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How does linking to external sites in an industry news roundup impact email deliverability?

Summary

Linking to external sites in industry news roundups has a multi-faceted impact on email deliverability. While linking to reputable sites can signal value and even improve sender reputation, poor link choices can severely damage it. A primary concern is the reputation of the linked domains, as linking to spammy, blacklisted, or compromised sites can trigger spam filters. It's also important to maintain a balanced ratio of text to links, as a disproportionate number of links can make an email appear spammy. Wrapping links in a click-through domain provides some protection, while avoiding URL shorteners is generally recommended. Finally, including original content and context around the links can improve engagement and prevent your newsletter from being viewed as low-value.

Key findings

  • Domain Reputation: The reputation of domains you link to significantly impacts your sender reputation.
  • Content Balance: Maintaining a healthy balance between original content and external links is essential.
  • Ratio of Links to Text: A high link-to-text ratio can trigger spam filters.
  • Wrapped Links: Wrapping links offers some protection, especially against reputation issues.

Key considerations

  • Link Monitoring: Regularly monitor the reputation and health of the websites you link to.
  • Original Content: Supplement external links with original commentary and context.
  • URL Shorteners: Avoid using URL shorteners.
  • Link Tracking: Ensure your link tracking domain has a good reputation.
  • HTML Link Text: Ensure that the visible text in the HTML is not the original URL
  • Trust: Quality and relevance of those links matter

What email marketers say

10 marketer opinions

Linking to external sites in industry news roundups impacts email deliverability in nuanced ways. It's not inherently detrimental, and reputable links can even improve sender reputation by signaling valuable resources. However, the quality, relevance, and quantity of those links are critical. Poor link reputation (linking to spammy or compromised sites), a high ratio of links to text, and the use of URL shorteners can all negatively affect deliverability. Ensuring links are trustworthy, relevant, and have descriptive anchor text, while also carefully using link tracking and original content, are all crucial.

Key opinions

  • Reputation Matters: The reputation of linked domains directly impacts sender reputation. Avoid linking to known spam or compromised sites.
  • Quality & Relevance: Link to trustworthy and relevant content aligned with the audience's interests.
  • Link Ratio: Be mindful of the ratio of links to text. Too many links can make the email look spammy.
  • URL Shorteners: Avoid using URL shorteners, as they are often associated with spam.
  • Content Balance: If a newsletter primarily contains external links, add original content and commentary to increase perceived value.

Key considerations

  • HTML Link Text: Ensure the visible text in the HTML is not the original link.
  • Link Tracking: Use link tracking carefully and ensure the link tracking domain has a good reputation.
  • Anchor Text: Use descriptive anchor text for links.
  • Link Health: Regularly check links to ensure they are still working and haven't been compromised.
  • B2B implications: Be extra careful when linking externally when sending B2B emails.

Marketer view

Email marketer from Sendinblue Blog answers that linking to external resources isn't inherently bad for deliverability, but the quality and relevance of those links matter. Ensure the linked content is trustworthy and aligns with your audience's interests.

25 Nov 2024 - Sendinblue Blog

Marketer view

Email marketer from Email on Acid shares the importance of using link tracking carefully. Make sure your link tracking domain has a good reputation, as this is what ISPs will see when evaluating your email's links.

22 Nov 2024 - Email on Acid

What the experts say

8 expert opinions

Linking to external sites in industry news roundups has a complex impact on email deliverability. Experts agree that the reputation of the linked domains is crucial; linking to sites with poor reputations or those blacklisted for spam can harm your sender reputation. Wrapping links in your click-through domain helps mitigate risk, but bare links are more vulnerable. Maintain a good ratio of content to links to avoid being perceived as spammy, and add original content to provide context. Also, use the article title rather than the raw domain in the visible link text. While linking to external sites is generally acceptable, constantly monitor the reputation of the sites you link to.

Key opinions

  • Link Reputation is Key: The reputation of domains you link to directly impacts your sender reputation. Linking to spam sites hurts deliverability.
  • Content to Link Ratio: A high number of links compared to content can be viewed negatively by spam filters.
  • Wrapping Links: Wrapping links in your click-through domain offers some protection against reputation issues.

Key considerations

  • Bare Links: Avoid using bare links as they are more susceptible to reputation issues.
  • Domain Reputation Monitoring: Regularly monitor the reputation of sites you link to.
  • Link Text: Use the title of the article, not the raw domain name, as the visible link text.
  • Content Context: Provide original content and context around links in newsletters.

Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks explains that if the links are wrapped in your click-through domains, it's mostly OK. If they're bare links, there's a risk that a bad reputation of those domains may hurt delivery.

5 Apr 2023 - Email Geeks

Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks says that sending to 'not our sites' should not be a problem, particularly if you're wrapping them in your domain.

4 Jun 2024 - Email Geeks

What the documentation says

5 technical articles

Documentation consistently emphasizes that linking to external sites impacts email deliverability primarily through domain reputation. Linking to sites known for spam, phishing, or listed on blocklists (like Spamhaus) can significantly harm your sender reputation and lead to emails being flagged as spam. It's crucial to ensure linked domains are trustworthy and safe to avoid deliverability issues. Balancing the number of links with the overall message content is also important.

Key findings

  • Domain Reputation: A sender's domain reputation is directly influenced by the domains they link to.
  • Blacklists Impact: Linking to domains listed on blocklists (e.g., Spamhaus SBL) can cause emails to be flagged as spam.
  • SmartScreen Filter: Outlook's SmartScreen Filter checks links against reported phishing and spam sites.

Key considerations

  • Trustworthy Domains: Ensure the domains you link to are trustworthy and safe to maintain a good sender reputation.
  • Balance Links: Balance the number of links with overall message content to avoid triggering spam filters.

Technical article

Documentation from RFC explains that the message format allows for inclusion of multiple links and content, but it is important to balance the number of URLs to avoid issues with spam filters.

5 May 2025 - RFC 5322

Technical article

Documentation from Google explains that a sender's domain reputation is influenced by the domains they link to in their messages. Linking to domains with poor reputations can negatively impact the sender's deliverability.

29 Nov 2024 - Google Postmaster Tools

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