inserting the adsense code into my site has brought me crashing down in the serps and I find that people consider this to be a myth.
    But i say its true. I guess it is too strong an outbound link which drains link juice and I believe I have to start all over again to get it back.

    Nice information here which surely helped.Thanks

    <abbr>goacoms last blog post..Is bad governance ruining Goa?</abbr>
  • Outlinking some of fear, because bloggers feel there are giving away links to their competition.

    But by linking to smaller bloggers, they notice a spike in their traffic, therefore, they are more likely to link back.
  • thank you for sharing the article, where is most important that if we get outbound link from website that same category with us or not, is there any effort if we get outbound link from the website that not same category with us ?
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