Ranking ups and downs of linking to third party sites

[ChristianRdz]

Hello,

I wanted to know if anyone has knowledge of potential up or downsides to linking to third party business profiles site such as Angie's List, BBB, home advisor, etc. on their home page or website footer.

Is having a bunch of these unnecessary and could ultimately slow down a site?

Any feedback is appreciated, thanks!

 

[Margaret Ornsby]

Linking your site TO quality 3rd party sites (particularly review sites) is fine. I don't believe it has a specific ranking benefit apart from confirming the legitimacy of the location, customer reviews, and so on.
Having a bunch I wouldn't likely do, unless I had a bunch of locations.
If you think about the number of sites that have their social media channels linked to from their site header or footer, you're not doing anything unusual.
Does that help?

 

[Phil Rozek]

@ChristianRdz, what @Margaret Ornsby said. Very good advice.

A few additional thoughts:

1. Think twice about adding widgets and badges and the like. Those may slow down your load-time, or may render oddly.

2. I wouldn't link to those listings only in an attempt to jack up their rankings, because it probably won't work. For one thing, those sites have plenty of link mojo already, whereas your site or a client's site won't have nearly as much (even though the specific URL of your listing probably doesn't have any or many links pointing at it). In general, the best way to bump up the rankings of your listing on a third-party review site is simply to get reviews there (in some cases, even a few).

3. On the other hand, you should probably link to a given site if you've got good reviews there you want people to see. The test is: are the reviews so good that you're fine with customers' leaving your site to see those reviews? (Even if the answer is yes, you'll still probably want to have those links open into a new browser tab.)

4. Definitely link to your reviews if you talk up your great reviews on your site. You don't want people to wander off, try to find your reviews, and stumble on a competitor's reviews and strike up a romance with the competitor.

 

[Margaret Ornsby]

Thanks Phil. Agree 100% with everything you said. Appreciate the upgrade on my response

 

[Garrett Sussman]

The test is: are the reviews so good that you're fine with customers' leaving your site to see those reviews? (Even if the answer is yes, you'll still probably want to have those links open into a new browser tab.)

This is such a great point, Phil!

I agree. Great advice from @Margaret Ornsby and @Phil Rozek

 

[ChristianRdz]

Thank you guys, great insights @Margaret Ornsby and @Phil Rozek! This is helpful!