External Links - Will my PHP Links Script hurt my Google Ranking

I link to external sites using a PHP Links Script. The urls used to call the external pages are like "external.php?id=1". The passed id is matched in a MySQL database and the PHP header() function is used to redirect the visitor to the new website.

My question is, will google rank me better, Page Rank wise and/or Google wise, if I use the plain url instead of the links system url (ie. use http://www.google.com instead of external.php?id=1). Or is there no difference?

If it is better to use the plain url then will it hurt if I use external.php?url=http://www.google.com/

Thanks in advance,
Rick

shouldn't effect your site. It doesnt seem to affect any of mine.

other that ffablaster - does anyone know if a free or cheap ffa links script that accepts external postings?

Thanks
MajorHart majorjh@socket.net

that change no, but changing to http://www.google.com without any "external.php?" should affect you

If you're using that script as a reciprocal link section, you'll probably find a lot of opposition from other webmasters. When you use something like "redirect.php?id=http://www.google.com" that link is not counted as a backlink to the other site. So, if they are linking ot you, you're effectively getting a one-way link becasue nothng is going back to them.

If you're using it for tracking other things and reciprocal linking isn't a worry, then either of your choices are just as valid and won't make any difference at all to yoru rankings, as long as you keep the nubmer of links on each page reasonable.

I have found that google considers that kind of links as backlinks too if they are returning a 301/302 redirect to the site, but it may have lower value