TL;DR

Link equity is the ranking power that flows through links. When a high-authority page links to you, it passes some of its authority — this is link equity. More links from more authoritative pages = more equity flowing to your pages.

Key Points

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Link equity flows through both internal links and external backlinks — optimizing both is important for ranking performance

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Link equity is diluted by the number of links on a page: a page with 100 outbound links passes less equity per link than one with 10

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[[nofollow|Nofollow]] links do not pass link equity (or pass significantly reduced amounts), making dofollow links more valuable for SEO

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Redirects can reduce link equity: a direct backlink passes more than one going through multiple redirect hops

How Link Equity Flows

Link equity (originally called PageRank) flows through the web's link graph from page to page^[1]. A page's total equity is determined by the equity of all pages linking to it, weighted by the number of outbound links on each linking page. A link from a page with equity 100 and 10 outgoing links passes 10 units of equity; the same link from a page with 100 outgoing links passes 1 unit. This is why a link from a page with few outbound links is more valuable than one from a page that links to hundreds of sites. In practice, you can't measure this directly — third-party metrics like Page Authority, Ahrefs' URL Rating, and Semrush's Authority Score approximate it.

Preserving Link Equity

Link equity is lost or diluted in several ways^[1]^[2]. Redirect chains reduce equity at each hop — keep redirects to single hops. Nofollow links don't pass equity (or pass minimal amounts). Pages blocked in robots.txt or marked `noindex` may not pass equity even if links point to them. Broken links (404 pages) are dead-ends that waste any equity that would have flowed through them — use link reclamation to redirect broken inbound links to live pages. On your own site, avoid excessive internal link dispersal on any single page — keeping the link count reasonable on high-authority pages maximizes the equity each internal link receives. The anchor text of a link doesn't change the amount of equity passed, but it does influence which keywords the destination page can rank for.

Building and Concentrating Link Equity

Link equity strategy has two components: acquisition and distribution^[2]. Acquisition is earning high-equity backlinks through guest posting, digital PR, Skyscraper content, and broken link building. Distribution is routing acquired equity to pages that need it through strategic internal linking. Your homepage typically has the highest link equity on your site — link from your homepage (via navigation, featured content, or footer links) to your most important conversion pages. High-authority blog posts should link to related commercial pages. Pillar pages accumulate equity from cluster articles and should link back to the pages most important for ranking. Mapping your site's link equity flow reveals which pages are rich in equity (but perhaps not your most important pages) and which are starved despite being conversion-critical.

SOURCES

Ahrefs — Internal Links for SEO: An Actionable Guide

Ahrefs — How to Find and Fix Broken Links (to Reclaim Link Juice)

Last updated: June 9, 2026

Related Terms

Backlink

A hyperlink from one website pointing to a page on another website, used by search engines as a signal of authority and trust.

PageRank

Google's original algorithm that assigns a numerical importance score to web pages based on the quantity and quality of links pointing to them, treating each link as a 'vote' of confidence.

Internal Linking

Links from one page on your website to another page on the same website — used to help users navigate, distribute link equity (PageRank) between pages, and signal to search engines the relative importance and topical relationships of your content.

Nofollow

A link attribute (`rel='nofollow'`) that instructs search engines not to follow a link or pass link equity (PageRank) to the destination URL.

Put it into practice

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