What is External Link? External Link Building Strategies That Drive Effective SEO

What is External Link ? External Link is a very important type of link for a website. It not only helps the website increase rankings but also increases its credibility in the eyes of Google. So using many outbound links will lose website power? Stay tuned for more!

What are external links?

External Link , also known as Outbound Link , is a link from your website that points to another website on the Internet. External Link helps search engines better understand the field you are working in. From there, increase rankings and increase the credibility of your website.

Format of External Link:

<a href=”http://www.external-domain.com/”>Anchor Text </a>

Inside:

• “http://www.external-domain.com/” is the website you point to
• “Anchor Text” is the text used to insert the link (usually SEO keywords).

Use Anchor Text as a keyword that is relevant to the topic of the website you link to. Do not use one Anchor Text, but create multiple Anchor Text to better clarify the context and topic you are covering.

>> See also: What is Anchor Text? How to use Anchor Text in building an External Link strategy

Distinguish Internal link, External link and Backlink

Along with External Link , Internal Link and Backlink are also important links that help improve the reputation of the website. Understanding the purpose and planning the appropriate strategy for each type of link will help your website rank high and sustainably.

If you have not yet distinguished these 3 types of links and how to use them, then follow this section!

Same:

• Both External Link , Internal Link and Backlink use Anchor Text to insert links, helping users better understand the content they will click to view.
• Use the right link, in the right context, and bring value to the user.

Difference:

Link Type	Define	Characteristic
External Link	Links from your website pointing to another website	Pay attention to the quantity and quality of outbound links
Internal Link	Links in the same website	Unlimited number of Internals in the same website
Backlinks	Links from other websites pointing to your website	Need to optimize the content on the quality page to be pointed by other websites There may be spam links due to bad players

Distinguish Internal Link, External Link and Backlink

Read more articles

>> What is Internal Link ? The Guide to Building Internal Links That Boost SEO

>> What is Backlink ? Why Build Quality Backlinks?

The importance of External Link in SEO strategy

External Link , also known as Outbound Link , has a direct impact on the ranking and reputation of the website.

Here are the benefits that Outbound Link brings.

Provide a lot of valuable information to users

The use of External Link improves the user experience. These links lead to relevant information that adds value to the article content without duplicate content.

When readers see that you’re consistently linking to resources, they’ll understand your topic better and begin to engage more with your website.

Improve the credibility of the website

Using reliable and relevant Outbound Links to the website content helps to increase the authority of the website. Additionally, valuable outbound links provide users with references, which will enhance your site’s authority.

External Linking is similar to how you would cite sources in a bibliography for an academic paper. That shows that you’ve created your content based on thorough research.

Improve website ranking on search engines

External Links can help search engines determine the usefulness and quality of web pages. High-quality sites often link to other high-quality sites.

As a result, search engines will see your content more easily and rank your website higher.

If you link to an article related to your website’s topic, Google will use that to know what your site’s content is about. The more relevant the Outbound Link is to the topic, the higher the website will rank.

Making connections is easy

Other sites can tell when your site is pointing to theirs. This will be a great opportunity for your website to receive favor from those sites.

That means you will have a chance to get quality backlinks from reputable sites that you point to if your content is really valuable and useful.

It’s an easy way to make connections in your industry and get your content in front of the right audience.

Learn the importance of External Link in SEO

Limitations of External Link 

Besides the benefits, External Link also has negative effects on the website if you do not know how to select the source and content for Outbound Link .

• External Link affects the reputation of the website if you point links to websites with poor quality content. (Users click on the anchor text from your website and are directed to poor quality pages, they will have a bad impression of your website and will never return to your website. )
• If you point to websites that are penalized by Google or websites with irrelevant content, your website may be dropped in rankings.
• Users click on Link out to other websites, the possibility of them returning to your website to see more content is very little.

External Link has its own advantages and disadvantages, so you need to have a suitable Outbound Link building strategy to achieve high SEO efficiency.

