Link equity, sometimes called link authority or link juice, is the idea that a link carries some of the standing of the page it is on to the page it points at. It comes from how search engines have long used links as votes: a page that many trusted pages link to is likely to be worth reading. The term is an industry shorthand rather than a measurement, and search engines do not publish a figure.
Why it matters for outbound links
An outbound link is treated as a kind of vote for its destination. A link on an established site is worth more to the destination than one on a new site, which is why people pay to buy expired domains that established sites still link to, and why spammers inject links into sites with a good reputation. If you link to a site, you are lending it some of your credibility. It is a good idea to know who you are lending it to.
| Link | How search engines treat it |
|---|---|
| An ordinary link | A signal about the destination |
rel="nofollow", sponsored or ugc | A hint that the link shouldn’t be treated as an endorsement |
How Link Signals treats it
Link Signals doesn’t measure link equity. It reports where your outbound links lead now, which is the part you control. It does record whether each link is followed or marked with a rel attribute, including when a page-wide robots directive marks every link nofollow. A problem link that is still followed passes credit, so it is the case to deal with first, and the advice on a finding says so. A link already marked nofollow, sponsored or ugc is shown as lower urgency, though it can still send visitors somewhere bad.
Common misunderstandings
- Nofollow does not make a bad link safe. It stops credit being passed, as a hint. Visitors can still click it.
- More outbound links do not “dilute” a page in any way that Link Signals can report. The question to ask is whether each link is one you would vouch for.
- Link equity is not a score Google gives you. Tools that show numbers are estimates made by third parties.
See expired domain links for the case where lost equity is most often sought out.
Questions
Should I nofollow every external link?
No. Links you do vouch for can be followed. Use the markers for paid, user-written or unvouched links. See which rel should a link have.
Can a hidden link pass equity?
If it is followed, yes, which is why a hidden link is a spam technique.
How this counts in your LinkSignal
The ranking credit going to flagged links panel in a report shows how much of a site’s credit goes to links a scan flagged. It sits beside your site’s external LinkSignal and is not part of the score. LinkSignal is Link Signals’ own metric, worked out only from what this tool finds, and it is not connected to any search engine or third-party score. See the LinkSignal overview for how the two relate.
Run a scan and find where these show up on your own site.
