Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
More than one link on an external website
-
Just wanted to clarify my understanding of this...
I'm of the understanding that if an external site has more than one link going to your site, then it is only the one link that passes value. If this is the case....
-
Which is the link that passes value (i.e the first link established or the link that, all factors being considered, is the most valuable for passing authority?)
-
If a second link established on an external website comes from and goes to a different webpage than the first (and is done for the purposes of targeting and boosting a different keyword category/theme), is this then a beneficial practice?
-
If multiple links on an external website all serve to generate solid referral traffic, will this boost rankings, and thereby be a sound practice?
Thanks in advance for your help in clarifying this for me!
-
-
No, you're absolutely right Patrick. The answer is, an external site (emphasis on "site") can pass link equity to more than one page on your site. An external page can too, provided those links are pointing to different pages on the recipient site.
If, for example, Site A has a footer link that points to Site B's home page, those links will be devalued or penalized by Google because they're unnatural and rarely viewed or clicked on by users. If Site A feels compelled to use them, they should be nofollowed, effectively telling Google you're not trying to game the system.
If, on the other hand, Site A has a unique link on Page X that points to Site B, AND it adds value, AND it's a follow link, then it will pass value. If Site A has two identical outgoing links on the same page or if one of those links is identifical except for the anchor text, then only the first will pass value.
If site A has unique links on Page X that point to different pages on Site B, AND they add value, AND they are follow links, then they will pass value.
-
Hi Donna
Thanks for sharing the link to the Q+A about this question - my confusion was in the language of "site" vs "page".
"I'm of the understanding that if an external site has more than one link going to your site, then it is only the one link that passes value."
If we are talking about one "page" with multiple links, then I can understand Google's counting one link from that page (although again, this is the first time I am hearing about it), but "site" is a harder pill to swallow for me in only counting one link - hence my confusion.
I would also ask why do you need multiple links from one page pointed to your site? To me, if that's happening multiple times across different websites, this could potentially trigger spam filters and look like a link scheme or manipulative link building, especially if linking pages are irrelevant to your content or website, or over-optimized anchor text.
Just my thoughts - good luck!
-
Edited now that I've seen Patrick's response which I agree with and want to elaborate on a bit.
"... if an external site has more than one link going to your site, then it is only the one link that passes value. " There has been some discussion of that point in the past. This is the most recent I found and I believe it is still accurate.
Moz best practices for anchor text also touch on your point.
- Yes, but it the anchor text of the first link that will count most.
_2) _Yes, because the link destinations are different.
3) It's possible those links will boost rankings indirectly IF they provide sticky traffic, not not by virtual of the links themselves. Sticky traffic is traffic that doesn't bounce.
-
Hi there
I am not entirely sure I have ever heard that rule before - can you source that?
-
First, you have to figure out if the links are follow or nofollow. Follow meaning they pass value or nofollow meaning that more often than not, they don't. There's a common misconception that you only want follow links - this is simply not true. Even if a link is a nofollow link or not passing any equity, it's still potentially valuable from multiple standpoints. All links can provide value, by the way, it's not limited to just one link.
-
Yes, if where the backlink is pointing to is relevant to the content on your website. For instance, if the link is linking from a page about lawn mowers to a page on your site about toaster ovens, I wouldn't consider that a valuable link because it's not relevant. Does that make sense?
-
I suggest you read Google's stance on link schemes, as paid links are something that they have heavily cracked down on. I would suggest that you nofollow the link pointing to your website to avoid any unintended repercussions. I would also suggest you take a look at this Whiteboard Friday post to learn more about how paid media investments can have SEO value - you just have to be smart about it!
I have to say this though - don't "link build" with the intention of boosting rankings. I know that's an odd thought but you have to remember that any link you acquire should be done with the intention of adding value to that link and the user that is arriving because of it. Stay away from heavy anchor text or site-wide backlinks as you could obtain a manual action for attempting to manipulate Google's algorithm.
I also suggest you read Moz's The Beginner's Guide to Link Building - there are a ton of great resources and tactics in there that can help you stay on the right side of the track.
Hope this all helps! Good luck!
-
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
If I disavow bad links on "disavow link webmaster" will they still show up on my moz reports?
We recently found out we have a lot of bad links linking back to our website from spam sites, I disavowed them through the google disavow link webmaster. On my moz report it still shows the links, is that normal?
Link Building | Dec 15, 2017, 1:47 PM | Ryan.Cruz0 -
Other websites copy content and giving a link back
Hi, I've just noticed a few back links in Google Search Console, I was excited. But when I saw the backlinks, 2 other websites that had completely copied my content and then gave a backlink to my website. Is this bad for SEO and would google penalise my website for this?
Link Building | Jun 26, 2017, 1:24 PM | thinkLukeSEO1 -
Back link from site with DA of 72 to a website domain. Clicking on the link redirects to our website not the attended one.
Hi,
Link Building | Jan 6, 2017, 7:06 AM | JIMBO16
I've ran a back link check and discovered a good back link to a site which then gets redirected back to my company's website. I have a feeling that an old SEO agency has purchased a small website which has a decent link back from a relevant organisation with a high Domain authority and then redirects the domain to our website to get the link juice. What are your thought on this? Is this really bad practise and possibly damaging? Thanks, Jim0 -
Link Detox and Link Removal
I have a question about which links to remove after running a link detox from Link Research Tools. First a little back story. I had had an SEO company link building for one of the websites I own. But I have recently stopped working with them. In the last month my rankings have near dropped off the charts. I have just recently gotten access to Google webmaster tools and noticed an unnatural link warning from back in March. So yesterday I ran link detox and it reported 19 toxic links, 120 suspicious links, and 24 healthy links. It's rather obvious that I should remove all of the toxic links. They all from sites that have been deindexed by google. But my question is a about the suspicious links. What should my criteria be for removing them? Am I better off removing them all and leaving my site with only 24 healthy links or should I personally comb through them and remove only the worst of the worst so that I leave my site with a few more links? I'd really like to get the site ready to resubmit to google as soon as I can. Thoughts? yyCOf.png
Link Building | Nov 19, 2018, 8:31 PM | CobraJones950 -
How to save links from an old website when building a new website even if the site map changes?
I have a client that needs a new website with better navigation, etc. The site has been up for a number of years and has backlinks that I would like to keep when building the new site in WordPress.
Link Building | May 17, 2012, 9:07 PM | Doug_Hay0 -
Outgoing links - internal vs. external
I thought that the important factor in the value of a link was how many outing links a page has total. Some tools seems to tell me that the important data point is how many EXTERNAL links a page has. Which number should I be paying attention to when looking at pages I want to get linked from? (Yes, I know there are many other factors that are important)
Link Building | Feb 9, 2018, 6:05 PM | EugeneF0 -
I remember hearing in one of the link building webinars that if you hold a patent then you could get a link from that somehow.
Any examples or suggestions as to how this is done?
Link Building | Apr 26, 2012, 4:06 AM | larahill1 -
Does linking to a subdomain give link juice to the main domain?
I have a few domains that I'm going to use for link building, will the link juice from the sub domains transfer to the main domain?
Link Building | Jun 20, 2011, 1:21 PM | Vsky0