Link Juice Explained

May 31, 2022
Link Juice Explained

When a high-authority site links to a website with a lower authority, Google and other search engines often see this as a vote. This can help the site being linked to gain more authority, better rankings, and even indirectly affect the traffic coming to the site.

This site will be viewed as a quality resource, especially if multiple high-authority websites link to it.

But in the world of SEO, a name has been juice to the flow of authority from one site to another; it has been deemed as “link juice”.

 

What is Link Juice?

Link juice is a term used to describe the value that a backlink passes to your website. It is also known as link authority or link equity.

When another website links to yours, they’re essentially vouching for your website; you can consider this a vote of confidence. This gives your website a boost in the eyes of Google and other search engines by saying your site is trustworthy and relevant to the topic.

 


 

How Does Link Juice Work?

Generally speaking, a link from a high-authority website will pass more link juice than a link from a low-authority website. This is because a high-authority website is more likely to be trusted by search engines. Similarly, a backlink from a relevant website will often pass more link juice than an irrelevant website.

Some of the factors that can affect link juice include relevance, domain authority, page authority, and more; these factors will be discussed further later in this article.

In short, the more high-quality links you have pointing to your website, the more link juice you have. And the more link juice you have, the higher your website will rank in search results.

 


 

Is Link Juice Measured?

Link juice is not an official metric that can be measured; however, there are a few ways to estimate the link equity flowing to your website.

 


 

PageRank

One way to measure link juice is by looking at the PageRank of a linking page. PageRank is a metric created by Google that rates the quality of a page on a scale from 0 to 10; the higher the PageRank, the more link juice it is thought to pass.

Unfortunately, PageRank is no longer intentionally updated by Google and is not a very accurate measure of link juice. Nevertheless, it can still give you a general idea of how much link authority a page is passing.

 


 

Domain Authority/Rating

Another way to measure link juice is by looking at the Domain Authority (DA) and/or Domain Rating (DR) of a linking website. DA, which is a metric created by Moz, and DR, created by Ahrefs, both rate the quality of a website on a scale from 0 to 100; the higher the DA/DR, the more link juice it is thought to pass.

DA and DR are more accurate measures of link juice than PR because they are updated more frequently and take more factors into account. However, both metrics are still only estimates; the amount of link juice passed by a website can vary depending on the individual page.

Although there is no definitive way to measure link authority; however, there are a few methods that can give you a general idea of how much is flowing to your website.

 


 

Factors Affecting Link Juice

There are many different factors and metrics that can affect how much link authority is passed by a link. Here are a few of the most important factors to consider:

 


 

Relevance

One of the most important factors affecting link juice is relevance. A link from a relevant website is more likely to pass link equity than a backlink from an irrelevant website. This is because a relevant website is more likely to be trusted by search engines.

 


 

Domain Authority (Moz)

Another important factor affecting link equity is Domain Authority (DA). As mentioned previously, DA is a metric created by Moz that rates the quality of a website on a scale from 0 to 100. The higher the DA on the site linking, the more link juice is thought to be passed to the site being linked to.

It is important to remember that this can change; if the linking site’s DA increases, then so does the link juice being passed along.

 


 

Page Authority (Moz)

Page Authority is another metric created by Moz that rates the quality of a page on a scale from 0 to 100. Again, the higher the page authority on the site linking, the more link juice is thought to be passed to the site being linked to.

Similar to DA, if the authority of the page changes, the link equity passed on will change, too.

 


 

Domain Rating (Ahrefs)

Ahrefs’ metric Domain Rating (DR), which rates the quality of a website on a scale from 0 to 100, can also affect the link equity. A higher DR means the more link juice being transferred to the linked website.

 


 

URL Rating (Ahrefs)

URL Rating (UR) rates the quality of a webpage on a scale from 0 to 100. Again, the higher the UR on the linking site, the more link authority transferred to the site being linked to.

 


 

Nofollow Links

Nofollow links are links that do not pass link authority; they are not crawled by Google’s bots. These links are typically used when a website is linking to a site it does not want to share authority with.

This type of backlink can be created using the rel=”nofollow” tag.

 


 

Dofollow Links

Dofollow links are links that do pass link juice. These links are typically used when a website is linking to another website that they trust and believe will add to the user experience. Dofollow links are the default link type; therefore, most links are dofollow backlinks.

 


 

Link Location

The location of the backlink can affect how much link juice is passed. Google believes that a link in the body of an article has more value than links in the sidebar or footer, so it is more likely to pass link juice.

