Links are the backbone of the web and play an essential role in SEO and how well a website ranks in search engines like Google or Bing. Based on their destination, links can be classified into three categories, each serving its own purpose:
Together, these links form what’s known as a website’s “link profile.” While each link type plays an important role in shaping this profile, this post will focus on outbound links.
So why exactly do outbound links matter so much? They’re essential for building your website’s credibility. By linking to trustworthy, relevant sources, you show readers that your content is well-researched and backed by reliable references. This helps establish your site as an authority. Outbound links also improve the user experience by giving readers quick access to related information without making them search elsewhere.
From an SEO standpoint, links to authoritative sites signal quality and relevance, which can positively impact search rankings. But remember, not all outbound links are created equal. Links to low-quality or even malicious sites can harm your site’s reputation, and broken links can frustrate users and affect SEO. Since links may break over time or lead to unexpected content if a domain changes hands, it’s essential to regularly check and update outbound links to keep them valuable and trustworthy.
An easy way to keep track of your outbound links is by using Dr. Link Check, a powerful and user-friendly link-checking tool. While Dr. Link Check is primarily designed to find broken links, it’s also excellent for getting an overview of all links on your site, including outbound (external) links.
To get started with Dr. Link Check, visit https://www.drlinkcheck.com/, enter your website’s URL in the text box, and click the Start Check button.
The service will begin crawling your website, starting from the homepage, and will continue until it either reaches the limit of your plan or exhausts all available links. The free “Lite” plan allows crawling of up to 1,500 links, which is sufficient for many smaller websites.
Once the crawl is complete, Dr. Link Check provides several reports accessible from the left-hand sidebar. Since we are only interested in outbound links, select Outbound from the sidebar.
The report may include a variety of link types beyond standard hyperlinks, such as script links (<script src="...">), image links (<img src="...">), and other resource links that may not be relevant to you. To refine the report to display only the links you want, go to the Filter section at the top of the report and select Add → Link Type.
If you plan to check outbound links regularly (which is highly recommended), you can save this customized filter by clicking Save as Custom Report…. This will add a new item to your sidebar for easy access.
Alternatively, if you’d prefer to filter out resource links during the crawl itself, you can instruct the crawler to ignore all links except standard anchor (<a href="...">) links in your HTML code. Note that this option is only available with a paid subscription, starting with the “Standard” plan. To apply this setting, open the Project Settings dialog, expand Advanced Settings, and enter the following rule under Ignore links if…:
HtmlElement != "a"
Once you rerun the crawl, the Outbound report will only display outbound <a> links.
Managing outbound links is key to maintaining your website’s credibility, user experience, and SEO health. With Dr. Link Check, staying on top of these links is simple and efficient. Regular checks ensure that your site remains a reliable resource for both visitors and search engines alike.
