Many organizations include lots of external links to third-party sites on their website. Some do this under the belief it will improve their search engine optimization (SEO), which may or may not be true (more on that below). Others because they want to be a valued resource for people visiting their site. Whatever your reason for doing so, adding external links to your site is something that requires regular maintenance and attention.
Broken links erode your credibility
It’s always a good idea to regularly check the links on your website to ensure they still link to the places you want them to. There’s nothing more annoying for a visitor than clicking on a link only to be told that site/page no longer exists. This hurts your own trustworthiness and creates a negative experience for the user. If you have a Resources section on your website and link out to governmental resources for aging, senior services or health, it’s become even more critical to check these links. With the recent change of administrations in Washington, many governmental websites have ceased to exist or have been so dramatically revamped that those links may now go to error pages. For example, the former websites for both the National Council on Elder Abuse (ncea.gov) and the Administration on Aging (aoa.gov) have ceased to exist. Their information has been incorporated into the Administration for Community Living’s website (www.acl.gov). Yet, visitors are not automatically redirected to these pages on ACL’s site; instead, they get an error message. Compounding the problem, even some government websites have failed to update their links.
Do links improve SEO?
Some people include a lot of links on their website under the impression that links will improve their search engine optimization (SEO). The evidence is a bit mixed in this area. The original Page Rank formula says that using external links to support your own brand position is a missed opportunity to create that content on your own site. However, many experts believe that search engines reward linking out if the pages you’re linking to are trustworthy and seen as valuable by your audience. Having someone link to your site will improve your SEO and, in fact, is considered one of the most important sources – if not the most important source – of improving your organization’s rank in search engine results. One of the reasons for this is because when someone visits your site from an outside source, it’s considered an objective opinion on your site’s value. The more trustworthy and popular the site that contains your link is, the greater impact this will have on your rankings. So, if you’re looking to improve SEO, the best way to achieve that is to convince other organizations that including a link to your site will be a valuable resource for their customers.
Reasons to Add Links to Your Site
Even if adding links to your site requires some work to maintain and won’t necessarily improve your SEO, there are still some compelling reasons to add external links to your site. Here are just a few:
- It makes your site a resource for valuable information
If you have a repository of links that your visitors find relevant and informative, they will come to view you as an expert in your field. This helps build trustworthiness and keeps you top of mind when potential customers start looking for the services you provide.
- It keeps your website from being overly cumbersome and difficult to navigate
If you try to anticipate every issue your visitors may be interested in and try to include it all on your website, your site will risk the danger of being cluttered with too much information that may not be relevant to your core business. This can make navigating your site burdensome and, in the end, you may do more harm than good.
- Linking to other organizations may encourage them to link to you
Because an external link on your site can be valuable to the site you’re linking to, it may incentivize that organization to include a link on their site to you. Don’t miss an opportunity to touch base with a community partner if you provide a great referral link – they may be glad to return the favor.