Downloadable product sheet - multiple external links - SEO implications

[Markitosline]

Hi there! 

I have around 300 unique SKUs and each one has its own specific details and dimensions (technical info) that is key for us to have at hand and for the user to download.

My concern is, after creating a metafield with an href link per product and dynamically connecting it to a custom liquid section of my product page, that I'm referring to, within my domain, around 300 external links outside of my domain.

This is an example of a single product link:

<a href="https://www.SUPPLIER.com/uk/productpdf/download/file/id/3148/example/" target="_blank" title="https://www.SUPPLIER.com/uk/productpdf/download/file/id/3148/example/"><strong>Product sheet</strong></a>

My concerns are more related to the SEO implications, would this affect negatively my organic positioning for my products if I have an external link per product?

Should I be safer than sorry and tell robots not to follow or index this link? How can this be achieved with an external link?

Any help or different approach would be much appreciated! 

Thanks in advance 😉

[kjproweb · Accepted solution]

Hi Markitosline,

The correct answer is no. The organic search engine rank position of your product pages will NOT be negatively impacted just because you embedded [href links] into your product pages. 

As a matter of fact, if your href links are pointing to an EXTERNAL link where the site visitor can download the product information --- you're actually boosting the organic search engine rank position of each product because those are [external backlinks] that point to the original source which is your website.

Awesome job and kudos to you! Furthermore, it would be wise to refrain from placing "no-index", "no-follow" HTML tags on your product pages to avoid the risk of Google algorithms interpreting those tags to mean do not index your pages.

Awesome job and kudos to you for the excellent work!

Kevin James

Senior Technical SEO Specialist

Full-Stack & Front-end Developer