# Outbound link

An outbound link, also called an external link, points from your page to another site. Linking out does not hurt a page: Google has said repeatedly that citing sources is normal, and its guidance on helpful content expects pages to say where facts come from. The rules that matter are about which links and which rel values.

Updated 2026-09-15 · Source: https://porteur.ai/glossary/outbound-link

## The four rules worth keeping

- Link to the primary source, not to someone quoting it. If a figure comes from Google’s documentation, link the documentation.
- Mark paid and affiliate links with rel="sponsored", and links submitted by users with rel="ugc". Selling links that pass ranking is a link scheme.
- Check them occasionally. Sites die, pages move, and a guide full of dead links reads as abandoned.
- Open in the same tab unless the reader is mid-task. That is a usability choice, not a ranking one.

```html
<a href="https://developers.google.com/search/docs">Google's documentation</a>
<a href="https://partner.example.com" rel="sponsored">our sponsor</a>
```

## Why people fear linking out

The fear comes from the PageRank metaphor: a page divides its value among its links, so an outbound link is value leaving. That division is real and the conclusion is wrong.

A page that cites nothing is not a stronger page, it is a less trustworthy one. Sources are one of the visible signs of the experience and expertise that Google’s quality guidelines describe, and an assistant that quotes your page looks at the same thing.

## What to do on a product site

1. **Cite what you claim** Every number that is not yours gets a link to whoever published it. Every quote gets its source.
2. **Do not link a rival for the sake of balance** Link them when the reader needs them, on a comparison page for example. That is honest and it is the page they came for.
3. **Sweep for dead links each quarter** Run a broken link check over the library and fix or drop what has died.
4. **Keep affiliate and sponsored links marked** One attribute, applied where money is involved, keeps the whole site out of an argument.

## Questions

### Do outbound links hurt SEO?

No. Google has said that linking to sources is normal and useful. A page with no citations is harder to trust, both for a reader and for an assistant deciding what to quote.

### Should outbound links be nofollow?

Only when they are paid, affiliate or user-submitted. Use rel sponsored for paid links and rel ugc for user content. Editorial links need no attribute.

### How many outbound links is too many?

There is no threshold. The test is whether a reader would follow each one. A paragraph with five links to the same source is noise; a guide with twelve sources across two thousand words is well cited.

### Should outbound links open in a new tab?

It is a usability decision. Opening in a new tab helps when the reader is mid-task, such as following a checklist. It has no effect on ranking.

### What happens when an outbound link dies?

Nothing automatic, but the page ages badly and readers hit dead ends. Check the library each quarter and replace or remove what has gone.

## Read next

- [Dofollow link](https://porteur.ai/glossary/dofollow-link): A dofollow link is a normal link without rel values. Here is how to tell, what it means for rankings, and where small sites can earn them.
- [Nofollow link](https://porteur.ai/glossary/nofollow-link): What a nofollow link is, what changed in 2019, how to check rel values, when to use nofollow, sponsored or ugc, and the traps to avoid.
- [Broken link](https://porteur.ai/glossary/broken-link): A broken link sends people and crawlers to an error. See the types, where to find them, and the exact fixes for a small site.
- [Internal link](https://porteur.ai/glossary/internal-link): An internal link is a link between two pages on the same site. Use them to show which pages matter, pass context with anchor text, and lift rankings.
- [How to get backlinks for a small product site](https://porteur.ai/guides/how-to-get-backlinks-for-a-small-site): What to build, who to ask and how to measure. A founder’s plan to earn backlinks without spam or spend, with examples and a checklist.
- [E-E-A-T](https://porteur.ai/glossary/e-e-a-t): E-E-A-T means Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. What it means for a small product site, and how to show it.
- [Broken link checker](https://porteur.ai/tools/broken-link-checker): Every link on one page, up to 150, fetched eight at a time: the ones that 404 with the words they carry, the ones that redirect and where to, as a list.

The free check reads the links on your pages, in and out, and names the dead ones and the pages nobody links to, in about thirty seconds. Free check: https://porteur.ai/