What is an Outbound Link?
An outbound link, also called an external link, is a link from a page on your site to a page on a different domain.
Why it matters
An outbound link on your site is a backlink for the site it points to. Outbound links help readers find sources and related resources, and linking to relevant, reputable pages is a normal part of useful content. They also create responsibility: Google asks site owners to qualify links that are advertisements, paid placements or user generated, and a page that links out to unrelated businesses in bulk can look like it exists to pass links. Broken outbound links hurt the reader experience as well.
What makes a good outbound link
A good outbound link is relevant to the sentence it sits in, points to a page that helps the reader, and carries the right attribute. Followed links suit normal editorial citations, rel="sponsored" suits paid placements and advertisements, and rel="ugc" suits user generated content. It helps to review a page's outbound links from time to time to remove broken destinations and check that none of them were added without your knowledge.
Kinds of outbound links
Editorial citations
Links to sources, studies and references that support the content. These are the links search engines expect to find in normal articles.
Sponsored links
Links that are part of an advertisement or paid placement, which Google asks to be marked with rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow".
User generated links
Links added by readers in comments or forum posts, which Google recommends marking with rel="ugc".
Example
A publisher's article about casino licensing cites a regulator's page and a study, both as normal links, and includes one paid mention of an operator marked with rel="sponsored". Each link has a reason to be there, and the attribute matches its purpose.
Outbound links and Orbink
When you buy a placement on Orbink, your link becomes an outbound link on the publisher's page. The listing shows the link type and whether the placement carries a sponsored mention, which tells you how the link will be marked.
Audit a Page's Outbound LinksSources
Frequently Asked Questions
Google does not say that linking to relevant resources hurts a page. Links that exist to manipulate rankings are link spam, and unmarked paid links fall under that. Citing useful sources is part of good content.
Not by default. Ordinary editorial links can be followed. Paid placements and advertisements should be marked with rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow", and user generated links with rel="ugc".
There is no official limit. A page with a reasonable number of links that serve the reader is normal, and a page with a very large number of unrelated links looks like a place built to hold links.
Readers reach an error page, which is a poor experience. Reviewing outbound links periodically lets you fix or remove broken destinations.