Imagine being able to direct your audience on LinkedIn straight to your latest blog post, portfolio, or product page with just one click. You can do just that with LinkedIn’s outbound link feature.
So naturally, this option to add clickable outbound links to LinkedIn postings and other content is amongst the most exciting changes the platform has seen over the years. Many users may be wondering how to add an outbound link to a LinkedIn post in a way that does not affect their visibility, and why they should be doing it. So let’s talk about the latter.
How Does an Outbound Link on LinkedIn Work
LinkedIn outbound links take users to pages on other domains.
For several reasons, outbound networking—especially on sites like LinkedIn—is essential. Here’s a thorough explanation of why it’s important and what you should know:
Creating Connections beyond LinkedIn
As much as LinkedIn has earned a reputation for being the most important hub from where you can proactively connect with professionals in your target market or industry, outbound networking matters deeply.
The relationships you forge on the site may open the doors to profitable opportunities like joint ventures, employment offers, or potential sales. But you need an internet presence beyond LinkedIn in order to foster trust and build your brand.
The Usefulness of Outbound Links
– Providing Additional Resources
With outbound links, the target audience can navigate from LinkedIn to external websites and access additional information that may be pertinent to the content they are perusing.
So such links are frequently employed to give readers more details and point them toward more resources.
– Gaining Visibility in SERPs
According to a recent Google Search document leak (that Google has not officially responded to, at the time of writing this post), it looks like the search engine might actually care about link diversity.
So having relevant dofollow or nofollow links pointing to your website from a variety of sources like LinkedIn, Medium, Facebook and other high authority sites may essentially have an effect on the chances of your product/service/domain gaining visibility in SERPs.
– Establishing Trust
You can develop goodwill and trust in your network by actively interacting with people and providing aid, advice, or support when required. Long-lasting, mutually beneficial partnerships can result from this.
A part of this process involves sharing content or insights in the field of your expertise. You can get an audience to trust what you say online by providing evidence to back up your claims. Here’s where relevant outbound links to high authority sources matter.
Your audience also needs to see that you and your brand exists outside of LinkedIn too – this is why including a link to your website, Patreon, social media pages and so on, matters if you want to gain their trust.
– Growing Your Network
You can reach out to people outside your immediate LinkedIn circle to broaden your professional network. You may not have otherwise discovered new opportunities, viewpoints or ideas, if not for outbound clicks.
– Personal Branding and Career Progress
Creating and enhancing your brand is facilitated by engaging in outbound networking events. You can establish your authority and credibility in your field by participating in debates, sharing pertinent content, and interacting with people regularly outside of LinkedIn too.
Developing a solid network can lead to addition avenues for career progress, including job offers, promotions, and introductions to key figures in your sector. You cannot create such a network by relying on a single platform to reach out to other professionals and potential investors or employers.
– Learning and Development
It may feel like LinkedIn is bursting at the seams with “career gurus” offering online courses that will transform your personal and professional life.
But if you are smart enough to separate the wheat from the chaff, you will find learning and development courses which can be extremely valuable. A lot of them require you to click on outbound links so that they can monetize their service or product (The same goes for you, if you’re selling something on the platform).
– Remaining Visible and Relevant
Engaging in regular outbound networking events will keep your profile visible and active in your field. Your peers and possible collaborators on LinkedIn are likely to notice and remember you if you regularly share insightful information, engage in conversations, and make connections beyond the platform.
– Gauging Audience Engagement and Generating Leads
Some opportunities on LinkedIn are kept hidden behind outbound links, including employment vacancies, commercial alliances, and joint ventures. Adding clickable links to posts is good way to gauge if there’s genuine audience engagement with the content in question and for generating leads. Those who are just skimming through content with no real interest in what you’re saying are unlikely to click on an outbound link to gather further information.
In summary, creating fruitful relationships, gaining access to new opportunities or leads, and advancing professionally all depend on outbound networking via sites like LinkedIn. By actively interacting with people within and beyond LinkedIn, you can grow your network and maintain relevance in your field.
