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Reaching Out by Linking Out
By Matthew Dillingham | March 17, 2008
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There is nothing more natural about the Internet than linking in and out - actually without links the web would have never existed. The absence of external links is unnatural - it’s like you are choosing to be isolated in the world where everyone’s connected. - Search Engine Land
A major component of developing health content is linking to other sites that are relevant and authoritative. There are 100s of health related web sites that have great content that will provide your visitors with much more information than your site could ever hold, or you could manage. As you probably know writing and developing health content takes a lot of time and effort. Even if you buy a health content library, it takes time and effort to implement and integrate the information on your site. The health content libraries have great information, but they do not hold all of the truths of the health world. That is why it is good to link to other other health sites that can complement your content. This is the whole point of the Web.
We advise our clients to link out to these authoritative sites, but to be careful to only link to government, academic or major association sites. Linking to personal blogs or other health related sites that are not backed by my major industry groups could be dangerous. The reason being is that these sites come and go all the time. Meaning a couple of things could happen. Such as your links no longer working when a visitor clicks on a link to another site or your visitors could end up on a site that is a bit x-rated or contain other unsavory information. It is very important to link out to other sites, but you have to be careful what neighborhoods you link into.
You may be concerned that people will leave your site, and never come back when they click on an external link. If this is a concern have the link open a new browser window (very common practice). Do not use a JavaScript pop-up, just a normal _blank. It is OK to share visitors with other sites, much like shopping malls where there are multiple stores. If your content is engaging, and worth the visitors’ time they will come back.
Topics: Health Content, Integration, Linking, Search Engine Optimization |