Linking To A Redirected URL - Will It Affect SEO Ranking?

[mikepetersonwi]

Do outbound links that point to a redirected url on another domain affect seo? I see that some link checking programs report them as broken links.

 

[Krystal Prior]

Do outbound links that point to a redirected url on another domain affect seo? I see that some link checking programs report them as broken links.

Hi Mike,

I would say that it depends on a couple of things. Does the redirected page on the other domain point to a similar and relevant page still? Does the anchor text being used to link out to this redirected page still make sense/is still relevant to to the page or content you're linking out from? If yes, then the redirect should help search engines pass the majority of the 'link juice' or 'SEO power' of the old URL to the new URL. But it also depends if the other site is redirecting their page properly or using the appropriate redirect codes. Which could be why they are coming up as broken. So it'll depend on the specific link.

With outbound links, you just want to make sure you're linking to a quality, relevant source that provides your readers/clients with additional information on the topic. You can always update the outbound link to another relevant source or piece of authoritative content to ensure that the link is passing all of its power and Google sees that you're providing value to the user.