Outbound Links Are Not A Ranking Factor as per Google

Having outbound links is Good or Bad? It was a big question but for webmasters but now Google has clarify it and answered now.

As per Seroundtable.com, John Mueller said that external links, links on your web site that point to outside web sites (or outbound links) are not a ranking signal.

According to him, links are a ranking factor, but you linking out to other sites doesn't help you rank better. He said the content you use for the link anchor, is content, and content is a ranking signal. But the link itself is not a ranking factor. So we can say that outbound links can be good as per content point of view for creating the reference website but it can bring value to your content and that in turn can be relevant for us in search. And weather or not they are not followed, doesn’t really matter.

Google is also updating their "Google webmaster Guidelines" for better ranking strategy and clear ranking instruction for the webmasters. Google want to convey this message ever that your website must be created primarily for users, not for the search engines.