Q: Hi! I’m very confused about outbound links. I was told by a SEO firm that outbound links were A Bad Thing as they canceled out your inbound links. But it seems this is not the case.

A: Outbound links are not A Bad Thing and they don’t cancel out your inbound links.  In fact, a “natural” linking profile for a quality website would normally include outbound links, as it is natural for  most quality sites to provide links to other resources.

Outbound links are only bad if they are done as a part of a link exchange or if you’re being paid for providing links that are not tagged with “nofollow.”  In that case, your site could be penalized by search engines.  I would certainly get rid of any outbound links that you may have created as a part of a link exchange scheme of any sort.

You should also check your outbound links periodically to make sure that they aren’t pointing to “bad neighborhoods.”  Sometimes good sites go under, and the domains are taken over by squatters, spammers, malware, porn, etc.  Your site’s status on search engines could be damaged if you link to these – not to mention your credibility with your human audience!

Lastly, it’s reasonable to link to your own website pages as a priority, rather than other sites.  For example, if you have a page on your site that features “tea cozies” it certainly makes more sense from an SEO perspective for your home page text to link to your own “tea cozies” page rather than pointing to some other site’s “tea cozies” page.

My advice is to link out to sites if you think they will benefit your human visitors.  This might include sites that offer related, but not necessarily competing services or products. For example, if you market tea cozies, you might link out to your favorite brands of tea. Outbound links  are also important as part of an overall strategy of social marketing and participatory blogging.  Outbound links can also be linkbait – for example, let’s say you link to a travel blog while criticizing it for missing the mark on the most charming high tea destinations. People in your target audience might be drawn into a conversation.

Naturally, if providing links to other resources feels forced or unnatural on your website, or if you don’t think it will benefit your human visitors, then you shouldn’t do it.

Q: I would like to create an area for our customers to read articles or news about our industry and our company. Should I institute some kind of blog format so that customers can comment on stories or articles? Will this be complicated to set up? Is there any advantage over standard web pages for posting articles?

A: Many people wonder whether to use a blog format for posting articles online, or whether a classic, tree-structured website navigation is better. We’d look at this situation from a few angles: where it fits into your conversion goals, your available labor, inbound link potential, and target audience preferences. Here’s a bit more on each of these:

Conversion Goals
If you are developing content that is clearly helpful in driving conversions, such as “Perfect sizing tips for your baseball cleats” or “Which is the right softball for you?” then we’d argue that it belongs on your site as an article. This is our gut feeling, because we think this type of content is generated less frequently and tends to appeal to a newbie audience, so it’s just better suited for a static page within your global navigation.

On the other hand, if you have “newsy” content – promotions, events, etc., that is meant to engage interested visitors and spark return visits, then it would be perfectly reasonable to post the content in a blog format. Similarly, if you often post brief commentary and observations, industry notes and links, rather than longer, essay-like research and articles, a blog would provide a better venue.

Do you have both conversion-minded articles and news items? You can always create a hybrid situation in which you use the blog primarily for news, but create a post on the blog containing a “promo” for, and a link to, every new article you create.

Your Available Labor
You sound concerned about technical work involved, but what about writing work? Do you have the writing staff to keep a blog current and populated with compelling content? Is blog-style content generation realistic for your particular industry and company? A lot of companies use blog authoring software to post their press releases, which is perfectly kosher, but that kind of arrangement rarely comes close to using the blogosphere to its full potential.

Inbound Link Potential
We think it’s reasonable to assume that a well-written, interesting blog will generate more links than articles, because you can generate more discussion on a compelling and dynamic blog than in a static article.

Notice how we went overboard with the adjectives there? “Well-written, interesting, compelling, dynamic?” Just a friendly reminder that content is king no matter how you add it to your website.

In order to gain the full benefits of integrating a blog into your existing site, you should make sure it is part of your domain, i.e. yoursite.com/blog. Then, start linking out to other relevant blogs. The blogosphere is a two-way street: you should link out if you want to get links in.

Target Audience
Think about your target audience and how comfortable they would be with your choice. Would your internet-savvy audience find a classic navigation boring and old-fashioned? Or would your more traditional or newbie audience get lost trying to use page tags as navigation? Keep a clear eye on your target audience and your long-term business goals, and make your choice accordingly.

Q: In your book, you mention the benefit for “non-commercial” content as a way to gain visibility in the search engines. Could you provide me some examples of commercial websites with non-commercial content? I’ve really never seen any at all.

I’m afraid of looking “weird” by putting philosophical beliefs, etc. on the site.

A: What we really mean by “non-commercial” is this: informative and helpful, with little or no sales-speak. Of course this content should be related to your product and we don’t recommend going off on a philosophical (or, heaven forbid, political) tangent. Here are a few ideas and examples:

• Resume tips on an executive recruiter’s website
• Wine reviews on a site that sells wine cellar management software
• Case studies, white papers, how to, or troubleshooting tips related to your product
• Q & A, “ask the experts” or answers to common questions in your industry
• Free tools or downloads
• “Area Sights” on a hotel website (but only if this is really unique – not like the generic ones we usually see!)

Some “real world” examples are:

• Author Rhonda Abrams provides expert advice, a newsletter, and several other pathways into her realm of authority.
• Stevens Creek Software, which sells athletic software among other things, has a target heart rate calculator.
• Search engine expert Aaron Wall offers free online SEO tools

Inlinks are great, not only because they bring traffic directly to your site, but also because search engines notice them and use them to measure the authority of your pages. Notice how, in the three examples above, we used keywords to link to the content. These links will give Ms. Abrams a little boost for ranking well when people search for “Rhonda Abrams,” the software site a boost for “target heart rate calculator,” and Mr. Wall a boost for “free online SEO tools.”

Of course you could delve even further into the realm by building content primarily designed to gain links, and that would be what we call “linkbait.” This is one of the most talked-about subjects in SEO today – for more on Linkbait you may wish to read:

• Matt Cutts’ SEO Advice: Linkbait and Linkbaiting
• Search Engine Journal with an article on linkbait
• Problogger on “What is Linkbait?“

The important question is not “is this material non-commercial” but rather: “is this material linkable?” Information that is not readily available elsewhere on the web, or which provides a new and different perspective, can serve to be quite linkable. It will also help you build your credibility and relationship with your potential customers. And that’s your real bottom line, isn’t it?