Recently, Darren at ProBlogger and Kevin and LexBlog tackled the issue of sending traffic away from your blog versus keeping your vistors on site. While Kevin primarily plugged blogs that are not afraid to link out and share, Darren took a more balanced approach and looks at it at both angles. This exchange of thoughts reminded me that I’ve always wanted to discuss an issue related to this.

I’ve only recently written on how good linkblogging can help you keep up with the latest memes without being (too much of) an echo, so I’m certainly not afraid of linking out. But like most bloggers, even those quoted at LexBlog as great “link-outers”, I play both games.

But you’ll never play both games will equally - that’s my belief. So, which should you prioritise? Linking in or linking out?

For me, I like linking out, but I like linking in even more. I’ll link to my own (relevant) posts above linking outside.

Why? Most of you probably already know this, but interlinking within one’s own blog helps build relationships with your readers, helps establish authority within your niche, and of course, increases page views per visitor. But I guess that doesn’t really answer the why I link in before linking out.

What does is my belief that you generally have far fewer opportunities to link in compared to linking out. Unless you have an archive of 2000+ posts or write on highly related topics all the time, it’s unlikely you will always have a related post to link to. You, however, will almost always have something to link out to (think Google, T’rati, Del.icio.us).

So, why not maximize the opportunity to link in whenever you can?

Edit: Brian Clark at Copyblogger is one of those that prioritises linking in before linking out. You’ll rarely find a post without a link to one of his other ones. Just check out his latest post. It has 5 in-links. This doesn’t mean he doesn’t link out though.

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