Link Building
Link Juice
Link juice is a colloquial synonym for link equity, used to describe modelled influence associated with a hyperlink; it is not a separate technical quantity or official Google metric.
What it means
The phrase is useful only as shorthand. Technical work should reference the actual link, graph model, Crawlability, redirects, relationship attributes and destination rather than claiming that “juice” is stored or poured between pages. This page preserves the familiar term while consolidating its technical interpretation under Link equity.
Why it matters
Marking the phrase as informal stops copywriters and reports from inventing fluid-like rules, exact amounts or guaranteed transfers.
Example
An audit replaces “the redirect loses link juice” with a testable record of redirect status, destination canonical, observed links and the output of a named graph scenario.
Common mistakes
Do not present juice as a score, volume or asset; sell links by promised units; claim exact loss percentages; confuse it with Referral traffic; ignore qualification or treat metaphorical language as platform documentation.
How AYSA handles this
Signals reviewed
claim text, source link, redirect chain, canonical, rel attribute, graph model, vendor metric
Problem AYSA can identify
AYSA can identify metaphorical claims presented as exact measurements or platform facts.
Recommendation prepared
The report rewrites the claim using observed link states or explicitly named model output and points technical interpretation to Link Equity.
Approval preview
The user sees the original phrase, evidence, revised technical wording and any assumptions.
Execution
AYSA can normalize approved reports and apply supported owned-site redirect or link corrections; it cannot measure a substance called link juice.
Verification
Implementation checks confirm link and redirect states without interpreting later performance as proof of an exact transfer.
Limits
The metaphor has no standard formula and cannot guarantee crawl, indexing, traffic or rankings.
Sources and further reading
- US Patent 6,285,999 — Method for node ranking in a linked database — Primary patent record
- Google Search Central — Link best practices — Official search documentation
- Google Search Central — Guidance on third-party SEO tools and advice — Official search documentation
Written by Marius Dosinescu. Reviewed by AYSA SEO Editorial Team · 2026-07-28 00:00:00.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions
Is link juice different from link equity?
Not in a useful technical sense; link juice is the more colloquial phrase.
Can a tool report exact units of link juice?
No standard units exist; a tool may report its own model or metric, which must be named.
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