What is Link Juice and How to Optimize It for SEO?

Why is Link Juice so important for SEO?

Link juice and SEO ranking are inevitably connected. The theory starts from the hypothesis that a website's authority is what determines its position in search results.

In this way, a website with authority will rank higher than a website with less authority, if the rest of the SEO factors are identical.

Of course, to measure who has more or less authority, a ranking would need to be established, and that is how another interesting concept in this field emerged: pagerank.

Brief definition of Pagerank

Pagerank has a dual definition. On one hand, the real Pagerank is a ranking established by Google's algorithm in 1999.

It was public thanks to various tools, which allowed the Pagerank value of a website to be analyzed. This value was between 0 and 10, and exceeding 7 was a titanic task for most websites.

On the other hand, Pagerank is still considered a real ranking of websites based on the authority they have, in each of their pages. Thus, Link juice is still promoted, considering that Pagerank exists and that authority is a determining factor in organic ranking.

This Pagerank value is not officially known today, and it is calculated, logically, in a confidential manner by Google based on, among other factors, the authority factor mentioned in this post.

Types of Link juice

We currently find two types of Link juice. Each of them is related to the type of link that has been obtained. Logically, we will define them as internal and external links.

Internal

Internal Link juice is the authority that is transmitted within the same website. An internal page includes a link to another section or to the home page. The authority of this page is thereby passed to the other page on that same website.

A page that receives many links from other pages on the same website will receive high internal link juice and will gain greater authority when it comes to ranking. This of course is influenced by the authority that each of the internal pages linking to us has.

For example, if a page A on our website is linked from the home page, while another is linked from the contact section, A will receive greater authority, since the home page, except in exceptional cases, is usually the one with the most authority.

Therefore, not all internal links count the same in terms of authority. We cannot say that if A has 10 internal links and B has 11, B has greater authority because it receives more Link juice.

This is where conducting an extensive analysis of a website's internal linking comes into play, and that is why this SEO factor is one of the most decisive, since how we are able to distribute said Link juice throughout our website will determine which pages are more relevant compared to others.

External

External Link juice is the authority that is transmitted from one website to another. That is, a website includes a link within the content of one of its pages to another website.

If everything is correct, the website to which the link points will also receive the transfer of authority. This "juice" or authority we receive will logically depend on the authority of the site that links to us, from which page it does so, etc.

However, this entails a risk for whoever generates the link, since they are transmitting part of their authority to another web page. We therefore must have a defined strategy not only in acquiring backlinks, and thus authority, but in controlling and monitoring how much we are transferring and to whom.

What about "nofollow" links?

As we said before, a website receives external Link juice "if everything is correct." By this we are referring to the "dofollow" attribute or the absence thereof, which must be included in the link.

If, on the contrary, the webmaster decides to place the link but adds the "nofollow" attribute, the transfer of authority does not take place. Therefore, Link juice does not occur.

This was the case until recently, when Google dropped a bombshell that many SEOs had long suspected, and that is that somehow "nofollow" links do transmit authority, because although they "officially" don't, Google tells us that it uses them as "hints" to determine the authority of the page they point to, so one way or another, they pass link juice.

An important point to note: by adding the nofollow tag to a link, we are not causing the authority to be distributed among the other dofollow links on the page. Rather, the authority that would have gone through that link ends up being "diluted" and lost on the internet.

Link Sculpting

The Link Sculpting technique consists of planning a very detailed strategy for creating internal links with which to distribute a website's Link juice to the pages it cares about. This was previously done using the nofollow attributes, until Google saw the misuse webmasters were giving to this attribute and changed the rules of the game.

Currently it is a somewhat outdated strategy. On one hand, "nofollow" links dilute the effectiveness options. On the other hand, well-built link building pointing to those internal pages is much more profitable.

Obfuscating links

The technique of obfuscating links consists of applying a coding, normally in javascript, with which to try to hide the link from Google. The motivation for this action is based on the need that for UX reasons, navigability, etc., the user has the option to follow that link, but we don't want Google to pass authority through it.

That is, let's suppose, hypothetically, since this cannot be verified, that if we have 3 outgoing internal links, to 3 different pages, a percentage will go (as we say, it would be pretentious to say 1/3 would go through each one), link juice will be passed through them to those pages, but if we obfuscate one of them, since Google does not detect it as a link, the other two pages will receive more, as there are not as many authority "leaks."

Given the complexity of this technique, many developers have worked hard on creating practical plugins, which can be used in all kinds of CMS such as WordPress and similar, so that with just a simple configuration, they can be activated.

Tools that help us determine Link juice

Given the importance of a Link juice-based strategy, calculating the current situation of each website in relation to the authority transfer becomes essential for many administrators.

To facilitate this task, there are many online tools that help us with this job. These are some of the most recommended:

• ›Screaming Frog: Adds Link Score modules to identify the Link juice value.
• ›Rank Math or Yoast: Quantifies the internal links that a post or page has.
• ›Broken Link Checker: Identifies broken internal links that would therefore be wasting Link juice.
• ›Majestic / SEMrush / Ahrefs: Proven backlink analysis tools that will help us determine our site's authority.

How to improve Link juice

In conclusion, we offer some practical tips with which you can improve the Link juice of your website:

• ›Detect the pages with the most authority and strengthen the transfer through links in them.
• ›Reduce the number of clicks to boost the power of the links.
• ›Take advantage of the link obfuscation technique for pages of no interest.
• ›Monitor your website's Link juice constantly, to find faults or potential optimizations.
• ›Of course, try to get Link juice from an external website to your main pages in your SEO strategy.
• ›Minimize outgoing links, to transmit as little of your Pagerank as possible.

In this way, we see how Link juice constitutes a fundamental weapon, and its study deserves significant time and dedication within any SEO strategy.