Instructions for using External links effectively

To build an effective External Link strategy , follow the principles below.

How to set External Link: Dofollow and nofollow

When setting External Link , you need to pay attention to 2 characteristics:

• Point External Links to relevant, reputable websites with quality content.
• Use the rel= “nofollow” attribute when necessary.

In HTML, rel is an attribute that specifies the properties of the link. There are two types: rel= “dofollow” and rel= “nofollow” .

When you insert External Link, Google bot will by default interpret it as a rel=”dofollow” tag and go to the link to crawl.

Conversely, when you put the rel= “nofollow” attribute on a link, Googlebot will automatically ignore the link. This will make your site more secure if you link to penalized or promotional sites.

How to set rel= “nofollow” tag in External Link:

<a href=”http://www.external-domain.com/” rel=”nofollow” >Anchor Text </a>

Control Link out from Blog comments

Creating comments under each blog post will help increase user interaction on the website. From there, improving the user experience as well as creating a connection between businesses and users.

However, if you allow readers to insert dozens or hundreds of links on your website, it’s really not good. Because you are unknowingly causing your site to be spammed and leading to poor quality pages.

Therefore,…

If you allow comments and links on your site, make sure those content are moderated, not spam links.

Also, if your site already has so many External Links , then add the rel= “nofollow” attribute so that the site does not lose its power.

Limit Outbound Link to paid advertising sites

Placing External Link on paid advertising sites helps you have an additional source of passive income. However, this way can be annoying for users.

They will recognize your intent and exit immediately, because these are advertising pages and do not provide the useful information they need.

If you still want to point the link to the advertising pages, then suggest to the user, so that they actively click on the link if they want.

In this case, you should also use the rel= “nofollow” attribute so that the site does not lose its power due to outbound links.

Instructions to delete External links

To remove External Links from a landing page, perform the following steps:

• Step 1: Login admin page to admin page
• Step 2: Click on the landing page with the External Link to delete
• Step 3: Highlight Anchor Text containing the link or click on Anchor Text
• Step 4: Click on the delete link icon in the text editor to delete the External Link. Or you can also delete in Source code.

External Link Testing Tool for Websites

Ahrefs Tool

To check the External Link of any website using Ahrefs, perform the following steps:

Step 1: Access the Ahrefs tool > Click Site Explorer

Step 2: Enter the website you want to find and click the Search icon

Step 3: Click Linked Domains in the left sidebar

Step 4: Display the list of External Links in the results section. These are the domains your website points to.

The indicators in the list of External Links:

• Linked Domains: These are the domains your website points to
• DR: index showing the authority of that domain
• Links from target: External Links to specific pages
• Dofollow: The number of external links pointing out, blue shows for Link out with Dofollow or Nofollow attribute

Step 5: Check which specific websites your website is Linking Out to

In this step, simply click the down arrow of the Links from target column to see a list of links and anchor text your site is pointing to.

Screaming Frog Tool

Step 1: Go to Screaming Frog > Enter website > Click Start

Step 2: Display the results after the tool has scanned the entire website

Step 3: Click External to check the website’s External Link

Step 4: Click Export to download and view the entire External Link

Notes on creating quality External Links

To create a quality External Link, pay attention to the following factors:

• Use a variety of external linking sources
• Use relevant, relevant, and varied Anchor Text
• Don’t use too many links coming from one page
• Pay attention to External Link quality rather than quantity
• The content of your post is related to the topic of the page you point to
• Check the authority and authority of the domains you point to

Websites should avoid setting External Link

Websites containing malware

You should not point External Links to websites containing malware , especially sex, gambling, betting sites, …

Because these are sites with unhealthy content, Google will rate and blacklist your site if you link to these sites. In addition, you are unknowingly discrediting users when they click on these links.

Personal bio pages

All information in the profile page has not been verified . Therefore, you need to check carefully before setting the External Link to point to. Outbound links placed on a profile page are usually of better quality than others.

