{"id":18200,"date":"2019-07-10T05:00:28","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T05:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brickmarketing.com\/?p=18200"},"modified":"2025-06-30T17:49:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T17:49:19","slug":"outbound-linking-guidelines-follow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brickmarketing.com\/blog\/outbound-linking-guidelines","title":{"rendered":"Outbound Linking Guidelines to Follow"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"When it comes to SEO, website owners are so concerned about generating inbound links that they sometimes forget that on the opposite side of the spectrum, outbound links matter, too. Yes, it\u2019s important to generate inbound links because they instill search engine trust in a website, but outbound links are also crawled by the search engines and help to tell a website\u2019s story. As much care needs to be put into outbound linking as inbound linking which is why we\u2019ve created this list of outbound linking guidelines for webmasters to follow:<\/p>\n

1. Do link out to other websites<\/h3>\n

The goal of every website should be to provide visitors with a good experience, something that gets them to come back and visit again and keeps the brand\/company represented by the website viewed in a positive light. Part of providing a good experience is to link out to other websites, because after all (all SEO aside), the original purpose of links is to bring people from one page to another. For example, if you\u2019re quoting something that was said elsewhere on the web or citing a reference, it makes sense to point out where this information is coming from by linking to it. It also establishes credibility; your visitors know that you\u2019ve done your research and aren\u2019t pulling information out of thin air!<\/p>\n

2. But, consider who you\u2019re linking to<\/h3>\n

Just as you only want inbound links from high-quality, authoritative websites, you also only want to be linking out to these websites. Links are sort of like your clique online, it\u2019s who you hang out with. And you only want to be associated with other good websites. If you\u2019re linking to a resource, take the time to find the original source of the material. Maybe a not-so-well-known blog you came across is talking about a study. Don\u2019t link to them. Instead, link to where they found that information: whoever actually conducted the study.<\/p>\n

3. Manually review user-generated links<\/h3>\n

\"\"
\nFor most websites, it doesn\u2019t even make sense for there to be user-generated links in the first place. For other websites that do allow these links (via things like blog comment links, guest blog posts, forum comments, etc.), it\u2019s advisable for there to be a manual review process in place so that they aren\u2019t automatically going onto the website (and potentially causing harm).<\/p>\n

4. No-follow paid links<\/h3>\n

If another website is paying you to link to their site, you need to be transparent about this to visitors (with a sponsored designation) and search engines (by nofollowing the link).<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve never thought about it before, now you know: yes, there are outbound linking guidelines just as there are inbound linking guidelines. Both kinds of links inform the search engines which is why you need to be smart about who you link out to and how you link to them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When it comes to SEO, website owners are so concerned about generating inbound links that they sometimes forget that on the opposite side of the spectrum, outbound links matter, too…. More Info<\/a>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13815,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seo"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOutbound Linking Guidelines to Follow | Brick Marketing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As much care needs to be put into outbound linking as inbound linking.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brickmarketing.com\/blog\/outbound-linking-guidelines\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Outbound Linking Guidelines to Follow | Brick Marketing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As much care needs to be put into outbound linking as inbound linking.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.brickmarketing.com\/blog\/outbound-linking-guidelines\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Brick Marketing - Digital Marketing Agency\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-10T05:00:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-30T17:49:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.brickmarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/522754897.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"592\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"592\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nick Stamoulis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nick Stamoulis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/outbound-linking-guidelines#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/outbound-linking-guidelines\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nick Stamoulis\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dd420fc038644ad2ee1a62912b6368fb\"},\"headline\":\"Outbound Linking Guidelines to Follow\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-10T05:00:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-30T17:49:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/outbound-linking-guidelines\"},\"wordCount\":491,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/outbound-linking-guidelines#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eqo6k4wde6o.exactdn.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/12\\\/522754897.jpg?strip=all\",\"articleSection\":[\"SEO\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/outbound-linking-guidelines\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/outbound-linking-guidelines\",\"name\":\"Outbound Linking Guidelines to Follow | Brick Marketing\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/outbound-linking-guidelines#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/outbound-linking-guidelines#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eqo6k4wde6o.exactdn.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/12\\\/522754897.jpg?strip=all\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-10T05:00:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-30T17:49:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dd420fc038644ad2ee1a62912b6368fb\"},\"description\":\"As much care needs to be put into outbound linking as inbound linking.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/outbound-linking-guidelines#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/outbound-linking-guidelines\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/outbound-linking-guidelines#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eqo6k4wde6o.exactdn.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/12\\\/522754897.jpg?strip=all\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eqo6k4wde6o.exactdn.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/12\\\/522754897.jpg?strip=all\",\"width\":592,\"height\":592},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/outbound-linking-guidelines#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Outbound Linking Guidelines to Follow\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Brick Marketing - 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