Link Juice
Link juice is an informal SEO term for the ranking value passed from one page to another through a hyperlink — formally referred to as link equity — which contributes to a target page's domain authority and ranking potential.
Link juice flows from a linking page to its destination through do-follow hyperlinks. The amount passed depends on several factors: the authority of the linking page, the total number of outbound links on that page (link juice is divided among all outbound links), and the relevance of the linking page to the destination.
How Link Juice Works
When a high-authority page links to your website, it shares a portion of its earned ranking strength with your destination page. This transfer of authority contributes to the target page's ability to rank for competitive search queries. Pages that receive link juice from many high-authority sources accumulate ranking strength over time.
What Affects Link Juice Transfer
- Do-follow vs. no-follow — only do-follow links pass link juice by default
- Number of outbound links — link juice is diluted across all outbound links on a page
- Authority of the linking page — a link from a DR 80 domain passes more equity than a link from a DR 20 domain
- Relevance — links from topically related pages pass more contextual authority
Internal Link Juice
Link juice also flows through internal links within a single website. Strategic internal linking directs authority toward high-priority pages. For brands building backlinks, ensuring that linked-to pages also benefit from strong internal linking maximizes the SEO impact of inbound link equity.
Related Terms
Anchor Text
Anchor text is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink — a key SEO signal that tells search engines what a linked page is about, influencing how it is indexed and ranked for relevant queries.
Backlink
A backlink is a hyperlink from one website that points to a page on another website, signaling trust, authority, and topical relevance to search engines — one of the most important ranking factors in SEO.
Do-Follow Link
A do-follow link is a standard hyperlink that passes link equity from the referring website to the linked page, contributing to the target site's domain authority and search engine rankings.
Domain Authority
Domain Authority (DA) is a third-party metric developed by Moz that predicts how likely a website is to rank in search results, scored 1–100 based on the quality and quantity of its backlink profile.
Referring Domain
A referring domain is a unique website that contains at least one hyperlink pointing to a target website — one of the most important metrics in link building and domain authority assessment.
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