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Internal linking, structure & UX

Link equity (link juice)

Also known as: link equity, link power

Link juice (also called link equity) is an informal SEO term for the value a link is thought to pass from the page it sits on to the page it points to. Google does not use the term or define it. It is a picture for the idea behind PageRank, where links count as signals about a page.

The common model: a page carries some strength, and its links share it. The more links a page has, the less each one passes on. Secondary sources list the authority of the linking page, topical relevance, the number of links on the page and the link’s position as influences. Google does not publish a formula, so exact amounts cannot be calculated. Google still lists PageRank as one of its core ranking systems and says its workings have changed a lot since launch.

The same idea is applied inside a site. Important pages that are linked from the navigation and from related content are better connected in the site’s link graph.

PageRank simplified: how links pass on valueFive pages A to E with links. Page C receives links from A, B, D and E and has the highest value. A receives links from C and D and is almost as large. A splits its value across its two links to B and C. B links to E with rel=nofollow, and this link is not counted in the model. D and E receive no counted links and keep only the base value. Circle sizes are calculated with the 1998 formula by Brin and Page and are for illustration only.nofollowA1.85B0.93C1.92D0.15E0.15Circle size = value in the model(illustrative, calculated forthis example)Link: a page’s value is splitacross its outgoing links.rel=nofollow: not counted inthe model. Google has treatednofollow as a hint for rankingsince September 2019, and forcrawling and indexing sinceMarch 1, 2020.Model after Brin/Page 1998, d = 0.85:PR(A) = (1 − d) + d · (PR(T1)/C(T1) + … + PR(Tn)/C(Tn))Google still uses PageRank in an evolved form. Its current weighting is not public.
Simplified PageRank model: a page passes on its value in equal parts through its outgoing links, and many or strong incoming links lead to a high value. Circle sizes are illustrative, calculated with the 1998 formula. Google uses PageRank in an evolved form; its current weighting is not public. Sources: Brin, Page (1998): The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine; Page, Brin, Motwani, Winograd (1999): The PageRank Citation Ranking; Google Search Central: A guide to Google Search ranking systems; Google Search Central: Qualify your outbound links to Google; Google Search Central Blog: Evolving “nofollow” (Sep 10, 2019).

What do nofollow, sponsored and ugc do?

Google documents three rel values for outbound links: sponsored for paid placements, ugc for user-generated content such as comments and forum posts, and nofollow for cases where neither fits. Google says links marked this way will generally not be followed, though the target pages can still be found through other links or sitemaps. Google introduced sponsored and ugc next to nofollow in September 2019.

Example

An article with many external backlinks links to three subpages. In the link juice model, the article passes part of its strength to those three pages. If the sidebar adds 30 more links, each link gets a smaller share.

FAQ

Does Google measure link juice? No. The term is not a Google metric, and link checkers estimate values with their own scores.

How can a page get more link juice? Links from relevant, well-linked pages help, and so does a clear internal linking structure. No outcome is guaranteed.

Sources

  1. Qualify your outbound links to Google – Google Search Centraldevelopers.google.com
  2. Evolving nofollow – Google Search Central Blog (Sept. 2019)developers.google.com
  3. What is Link Juice? – Seobility (secondary source)seobility.net
  4. Ranking systems guide – Google Search Centraldevelopers.google.com

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