Location in the text is also important in link authority. A link higher up in the text is more likely to pass link juice than a link lower down in the text. This is because the links higher up in the text are crawled by Google first.

 


 

Anchor Text

The anchor text is the text that is used to link to your website. The type of anchor text used can affect how much link juice is passed.

For example, a link to OutreachPete’s Blogger Outreach Services page with the anchor text “blogger outreach” is more likely to pass link equity than a link with the anchor text “click here”. This is because the anchor text “blogger outreach” is more relevant, informative, and trustworthy.

 


 

The Importance of Link Juice in SEO

Link juice is an important factor in SEO because it can help your website rank higher in search results. The more link authority you have, the higher your website will rank; therefore, it’s important to try to get as much link equity as possible.

There are a few ways to get more link juice flowing to your website, which will be discussed further in the next section. In short, you can get more link equity by:

 

  • Building more high-quality links

You can do this by using the services of a blogger outreach service, like OutreachPete.com.

 

  • Improving the quality of your existing links

You can do this by conducting a link audit and removing any low-quality links.

 

  • Improving the quality of your website

You can do this by making sure your website is well-designed, user-friendly, and relevant to your target audience.

For more information on how to get more link juice flowing to your site, continue reading.

 


 

How to Check Your Website’s Link Juice

If you want to check the link authority flowing to your website, there are a few ways to do this.

 


 

Google Search Console

One way to check your link juice is by using Google Search Console. Search Console is a free tool provided by Google that allows you to see how your website is performing in search results.

To use Search Console, you’ll need to add and verify your website first. Once you’ve done this, you can click on the “Search Traffic” tab and then “Links to Your Site.” This will show you the websites that are linking to yours, as well as the number of links and the anchor text.

 

Google Search Console showing external and internal links for OutreachPete.com

 


 

Moz Link Explorer

Another way to check your link juice is by using Moz Link Explorer. Link Explorer is a paid tool that allows you to see the links pointing to your website, as well as the DA of the linking website.

To use Link Explorer, you’ll need to create a Moz account and then enter your website’s URL. Once you’ve done this, you can click on the “Inbound Links” tab to see the links pointing to your website.

 

Mox Link Explorer tool showing inbound links to moz.com

 


 

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a paid tool that allows you to see the links pointing to your website, as well as the DA of the linking website.

To use Ahrefs, you’ll need to create an account and then enter your website’s URL. Once you’ve done this, you can click on the “Backlinks” tab to see the links pointing to your website.

 

Ahrefs Backlink Overview tool showing links to ahrefs.com

 


 

Semrush

Semrush can also be used to view the backlinks to your site, although it requires payment.

After creating an account with Semrush, you can search your domain and select “Backlink Analytics” in the sidebar. This will show the number of links built to your site, the referring domains as well as the anchors used. You can also create an audit using the “Backlink Audit” tool, as shown in the image below, to review the quality of the backlinks.

 

Semrush Backlink Analytics tool showing results for semrush.com

 


 

How to Develop a Strategy to Improve Link Juice

If you want to improve the link equity flowing to your website, there are a few things you can do.

 


 

Build More High-Quality Links

One of the best ways to get more link juice flowing to your website is by building more high-quality links. The more high-quality links you have, the more link juice you’ll receive.

If you want to build more high-quality links, you can use the services of a blogger outreach service, like OutreachPete.

There are other ways to build high-quality links, which include:

  • Directory submission
  • Blog commenting
  • Forum posting
  • Question and answer websites
  • Social media

 


 

Improve the Quality of Your Existing Links

By improving the quality of your existing links, your website will have the potential to get more link equity. You can do this by conducting a link audit and removing any low-quality or spammy links.

A link audit is a process of identifying and removing any low-quality links pointing to your website. This can be done manually or with the help of a tool, like Moz Link Explorer.

Once you’ve conducted a link audit and removed any low-quality links, you can focus on building more high-quality links to improve the link juice flowing to your website.

 


 

Improve the Quality of Your Website

Another way to get more link juice flowing to your website is by improving the quality of your website. You can do this by making sure your website is well-designed, user-friendly, and relevant to your target audience.

 


So, there you have it; link juice is a term used to describe the value that a backlink passes to your website. If you want to help your website rank higher in search results, then you should pay attention to the flow of link authority coming to your site.

If you are ready to begin increasing the link authority flowing to your site, then sign up for OutreachPete’s link building services today!

Sign Up Now