Link Juice

The informal SEO term for the ranking authority and equity passed from one page to another through a dofollow hyperlink.

Definition

Link juice is an informal SEO term referring to the ranking authority and equity that flows from one page to another through a hyperlink. The concept derives from Google's original PageRank algorithm: each page has a pool of ranking authority (proportional to the authority of pages linking to it), and that authority is distributed among all outbound links on the page. Pages with many inbound dofollow links from high-authority sources accumulate more link juice to pass to the pages they link to.

The mathematical model: if a page with significant authority links to 10 other pages, each of those 10 pages receives approximately 1/10th of the distributable authority (after accounting for a "damping factor" — approximately 15% of authority is consumed at each hop). This means: linking to many external pages from a single page dilutes the juice sent to each; internal links from high-authority pages can significantly boost important pages; and link juice does not disappear when a nofollow link is used — it is simply not passed (in the simplified model, it is consumed rather than redistributed).

Practical link juice optimization: identify your highest-authority pages (home page, most-linked blog posts) and ensure they have strong internal links to your commercially important pages; consolidate authority by canonicalizing and redirecting thin or duplicate pages; and avoid unnecessary external links from high-value pages that dilute outbound authority.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does adding more links on a page reduce the link juice to each?

In the simplified PageRank model, yes — the equity is divided among all outbound links. In practice, Google's modern algorithms are more nuanced, and having naturally appropriate links on a page does not hurt it. The recommendation to limit outbound links is about editorial quality and user experience, not mathematical link juice conservation.

Does link juice pass through 301 redirects?

Google has confirmed that PageRank passes through 301 redirects, though some practitioners observe small empirical losses. The current official guidance is that 301 and 302 redirects both pass PageRank. For permanent URL changes, 301 is still preferred for clarity of intent and to avoid any potential loss from temporary redirect processing.