Question for those who link to websites outside of HP

1. 0

   Aquaposted 15 years ago

   I'm wondering why some hubbers have links to lots of outside websites on their hubs?
   
   Say you've written a hub about U.S. State Parks in the south. You write the hub and then at the bottom (or somewhere) you add links to all the individual websites for the state parks in Georgia or something. Now, you've got links to 5 or more different sites outside of HP.
   
   Where I'm confused is, isn't the point of the adsense and affiliates like amazon and ebay to get the readers to click out to those sites? Why give them an option to leave the hub any other way?
   
   **To clariy, I'm Not talking about affiliate links to say, Clickbank or anything like that.

   replyreport
   1. 87

      Marisa Wrightposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      I had come to exactly the same conclusion, Aqua, and only recently learned I was wrong!  It was Ghost32 who first pointed it out to me (thanks Ghost) and people like Relache and Darkside who confirmed it.  I'm now gradually going through my Hubs and adding links, and it does seem to make a difference to traffic.
      
      I follow Darkside's method - I put a links capsule at the bottom of the Hub, below the comments, with my external links in it. Tht way Google will find them but a visitor is less likely to click out that way.  Best of both worlds, I hope!

      replyreport
      1. 0

         Aquaposted 15 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, I like Darkside's method too and that is a great point. Put the links UNDER the comments and then you get the benefits but not the drawbacks (theoretically anyway).
         
         Bristol Boy - luckily you and I don't have 100s of hubs to go back through and link
         
         Thanks again for all the input everyone! I love learning new things here at HP!

         replyreport
   2. 68

      BristolBoyposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      I'm glad you asked this question.  I always knew outgoing links were valuable - but for some reason I recently have stopped adding them to my hubs in the amounts I used to!  Will have to change that over the next few days.

      replyreport
   3. 0

      cosetteposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      if I quote people or content in my hub, I always put the originating link in there so readers can look at the source for themselves.

      replyreport
2. 59

   yoshi97posted 15 years ago

   Google likes to look at the internet from a web perspective and counts outbound links (though not as highly) just as well as it does inbound links.
   
   These are often placed at the bottom of an article, so as to make them less interesting to click.
   
   Also, some industrious hubbers include links to their own sites ... which sweetens the pot for them all the way around, as they keep readers on their pages.
   
   I hope that helps.

   replyreport
3. 0

   Aquaposted 15 years ago

   OH! I didn't realize google counted outbound links for SEO purposes. Therefore, all this outside linking makes sense.
   
   I did know about linking to our own external sites because I've done that myself. I just thought doing so benefited the receiving site only.
   
   Thanks so much!

   replyreport
4. 59

   darksideposted 15 years ago

   It's as yoshi97 says.
   
   Search Engines look at these links, and if they're going to authoritive trusted sites then it means you are legit. Your webpage is there to help others.
   
   HubPages knows this too, and in Flagship hubs they want 10 relevant links to other sources (each with its own 30-50 word description).
   
   I like to think of myself as the visitor/reader. I land on your page and you've got loads of good original well written content, and there's links to other sites which is more than just appropriate, it means that this hub is The Best place to go to learn about this information. So I bookmark it. And I email it to my people who I know will benefit from reading it. If someone asks me a question related to the topic covered in the hub I say "you know what, I've got just the webpage for you!". People link to it from their blogs.
   
   I'm not sure how often this happens, but it does happen.

   replyreport
5. 66

   Anti-Valentineposted 15 years ago

   I include an RSS capsule that people follow to my blogs. I often get hits from HP this way.

   replyreport
6. 68

   relacheposted 15 years ago

   I link to valuable resources that enhance what I've written about.    Basically what yoshi97 and darkside said.
   
   All the genuine experts in real-life I've met don't operate in a bubble.  They offer other places and references to learn from, not just themselves.

   replyreport
7. 0

   Aquaposted 15 years ago

   This has all been very, very helpful. Thanks so much everyone!

   replyreport
8. 65

   Lisa HWposted 15 years ago

   I'm among those who add the links to make the Hub more useful to people.  I figure that if my Hub doesn't offer them what they're interested in, maybe one of the links to a bigger, reputable, resource will.  I didn't realize they matter at all in "Google's eyes" (does Google have eyes?), but I've always seen it as a service to the reader.

   replyreport
9. 0

   mtsi1098posted 15 years ago

   this is interesting because I have links to one site on several hubs but I like the approaches presented here...thanks

   replyreport