Link Juice

The SEO value and authority passed from one page to another through a hyperlink. A concept representing the worth of backlinks.

Aug 21, 2026 / About 1 min read

SEO

Link juice is the SEO value and authority that flows from one page to another through a hyperlink. It is a foundational concept of Google's PageRank algorithm and is also called "link equity."

The mechanism is straightforward. When a high-authority page (say, a major news site) links to your page, a portion of its authority "flows" to yours. The more of this inflow you receive, the more likely your page is to rank higher in search results.

Link juice is distributed roughly equally. If a page contains 10 outbound links, each destination receives about one-tenth of that page's authority. Consequently, a link from a page with few outbound links is worth more per link.

The relationship between short URLs and link juice is an important topic for SEO practitioners. A 301 redirect (permanent) passes link juice almost entirely, and Google states that redirects do not cause a loss of PageRank. The difference between 301 and 302 is not how much link juice they pass but which URL search engines treat as canonical: a 301 makes the destination the canonical URL, whereas with a 302 the source URL tends to remain in search results.

The rel="nofollow" attribute is a tool for controlling link juice. Adding nofollow to a link blocks the transfer of juice. It is standard practice to apply nofollow to advertising links and links within user-generated content. In 2019, Google also introduced rel="sponsored" (for ads) and rel="ugc" (for user-generated content), enabling finer-grained link classification.

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Related Terms

Domain Authority

A numerical score representing a domain's trustworthiness and authority in search engines. Backlink quality and quantity are the primary factors.

Canonical URL

A mechanism that, when multiple URLs exist for the same content, specifies the URL that search engines should index preferentially.

301 Redirect

A permanent HTTP redirect that tells browsers and search engines the resource has moved permanently to a new URL.

Noindex

A directive that tells search engines not to include a specific page in their search results index.

SEO-Friendly URL

A URL structure designed to be easily understood by both search engines and human users.

Link Tree

A service that consolidates multiple links onto a single page. Solves the constraint of platforms like Instagram that allow only one profile link.

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FAQ

Are link juice and backlinks the same thing?

A backlink is the link itself (a physical entity). Link juice is the SEO value transmitted through that link (a concept). Not every backlink passes link juice; nofollow links, for example, do not.

Do short URLs cause link juice to be lost?

If the short URL service uses 301 redirects, link juice is passed almost completely. Google has officially stated that there is no PageRank loss through 301 redirects.

Does link juice flow through internal links as well?

Yes. Link juice is also transmitted through links between pages on the same site (internal links). Directing many internal links to important pages to boost their rankings is a fundamental SEO technique.

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