Using external links on your website is like telling your visitors to go some place else.

What are external linkks?  External links take people AWAY from your website and many website developers use them thinking they help search engine optimization. WRONG!

The only good they do is for the website you’re sending them to.  There are a rare few exceptions to this and I’ll explain shortly.

Backlinks are a powerful search engine optimization technique.  When you link to another site, you are giving THEM a backlink.  This is not helping you. This is only sending your website visitors to another website which may end up in them getting lost and forgetting about your site all together.

You want  OTHER websites to link to your site.  Again, external links from YOUR website to OTHER websites is only doing THEM a favor.

If your website developer created a page  called “Resources” or “Links” or some facsimile and it’s got links which will carry visitors from YOUR website away,  I highly recommend you remove them all right away.

Here’s are the exceptions I told you I’d explain:

1. When you have a reciprocal link arrangement. A reciprocal link arrangement is when you and another website owner each have links to one another’s website.  Just as a massage therapist may wish to put a business card on the bulletin board in the waiting room at a chiropractor’s office, it’s a form of cooperative marketing. You’re not competing but you share similar types of clientele. There’s intrinsic value for both parties.
2. When you’re trying to get people to your social media pages.  If you’re using a social media strategy to boost your business, obviously this is an acceptable reasn for en external link.
3. When you are a commissioned affiliate for other companies’ products.  This is useful if YOU are getting traffic to your website and have other people’s products to recommend. You can get commissions for sending traffic to other websites.
4. When you have something to show off.  An example may be to link to an article you we’re featured in on another site, or a piece of work you did for someone else.

For example, I wrote an article on ezine articles and I want people to read it so I will link to it here from my blog. http://ezinearticles.com/?How-To-Use-External-Links-As-An-Online-Marketing-Strategy&id=7595888

The most important links are backlinks TO your website.

In my Domain Authority Blueprint, I teach you how to get quality backlinks which ARE meaningful to Search Engine Optimization and also what internal links are and how to use them.