--- title: Link Equity — definition | RGM® Glossary url: https://realgrowthmatters.com/glossary/link-equity/ updated: 2026-06-10 source_html: https://realgrowthmatters.com/glossary/link-equity/ --- # Link Equity link eq·ui·ty/lɪŋk ˈɛkwəti/noun Every link passes a bit of ranking power — manage where it flows and you concentrate authority where it counts. Term : Link Equity Old name : 'Link juice' Passed by : Links (internal and external) Managed via : Internal linking, redirects, nofollow, structure ## Forms & parts of speech link equity · noun Ranking value passed by links. "That 301 preserved the page's **link equity** — we kept the rankings through the migration." ## Definition in plain terms Link equity (historically and informally called 'link juice') is the ranking value or authority that passes from one page to another through hyperlinks. It's the conceptual currency behind how links influence rankings: a link is a vote that transfers some of the linking page's authority to the linked page, and the cumulative link equity a page receives — from external sites and from internal links — is a major factor in its ability to rank. Modern search ranking is far more complex than the early PageRank model, but the underlying intuition (authority flows through links, and links from authoritative, relevant pages are worth more) remains foundational. ## The mechanics Link equity flows and can be managed: EXTERNAL link equity comes from backlinks (more authoritative, relevant, editorial links pass more value — the quality-over-quantity link-building principle), while INTERNAL link equity is distributed by your own site structure (internal links channel authority between your pages — which is how a strong page can lift a weaker one, and why internal-linking strategy matters for topical authority and for getting important pages ranked). Equity can LEAK or be WASTED: links to low-value pages spread it thin, broken links and orphaned pages waste it, and excessive linking dilutes the value each link passes. The management tools: deliberate INTERNAL LINKING (channel equity to the pages that need to rank), 301 REDIRECTS (which preserve most link equity when URLs change — critical in migrations, the difference between keeping and losing rankings), NOFOLLOW and related attributes (which historically signaled not to pass equity — now treated as hints), canonical tags (consolidating equity from duplicates), and site architecture that flows authority efficiently from your strongest pages to your most important ones. The honest caveat: 'link equity' and 'link juice' are useful mental models, not literal mechanics — Google's actual algorithms are vastly more sophisticated than equity-flow metaphors, so treat the concept as directionally true guidance, not a precise system to game. ## When it matters Link equity matters in every SEO decision involving links and structure: link-building strategy (earning authoritative external equity), internal-linking architecture (distributing equity to rank important pages — a high-leverage, fully-controllable lever), site migrations and URL changes (where 301 redirects preserve equity and their absence destroys rankings), and consolidation decisions (merging pages to concentrate equity). It matters most as the mental model behind why authority and structure drive rankings — useful for making good decisions (concentrate equity on what matters, don't leak it, preserve it through changes) without overfitting to a metaphor that's simpler than the real algorithm. **Worked example.** A company replatforms its website and, not understanding link equity, lets the old URLs simply 404 — and watches its hard-won rankings collapse, because all the link equity those pages had accumulated (from years of backlinks and internal links) vanished with the broken URLs. The recovery teaches the lesson: a comprehensive 301-redirect map from every old URL to its new equivalent preserves the link equity through the migration (301s pass most of the value), broken internal links get fixed, and the internal-linking structure is rebuilt to channel authority from the strongest pages to the most important ones. Rankings recover as the equity is restored and re-concentrated. Separately, the team starts using internal linking deliberately to lift important pages — a fully-controllable lever they'd been ignoring — distributing equity to where it earns the most rankings instead of letting it leak across thin pages. **Failure modes to watch.** Letting URLs 404 in migrations (destroying link equity); ignoring internal linking (the controllable equity lever); spreading equity thin across low-value pages; and treating the 'link juice' metaphor as literal algorithm mechanics to game rather than directional guidance. ## Synonyms & antonyms ### Synonyms link equitylink juiceranking authority ### Antonyms orphaned pagesleaked link equity ## Origin & history \*Reconstructed from SEO practice; no single coiner is on record. 'Link equity' (and its informal predecessor 'link juice') descends from Google's original PageRank concept (Brin and Page, 1998), which modeled authority flowing through links; the terms became standard SEO vocabulary in the 2000s, even as Google's actual ranking grew far beyond the simple equity-flow model. Etymology: [source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank). ## Usage trends Search interest for this term over the last five years: [View interest-over-time on Google Trends →](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=link%20equity&date=today%205-y) ## Common questions What is link equity? : The ranking value or authority passed from one page to another through links — historically called 'link juice.' How is link equity managed? : Through internal linking, 301 redirects (which preserve it), nofollow/canonical signals, and site architecture that channels authority to important pages. Why do 301 redirects matter for link equity? : A 301 redirect preserves most of a page's link equity when its URL changes — the difference between keeping and losing rankings in a migration. ## Related tools & calculators - tool[Funnel drop-off analyzer](/tools/funnel-drop-off-analyzer/) ## Resources & people to follow - referenceGoogle Search Central — links and PageRank concepts - referenceMoz — link equity and internal linking guides - referenceRGM analysis — internal linking is the controllable equity lever Curated, non-competitor resources verified per term. ## Related training - module[Content marketing](/training/content-marketing/) ## Disciplines Areas of marketing where link equity is a core concern: [Content strategy](/training/content-marketing/)[SEO](/training/growth-marketing-foundations/) ## Read next ## Related terms [Backlink](/glossary/backlink/)[Link building](/glossary/link-building/)[SEO](/glossary/seo/)[Domain authority](/glossary/domain-authority/)[Topical authority](/glossary/topical-authority/) ## Sources 1. trends[Google Trends — "link equity"](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=link%20equity&date=today%205-y)