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Linking out on your primary keyword: Good, Bad, or Indifferent?

UserPost

9:04 am
December 2, 2012


Edward Antrobus

Fort Collins, CO

Member

posts 1008

So I'm working on a post right now. Ideally, it should be going live in the next three or so hours. And I have an SEO question. I don't pay too much attention to SEO as a rule, aside from the recommendations in the Wordpress SEO plugin. But I was curious as to what others thought on the topic.

 

The Zemanta plugin recommends, among other things, in-text links to include in your post. I generally only select one or two out of the list, especially since they tend to recommend a dozen or more Wikipedia links each article! Right now, I'm working on a home recipe for the popular McDonald's chicken snack wraps. As I was writing, it suggested a link for my primary keyword (chicken snack wrap)! Actually, it suggested a link to McDonald's menu page.

 

In general is it a good idea to link out on your keyword? Is it bad SEO policy to do so? Or does it really make no difference what-so-ever?

On the pro side of the argument, I could see the link as showing that I care enough about that particular word to give my readers more information. On the con side, I am sending link juice to a site competing for that keyword, strengthening their position over mine. Or maybe I'm just over analyzing here. Opinions?

 I'm looking for editors, beta-readers, and some demographic research for my upcoming novel, Once Upon a Saturn Moon. If you like reading soft sci-fi thrillers, maybe with a touch of romance thrown in, you can find more information at http://seampublishing.com/once…..aturn-moon

If You Can Read, You Can Cookhttp://www.ifyoucanread.com | Think you can't cook? If you can read this sentence, then you can.

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2:11 pm
December 2, 2012


KyleAAA

Atlanta, GA

Member

posts 75

I've seen no evidence it makes any difference. If you're writing a home recipe for a McDonalds item it makes sense to link to the original, doesn't it?

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4:59 am
December 3, 2012


Edward Antrobus

Fort Collins, CO

Member

posts 1008

Thanks. I did leave the link in, although I moved it from the first instance in my intro paragraph, to the next instance in the second paragraph. I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but I'm not a big fan of links in that first paragraph unless the word I am linking with doesn't appear anywhere else.

 I'm looking for editors, beta-readers, and some demographic research for my upcoming novel, Once Upon a Saturn Moon. If you like reading soft sci-fi thrillers, maybe with a touch of romance thrown in, you can find more information at http://seampublishing.com/once…..aturn-moon

If You Can Read, You Can Cookhttp://www.ifyoucanread.com | Think you can't cook? If you can read this sentence, then you can.

SEAM Publishinghttp://www.seampublishing.com | eBook formatting and publishing service

5:45 am
December 4, 2012


Pauline

Member

posts 274

I haven't heard of that strategy. You are helping another site gain linkbacks on your very same topic. I saw a few sites linking to wikipedia for basic words and wondered why they did it. I would link if my readers can really benefit from clicking, now everyone is able to go to McD's web on their own, I think I'd skip the link in that case.

                                                        Pauline @ Reach Financial Independence

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7:34 am
December 4, 2012


FrugalRules

Member

posts 161

I would agree with Pauline. In the case of McD's anyone can easily go to their site. I only like to stuff if I cite it of course, or if the article provides a more in depth analysis of what I am talking about that I feel my readers would benefit from.


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