Blogging

[RobinOctane]

What is the general consensus for putting links in blogs. In a natural style of course.

a) Put 2 or 3 and scatter
b) Put 1 at/near the beginning
c) Put 1 at the end

I have seen it all different ways but I didn't know if there was a benefit to doing it one way over another.

Thanks.

 

[Broland]

Do it in the way that is most helpful, resourceful and yields the best CTR from users. Google actually has pretty complex algos for detecting these things and links can be weighted accordingly.

 

[Phil Rozek]

Yeah, do it naturally. As in: without any SEO considerations. None.

 

[Laustin1878]

Can't disagree with the above sentiments. I have heard that more weight is applied to links at the beginning. Never tested it. If you don't know, only the first instance of a link to the same page will be counted and pass any juice.

If you feel that linking to a page is resourceful and would benefit the user, go for it. Just remember, each time you throw a link into a post, you are creating additional outlets for visitors to leave the page. This is even more prevalent for linking to external sites, not your main site.

 

[Travis Van Slooten]

What he said.

I would also add that you should "nofollow" all links to external websites. I was just contacted by a client who got a nasty message from Google via Webmasters. Google detected what she believes is paid links. This guy is a small business owner and wouldn't have a clue how to get paid to have links on his site. He was just linking to a lot of websites in his blog posts but none of them were nofollow. He's currently working on putting the nofollow tag on all of them so he can send a request to Google to be reconsidered as his site has been removed from the index

Travis

Yeah, do it naturally. As in: without any SEO considerations. None.

 

[Phil Rozek]

In 162 blog posts, never once have I nofollowed a link. I include links to outside resources only if/when they're useful to people. Google has been very good to me. Those two points are connected.

 

[Laustin1878]

It is very rare that I would link to an outside source as well. I try not to make a habit of it b/c it takes a visitor off of my site. The site I'm linking to also needs to have great information for my visitors. Linking out from your site is where you can get hurt. As in, linking to a bad neighborhood.

Links to your site from bad neighborhoods do not hurt you as they can be placed by competitors in haste. Google knows this. I think it's important to understand the difference here although not completely relevant.

Try to keep it as natural as possible and link when necessary. Your readers probably don't want to be distracted by links sprinkled throughout a blog post. Let them read a clean post that includes a link or two, unless you have data to support otherwise.

 

[Phil Rozek]

It is very rare that I would link to an outside source as well. I try not to make a habit of it b/c it takes a visitor off of my site.

No, no...that's not what I'm saying at all. I link to other sites / posts / resources all the time: whenever I want to reference their work. I do it more than most people do. But it's purely for the sake of the reader; I've never given a hoot how visible my site is in Google.

 

[Travis Van Slooten]

I hear you. I've NEVER given thought to nofollow but after seeing what happened to my client's site, it freaked me out. Now I nofollow everything. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Travis

In 162 blog posts, never once have I nofollowed a link. I include links to outside resources only if/when they're useful to people. Google has been very good to me. Those two points are connected.

 

[RobinOctane]

One of my other hats is a deal blog and I am friends with other deal bloggers. Your entire blog/site is consists of posted deals for companies, affiliate links etc. This year we all have been contacted by companies who were warned about link penalties and asked for the link to be no followed or removed. Which is funny because originally they contacted us (or through a platform which connects bloggers and products) to post their deal and link.

Maybe if you have a lot of outbound links and affiliate links then Google doesn't think the linking is natural.