What is Link Juice?
Link juice or link equity is a term used in SEO that refers to the value or authority that is passed from one webpage to another through links. Think of it as a vote of confidence that flows from one page to another, helping to boost the receiving page’s credibility and, ultimately, its ranking in search engine results.
There are two different types of link juice – internal and external link juice.
- Internal link juice refers to linking power from one page to another on the same website, or internal subpages.
- External link juice refers to linking power from one domain to another.
How Does Link Juice Affect Rankings?
There are a lot of factors and considerations that go into the ranking of a website – some 200, in fact! Link juice is just one of these signals that google uses to determine the PageRank. This is an algorithm where Google analyses the quality and quantity of backlinks that a page receives.
So, how does it work?
Put simply, when a page on the internet links to your website, it’s not just sending traffic if users click the hyperlink, it’s also passing along some of its own authority, or “juice.” The more high-quality, relevant links you have pointing to your site, the more link juice you receive.
However, not all links are created equal.
Links from high-authority, relevant websites carry more link juice compared to those from less trustworthy or unrelated sites. Additionally, the way link juice is distributed depends on how many links are on the referring page. If a page links to multiple sites, the link juice is then divided among them.
What Makes Up Link Juice?
There are quite a few factors that go into determining how much authority a link has, but Google doesn’t mention what these factors exactly are. However, some of the most common include:
- Relevance: The more relevant the linking page is to your content, the more link juice it can pass. The closer the content matches the context of your page, the more value it adds.
- Type of Link: A “follow” link passes link juice, while a “no-follow” link doesn’t. While no-follow links don’t pass authority, they can still drive traffic and contribute to a natural backlink profile.
- Number of Links: The more links on a page, the more the link juice is divided among them. So, a link from a page with fewer outbound links can pass more authority than one from a page with many links.
- Domain Authority: Links from high-authority websites carry more link juice. Authority is often based on the site’s history, the quality of its content, and the number of quality backlinks it has.
- Anchor Text: The clickable text of a link (anchor text) is important as it helps provide context about the linked page.
- Link Placement: Where the link is placed on the page can also matter. Links embedded in the main content of a page are considered more valuable as opposed to links in the sidebars or footers.
How To Get More Link Juice to Your Site?
- Create High-Quality Content: The best way to attract valuable link juice is by consistently producing content that’s informative, engaging, and worth sharing. The more helpful and unique your content, the more likely others will link to it.
- Focus on Relevance: When building a backlink profile, aim to get links from websites that are relevant to your niche or industry.
- Leverage Internal Linking: Don’t forget about the power of linking within your own site. By strategically placing internal links, you can guide users and search engines to your most important pages and distribute link juice throughout your site.
- Optimise Anchor Text: Don’t forget to use descriptive anchor text that includes relevant keywords. However, be mindful not to over-optimise; keep it natural to the text and varied!
