Comments on: Outbound Links and their Impact Upon Your Blog

By: Gazzali

Gazzali — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 11:44:59 +0000

Outbound links for site with good traffic but can it bring traffic in the first place?

By: Gazzali

Gazzali — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 11:42:15 +0000

outbound links is for site which has a reasonable traffic but for site which has no or little traffic. Can it bring traffic Darren?

By: medicalhealthguide.com

medicalhealthguide.com — Fri, 16 May 2008 04:30:10 +0000

The web is supposed to thrive on links. Bringing you to a relative subject from another site. This method enables the reader to have a broader selection of articles about the subject. However, this has been at some extent abused by some to gather pr rating by buying links. Google doesn’t like the idea of selling links for PR so they opted to penalize those that sell links, along with it are some legit sites that provide links to other sites. So this pushed web authors to limit the external links going out of their sites, This is so just not to be mistaken by Google as link seller and be penalized.

By: dreamboracay.com

dreamboracay.com — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 04:46:18 +0000

outbound links is the polar alternate of inbound links. I agree that outbound links are not bad at all. Based from my reading and small experience, it actually helps a site when it is linked to a related site moreso if the site linked to has a high ranking.

By: hustler

hustler — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 16:50:29 +0000

Do email addresses count as outbound links? If anyone knows, I would appreciate an email back. Thanks!

By: Outbound » Outbound Notebook System

Outbound » Outbound Notebook System — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 21:58:28 +0000

[...] Outbound Links and their Impact Upon Your Blog Outbound Links and their Impact Upon Your Blog … when I was slashdotted it was to a post that had no outbound links in it at all … being linked to had an outbound link in it in the first … [...]

By: Linkology - How to Link Out » Names@Work » Blog Archive

Linkology - How to Link Out » Names@Work » Blog Archive — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 23:07:57 +0000

[...] There is some anecdotal evidence about outbound links, which common sense would confirm, that readers are more likely to click earlier links than later ones. If you want people to read further down your page, you may want not put links, especially strong ones, in the first sentence. [...]

By: digitalSURGERY.net » Blog Archive » Outbound Links and their Impact Upon Your Blog

Sat, 08 Oct 2005 08:10:09 +0000

[...] Darren at ProBlogger.com seem to have the same struggle in this matter: I know of numerous Adsense publishers swear by not giving their readers any links to click on their sites unless they go to another page on the site or unless they have some money making ability. [...]

By: BJ

BJ — Sat, 08 Oct 2005 03:24:08 +0000

I’m like Brent – I prefer to have external links open in new tabs. But then again, I’m using Firefox and find the tabs so handy. I use the plugin that lets me click and hold down on a link and move it aside to open up a new tab, so I actually don’t usually know when a site is using target=blank or not because I almost always open up new tabs. When I click on a link, forgetting to open it in a new tab, I find it very annoying because 9 out of 10 times, I’ll close the tab – and close the original site as a result.

As for linking out, it seems to me that outbound links go with the territory when it comes to blogs. It’s all a huge massive give and take, kind of like universal law – you know, give and you get. Or at least, that’s been my experience.

By: ChrisH

ChrisH — Sat, 08 Oct 2005 01:41:56 +0000

I’m in favor of target=_blank. I do feel slightly squeamish about it though – it has a “pop up ad” feeling about it.

But fact is, I work hard to get people to my site, why would I want to send them away?

And I don’t trust that readers know all the functionality of browsers to do this themselves.

What would be nice is if browsers added a right-click option to open the page in the SAME window (currently only new window or new tab) to override the target=_blank directive. Opera my choice of browser now, opens those target=_blank in a new tab rather than new window, which is nice if you don;t want a multitude of browser windows open.

As far as this article – thanks Darren for another must read.

By: fivecentnickel.com

fivecentnickel.com — Sat, 08 Oct 2005 01:30:37 +0000

Kate, I wouldn’t give it that much thought. As long as your internal links aren’t spawning new windows, then the vast majority of people will deal with it as long as your content is good.

