Claim: External links to pages inside a Web site hurt Website positioning and should be forbidden in link
exchanges.
Status: False
Some organizations actually forbid you to link to lower level pages within their site. The reasons for this are
obscure, but evidently some people think that such deep links harm their Web site in some way. The truth is the
opposite. You want to get as many deep links as you possibly can.
One reason to forbid the practice is that some sites regularly delete old pages. This hurts their own Search Engine
optimization. It may be done for reasons of space though, or database performance, or because journals want to "archive"
old articles and charge for them. It also might be done out of ignorance. Be wary of linking to pages that might
disappear, since you do not want to accumulate a lot of bad links in your Web site or Web log. One journal had the
regrettable practice of re-using the same URL address precisely for different content each week!
But do encourage deep links to specific articles. If other Web masters are willing to link to BOTH the article and
the Web site main page, that is better of course.
More Search Engine Optimization Superstitions
Online Search Engine Optimization Handbook
