What is Link Equity?


What You Need to Know about Link Equity

Flows Through Internal and External Links

Both inbound links from other sites and internal links within your own site pass equity, making link architecture crucial for distributing authority to important pages strategically.

Depends on Source Page Authority

Links from high-authority domains and pages with strong backlink profiles pass more equity than links from weak or new sites, making source quality critical for ranking impact.

Dilutes With More Outbound Links

A page with ten outbound links passes less equity per link than a page with only two links, since the total authority gets divided among all linked destinations.

Gets Modified by Link Attributes

NoFollow links pass little to no equity, while standard followed links pass full value. Sponsored and UGC attributes also affect how much ranking power transfers through the link.

Accumulates Over Time

Pages build equity as they acquire more quality backlinks, and this accumulated authority can then be strategically directed to other important pages through internal linking.

Can Be Lost or Wasted

Broken links, redirect chains, and linking to low-value pages waste equity that could strengthen important content. Regular audits ensure efficient distribution throughout the site.


Frequently Asked Questions about Link Equity

1. How do you maximize link equity distribution?

Build quality backlinks to key pages, use strategic internal linking to pass authority from strong pages to important targets, and eliminate equity waste from broken links or unnecessary redirects.

2. Does link equity affect ecommerce rankings?

Absolutely. Category pages need strong equity to rank competitively, while product pages benefit from both external links and internal links from categories and related products to maximize visibility.

3. Can you recover lost link equity?

If valuable pages get deleted, 301 redirect them to relevant alternatives to preserve equity. Use tools like Ahrefs or Semrush to identify lost backlinks and reclaim them through outreach.

4. Should every page receive link equity equally?

No, prioritize equity flow toward revenue-driving pages like category pages and top products. Not every page needs strong equity—focus distribution on pages with business impact and ranking potential.RetryW


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Related Terms

Link Exchange

Link exchange is when two sites agree to link to each other primarily to manipulate rankings, violating search guidelines.

Link exchange

Quality Link

A quality links is a backlink from a relevant, authoritative website that passes strong SEO value to your site and helps improve search rankings.

Quality Link

Unnatural Links

Backlinks that violate Google’s guidelines by artificially manipulating rankings through schemes rather than being earned organically.

Unnatural links

Unnatural Link

Unnatural links violate Google’s guidelines by manipulating search rankings rather than being earned editorially.

Unnatural Link


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