By: alane by day » Blog Archive » Operation Instant Readership Part II

alane by day » Blog Archive » Operation Instant Readership Part II — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 20:56:03 +0000

[...] Our success with stories on other blogs is testament to the value of outgoing links, as discussed here by Darren on Problogger. If you read through the comments, there’s a very interesting debate on whether or not outgoing links should open their own window (target=_blank). His article got me thinking about how networking strategies differ for each blog. Highly frequented tech blogs draw a different reader base than small-time arts blogs, so it follows that they would have a different approach to attracting readership. [...]

By: Kate

Kate — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 19:48:01 +0000

Is everyone’s like or dislike of target=_blank secretly based on their blog stats? It seems like the big bloggers find it annoying, whereas the small time bloggers (or start-ups, like me) are worried about losing readers. It’s also evident that To Use or Not To Use target=_blank is based on your reader base, and the identity of your blog. Slashdot clearly sends outward links without opening a new window because their site is centered on referrals. Blogs on Blogging and other techie news are also more inclined to send people directly out, because their readers are net-literate and prefer to monitor their own window count.

But what about consumer-interest sites that bring in a larger number of novice internet surfers? Should a smaller, arts-interested blog pay more attention to idiot-proofing traffic by opening outgoing links in a new window?

By: Cary

Cary — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 15:16:25 +0000

Talk about a domino effect…I bet Chitika loved the fact that you got hit by the /.

: )

By: alek

alek — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 14:40:57 +0000

Darren,

I’ve been Slashdotted a few times and have some misc. notes at http://www.komar.org/faq/slashdot-effect/ – I also compare traffic to other sources such as Fark, USAToday, and (an attempt) at tracking inbounds from an AP story that went everywhere.

You are correct about the “early notice” – this is the so-called “mysterious future” where only subscribers can see the story. My experience is that it is about 15-20 minutes … and it’s then REAL obvious when the story hits the front page for all to see. I also have some data on how many inbounds I had from Slashdot and my numbers were a little higher than your 40,000. Yea, I don’t thinik you get a lot of click-thru’s from the /. crowd, but I bet it drives your click-thru percentage way down! ;-)

By: fivecentnickel.com

fivecentnickel.com — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 13:47:35 +0000

If you’re worried about target=_blank being non-compliant, there are javascript solutions (that’s what I use, specifying it with rel=”external”). I only use this on links to other sites — all internal links open in the same window. Also, if I command-click one of these links, it opens in a tab rather than popping up a new window. And with javascript turned off, it behaves like a plain old link.

Back to the topic at hand… While it may be that links early in a story divert traffic away, it just dawned on me that placing a link at the end of the story (such as ‘Source: LINK’ or ‘Via: LINK’ to attribute the story) might be even worse for CTR. I generally have an ad wedged between the end of the story and the comments and, just as the reader is finishing the story and about to see the ad, there’s a nice tempting link for them to click and take them away. In this case, it might be better to embed the link within the story, as you’re writing is hopefully good enough to keep them with you through the end. Anyway, it’s just a thought.

By: Dan Mossop

Dan Mossop — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 13:12:00 +0000

Darren, do you think the source of traffic to a blog could affect the decision to provide outbound links? In particular, if most of the traffic to a blog comes from search engines, would it perhaps make sense to minimise the use of outbound links?

By: Darren Rowse

Darren Rowse — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 11:51:43 +0000

Spnksay – this site normally gets about 3000 unique visitors in a day.

My total daily visitors varies from day to day but is anything from 30,000 to 45,000

By: Brent

Brent — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 10:14:11 +0000

I find it annoying when a new window does not open.

But it looks like I am in the minority.

If I am clicking on links on the same site then I don’t like new windows to open, but when I am on a good site then I click on something, find myself on a different site and have trouble getting back I don’t like it.

I know how to right click and open a new window but that is extra work for me that is annoying also.

By: HostingDiary

HostingDiary — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 10:08:20 +0000

Sitepoint uses popups and annoying frames so I’m not sure they know what they are talking about.
Andrew