Can linking to other sites hurt ranking?

[ThomasTe]

Hi,

I have some websites with articles from different article sites. In the author bio box they link to the authors site.
If this site is not a site that google ‘likes’, can it actually hurt my site’s ranking?
What if the link is not active but just a text (not clickable), would that be better?

Thanks.

Regards,
Thomas

[lianwei]

No worries about that dude. You submit articles for the benfit of your name and your blog, not Google.

Like I always tell my readers, write for your visitors and not google. Google will not penalise with issues regarding who links to you because you have no control over that. They only care about who you link out to because thats the only thing you have control over..

Just my $0.02 worth

[dburk]

Hi Thomas,

The answer is yes, the sites you link to can absolutely hurt (or help) your ranking.

The single most important factor in Google's algorithm is relevance. One of the ways they determine your sites relevance is by links both to your site as well as from your site. While links to your site can only add to your websites authority, sites you link to, you control and can hurt or help your sites reputation.

You should avoid links to bad neighborhoods. Google's Webmaster Guidelines specifically states the following:

"Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or "bad neighborhoods" on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links."

If you find that any of those links in the author's bio box links to questionable content, you can use the nofollow attribute to avoid soiling your own reputation.

[ThomasTe]

Thanks.

So if I use the nofollow, it should not hurt my site in google's eyes?

Thanks.

Regards,
Thomas

[jn.rounak]

obviously yes, google will take it as paid link

[justifyleo]

If you know its a bad apple link then do not include a link that is clickable to that website, you can leave it as a text or you could put the nofollow code in the link, just make sure you do otherwise Google will follow your link

[flashgordon]

I have no proof, but it seems from my own sites that if I link to a quality site like Wikipedia or an .edu site (with no other links going out on that page) Google seems to like it. I don't think it really will make that big of a difference in the long run, but if you site is just getting going and building its own link history, then that might be something to consider.

[ThomasTe]

So if I want to be sure that I do not link to anything google do not like, I should put the nofollow before the link?
That should do the trick?

Thanks.

Regards,
Thomas

[Tom Church]

This post helped me quite a bit. Thanks for raising the question!

[liza400]

i think link exchange is great to generate traffic.

[dburk]

Originally Posted by ThomasTe

So if I want to be sure that I do not link to anything google do not like, I should put the nofollow before the link?
That should do the trick?

Thanks.

Regards,
Thomas

Yes, linking to highly relevant content helps your website, unless those links are to bad neighborhoods (sites that spam or link to spam or malware). Use the nofollow attribute only where applicable.

[seoexpert2009]

Google does not penalize you for you back links, because if it would, then it would be so easy to destroy your competitor. I think Google is smarter than that At the most, it will ignore the back links if they are not from good sites.
However, if you link out to spammy or bad sites then you will be penalized because linking out is in your control.

[Solidsnake]

Originally Posted by ThomasTe

Hi,

I have some websites with articles from different article sites. In the author bio box they link to the authors site.
If this site is not a site that google ‘likes’, can it actually hurt my site’s ranking?
What if the link is not active but just a text (not clickable), would that be better?

Thanks.

Regards,
Thomas

No problem at all, no need t worry... As long as you are not copying articles, no problem..

[NetVenturer]

You're obligated to use the author's bio. I'd make certain Google does not like the site before using a nofollow tag because that's changing the article you got from the article site (where you promise not to change it).

If the article's from a bad site, I simply wouldn't use the article.

[marlondirk]

mmmmm.... its important you know your target in article submission anchor text that is pointing to your site is better. so if you are doing article submission which has no follow its very useless you spent your time there!