SEO Term Definition
Link Equity (Link Juice)
Link equity (link juice) is the value or authority passed from one page to another through hyperlinks. High-authority pages pass more link equity; links from relevant, trusted sites are most valuable.
Reviewed by Alexander Yarovenko · Updated: 2026-09-18
What is Link Equity?
Link equity (colloquially called link juice) refers to the value or ranking authority that passes from one page to another through hyperlinks. When a high-authority page links to your page, it shares a portion of its PageRank with you — boosting your ability to rank. Link equity is the mechanism by which backlinks help pages rank in search results.
Factors That Affect How Much Link Equity is Passed
- Authority of the linking page — a link from a DR 80 page passes far more equity than one from a DR 20 page
- Number of outbound links on the page — link equity is divided equally among all outbound links; a page with 100 links passes 1/100th as much per link as a page with 1 link
- Follow vs nofollow — followed links pass equity; nofollow links do not (or pass minimal equity according to Google)
- Relevance of linking page — a link from a topically relevant page passes more contextual authority
- Link placement — editorial links within body content pass more equity than footer or sidebar links
Internal Link Equity Distribution
You control how PageRank flows within your own site through internal links:
- The homepage typically accumulates the most external link equity — link from it to priority pages
- Pillar content pages that earn backlinks should link to related cluster pages
- Avoid excessive outbound links on your most authoritative pages (dilutes equity per link)
- Fix broken internal links — 404 errors are link equity dead ends
External Links and Link Equity
- Linking out to external sites does NOT meaningfully hurt your own rankings — the "link equity loss" from outbound links is minimal
- Linking to high-quality, relevant external resources signals quality to Google
- Use
rel="nofollow"for sponsored or untrusted outbound links
Decision guide
| Use when | Link equity is a useful explanatory model, not a measurable balance shown by Google. Prioritize crawlable, descriptive links that help people and clarify which pages matter in the site structure. |
|---|---|
| How to verify | Find important pages with weak internal discovery, remove broken or redirected destinations, and link from relevant hubs in context. Validate crawl depth and impressions instead of claiming a fixed amount of transferred value. |