Link weight — often called link equity or "link juice" — is the ranking value one page passes to another through a hyperlink. It's one of the oldest and still most important concepts in SEO: when a strong page links to yours, some of its authority flows across, helping you rank higher. Understanding how that value moves lets you build links that actually matter and structure your own site to keep authority where you want it.
What is link weight?
Every page on the web has a certain amount of authority, earned mostly through the links pointing at it. When that page links out, it shares a portion of its authority with the destination. Search engines use this flow of value — the modern successor to Google's original PageRank — as a signal of how trustworthy and relevant a page is. The more high-quality weight a page accumulates, the better its chances of ranking.
(Older metrics like Yandex's TIC or the public PageRank toolbar are long gone; today the concept lives on inside search engines' own, non-public authority calculations and in third-party estimates like Domain Rating or Authority Score.)
The 5 factors that determine how much weight a link passes
1. Authority of the linking page
A link from a strong, established page passes far more value than one from a weak or brand-new page. Authority is earned by the linking page's own backlinks.
2. Topical relevance
A link from a site in your niche counts for more than one from an unrelated site. Relevance tells search engines the link is a genuine editorial endorsement, not random.
3. Dofollow vs nofollow
A standard "dofollow" link passes weight. Links marked nofollow, sponsored, or ugc pass little to none — though they still have value for traffic and a natural link profile.
4. Link position and context
A link inside the main body content, surrounded by relevant text, carries more weight than one buried in a footer, sidebar, or long link list.
5. Number of links on the page
The linking page's authority is divided among all its outbound links. A link from a page with five links passes more than a link from a page stuffed with a hundred.
How to build and preserve link weight
- Earn links from relevant, authoritative sites through genuinely useful content, digital PR, and partnerships. A few strong links beat hundreds of weak ones.
- Use internal linking deliberately. Your internal links distribute weight across your own site — point them at the pages you most want to rank, using descriptive anchor text.
- Keep a flat, logical structure so authority from your homepage and top pages can flow to deeper pages within a few clicks.
- Fix broken and redirected links, which leak or dilute weight.
- Help new links get discovered. A backlink only starts passing weight once search engines crawl it. When you earn fresh links, a link clicker helps activate them so they're crawled and counted sooner.
The bottom line
Link weight is the currency of off-page SEO. It flows from authoritative, relevant pages through dofollow links in prominent positions — and it's shared, not infinite. Focus on earning quality links, distribute authority smartly with internal linking, and make sure new links actually get crawled. Do that, and the weight compounds into durable rankings.
Frequently asked questions
What is link weight in SEO? It's the ranking value a page passes to another through a link — the modern form of PageRank. More high-quality weight generally means better rankings.
Do nofollow links pass link weight? Very little to none. They still help with referral traffic and a natural-looking link profile, but dofollow links are what transfer ranking value.
How is link weight divided on a page? The linking page's authority is split among all its outbound links, so a link on a page with few links passes more value than one on a page crowded with links.
Does internal linking affect link weight? Yes. Internal links distribute authority across your own site, so pointing them at priority pages with clear anchor text helps those pages rank.
How can I increase my site's link weight? Earn links from relevant, authoritative sites, use strategic internal linking, fix broken links, and make sure new backlinks get crawled quickly.
