In our last blog post, we discussed the importance of internal links and how they affect your website's Search Engine Optimization.  So now, while we are on the subject of linking, it seems appropriate that we discuss the other links on your site, the external ones. 

External links, by definition, are links to pages that are outside of your domain.  Many SEO gurus believe the combination of your outgoing and incoming external links is the strongest factor in developing your search engine ranking power. 

In this blog, we are going to focus on your outgoing external links, but to that point it is important to keep the other in mind.  Why?  Well, think about it.  if your incoming external links give your site credibility in the eyes of the search engines, what do you think your outgoing external links are doing for the other guy?  Always keep this in mind; when you link to another website you are essentially designating it as an authority and giving it your "seal of approval."

Does that mean that we should get rid of all of the external links on our site?  Definitely not.  Your website will rank better if you link out to other sites.  However, you do want to be a bit stingy.  Relevance is the key.  When comparing top ranked sites to lower ranked sites using the same keyword on Google, you will find a significant difference in their external links.  Those in the top rank will have relevant external links, while those with a lower rank may have the same number of external links, but they won't be relevant.

Try to use only those external links that are highly related to your site, especially those that offer information you don't normally include yourself.  Of course, depending on the type of site that you have, you may not always be able to limit your links to this extent.  In that case, it is a good idea to add the rel="nofollow" attribute to your link.

Here is a trick that might help you in finding some good links:

• Perform a search using your targeted keyword or phrase.  Look at the top 5 or 10 websites to see if one of them provides relevant information in a manner that suits your requirements.  Link to that site using the same keyword or phrase in the anchor text. 
• When doing this, it is a good idea to stay away from your competitors.  Look for non-commercial sites, such as about.com or wikipedia.

As a last note, it is important to check the validity of your external links on a regular basis.  If you have a small site, this can be easy to do manually, but for larger sites, the task is overwhelming.  Take a look at the free W3C Link Checker tool.  It will drill down into your website and present you with a report containing all of your missing and invalid links.