What is Link Equity?
The ranking value passed through a link, shaped by the source’s authority, relevance, and number of outbound links. Internal links distribute equity; external links earn it.
Related terms
Backlink
A link from another site to yours, still the strongest authority signal at page level. One relevant editorial link beats dozens of low-quality ones, and aged links decay as sources disappear.
Internal Link
A link between pages on the same site, guiding discovery and distributing relevance. Controlled tests show deliberate internal-link changes lifting organic traffic 5–25%, and underlinked priority pages are a standard audit finding.
PageRank
Google’s original link-graph algorithm scoring pages by the quantity and quality of inbound links. Still conceptually alive inside modern systems, even though the public score is long dead.
Off-Page SEO
Everything that builds a site’s reputation elsewhere: backlinks, mentions, reviews, and digital PR. Off-page signals validate what on-page content claims about expertise.
Referring Domain
A unique site linking to you. Domain diversity matters more than raw link counts: 100 links from one site look like one relationship, not 100 votes.
Dofollow Link
A normal link passing ranking signals (the default when no rel attribute says otherwise). Editorial dofollow links from relevant pages are the unit of link building.