Website requires registration to view information

You need to avoid Outbound Links to pages that require registration or pay a fee to view information . Because the user will refuse to do this, you won’t get the results you want if you put External Link on these pages.

Website with non-Vietnamese content

You need to prioritize pointing links to Vietnamese websites so that users do not need to spend a lot of time finding out information.

However, if you still want to Outbound Link to non-Vietnamese websites, you need to meet the following conditions:

• The official website is not available in Vietnamese, or you want to link to articles in the original language through images, charts. Users will look at images, charts to capture information easily without reading the text.
• A website containing references in many different languages.

Navigation sites

External Link should not be placed in a website that is redirected to another website . This will cause the site to be marked as spam because it does not bring value to the user.

User-submitted video sites

Although there is no specific policy for websites that outlink to Youtube pages or user-submitted video sites. However, these links are subject to copyright guidelines .

There are many Videos on Youtube or other websites that do not meet the standards for setting External Links when it comes to securing content ownership.

Reputable External Link Sources

Government website

Putting External Links to government websites will increase the credibility of your website.

Some government websites for reference:

• thanhtra.gov.vn
• cmsc.gov.vn
• Chinhphu.vn
• baochinhphu.vn…

Non-profit organization website

Non-profit organization websites often have a high reputation, trusted by users through the benefits they do for society. You need to thoroughly research these sites when deciding to place Link Out .

Some non-profit organization websites you should out link:

• http://www.sjvietnam.org: Active social volunteer organization
• http://portal.vietabroader.org/: Non-profit organization website run by Vietnamese students in the US
• http://volunteerforeducation.org/: Volunteer organization for education VEO

Educational website (.edu)

.edu websites have a very high reputation among users. Therefore, this is a quality Link Out source to increase rankings and traffic for your website.

Websites to refer to:

• http://hanoi.edu.vn/ : Hanoi Education and Training Portal
• https://moet.gov.vn/: Ministry of Education and Training
• http://icd.edu.vn/: Department of International Cooperation – Ministry of Education and Training

Before placing a link out, you need to carefully find out if the page has quality and brings value to the reader. Because more and more educational websites (.edu) appear to be of poor quality.

Industry reputation personal website

Most SEOers choose reputable personal websites in the industry to Out Link. Since these are highly trusted sites, it’s great for your website.

In addition, Outbound Linking to the websites of famous experts in the industry is also a way for you to create a relationship to get a backlink pointing to your website.

Eg:

• https://www.mattcutts.com/blog/ : Matt Cutts is a famous name in the SEO world. He was the one who wrote the first version of SafeSearch – an application in the Google search engine.
• http://www.philkotler.com/: Philip Kotler is the father of modern Marketing, a leading expert in the field of strategic marketing.

Industry leading website

The leading websites in the industry are where users are provided with the most accurate information. Therefore, placing External Links on those websites will help users trust your website more. This is also a factor that enhances the trust of your website.

Reference websites:

• https://ehealth.gov.vn: Information Technology Department – ​​Ministry of Health
• https://dav.gov.vn: Drug Administration – Ministry of Health
• https://moh.gov.vn: Website of the Ministry of Health
• https://bachmai.gov.vn: Bach Mai Hospital

Frequently asked questions about External Link

Is External Link good for SEO?

External Link is very good for SEO and it is one of the important measures for the authority and high ranking of the website.

Distinguish External Link and Internal Link

External Links are links from your website that point to other websites. Contrary to External Link, Internal Link is a link between websites in the same website.

How to check External Link on website?

To check for External Links on your website, you should use an SEO tool like Google Search Console or Moz’s Link Explorer. These reports will show the External Links and also the Anchor Text you use to insert the link.

>>Hint:  What is Textlink ? The role of Textlink in website link building

Conclusion

Above is the knowledge related to what External Link is and how to out link effectively. You need to remember that External Link is one of the factors that improve the reputation and ranking of the website. Therefore, it is necessary to have the right and appropriate External Link building strategy to achieve high SEO efficiency.