What Is an External (Outbound) Link? Do They Help SEO?

What is an outbound link?

An outbound link, also called an external link, is a hyperlink on your page that points to a page on a different website or domain.

If a post on your blog cites a government report or recommends a tool on its maker’s site, both of those are outbound links. The two terms mean the same thing. “Outbound” just describes the direction from your side.

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Outbound vs. inbound vs. internal links

All three are ordinary links. The only difference is which site the link starts on and which site it lands on.

Link type	Starts on	Points to	Example
Outbound (external)	Your site	Another site	Your post links to a study on a university site
Inbound (backlink)	Another site	Your site	A news article links to your post
Internal	Your site	Your site	Your post links to another post on your blog

The same link can be two things at once. When you link to another blog, it is an outbound link on your page and an inbound link (a backlink) for them.

Do outbound links help SEO?

Not directly. Adding outbound links won’t move your rankings on its own. Google’s link best practices say linking out isn’t something to be scared of, and that citing sources with external links can help establish trustworthiness.

The practical value is for readers. A number with a link to its source can be checked. A number without one has to be taken on faith, and careful readers notice the difference.

When to add nofollow, sponsored, or ugc

Most outbound links need nothing extra. A normal editorial citation should stay a plain link. Google’s guide to qualifying outbound links asks for a rel value only in these cases:

• Ads, sponsorships, affiliate links, and other paid placements get rel="sponsored". Google still accepts nofollow for these, but prefers sponsored.
• Links that visitors add, such as comments and forum posts, get rel="ugc".
• Use rel="nofollow" when neither of those fits and you’d rather Google not associate your site with the page, or crawl it from your site.

You can combine values, such as rel="ugc nofollow". For the HTML, how Google treats these values as hints, and how to add them in WordPress, see our entry on the nofollow link.

How to use outbound links well

• Link to the original source. If a statistic comes from a study, link the study rather than a blog post that quotes it.
• Write anchor text that names the destination. “Google’s spam policies” tells a reader where they’re going. “Click here” doesn’t.
• Don’t skip a good source because it belongs to a competitor. A plain link doesn’t hand over your rankings.
• Recheck older posts now and then. Sites move and pages disappear, and a post full of dead links looks abandoned.