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.
Do backlinks need to be clicked to pass linkjuice?
-
Hi all:
Do backlinks need to be clicked to pass linkjuice? Is so, can someone explain how much traffic is needed from a backlink to count as linkjuice?
Thanks for the help.
Audrey.
-
Backlinks do not have to be clicked in order for them to count as linkjuice. Recently my org (missionquest.org) joined MOZ and it helped our backlinks and improved our SEO.
-
I would be surprised.
Google knows a lot, but not everything. Unless GA tracking code is installed google shall not know about things such a user click.
If they were passing page juices only for clicked backlink they would be ruling out a too big chunk of the web. It doesn't sound logic to me.
Also it doesn't sound realistic to analyze all users click in the world when refreshing google index, they do have a lot of metal, but not that much.
-
So, are you saying that a link having traffic kind of disqualifies it as spammy? Or at least in the eyes of Google?
-
Absolutely not. Spam links still work fantastic for ranking a site (temporarily). Those are links that never get seen or clicked, they pretty much just get crawled. Don't go the spam route, but also don't worry too much about people clicking links. I've gotten a ton of great links that have sent very, very little referral traffic, meaning links on popular posts still don't guarantee getting any/many clicks.
-
I don't think so. I usually fetch and render then submit my pages anytime I add one to my site, or make a significant change, like adding content or changing images. Nothing unnatural about it.
-
Good idea. I wonder if it would seem "un-natural" however?
-
Submitting the page to Google for Indexing doesn't guarantee that the backlinks will be crawled, but it can be a good way to try to force them to be crawled.
-
In that case, wouldn't it be ideal to submit the page to google indexing right after it's published?
-
I think it's about Page popularity and users engagements. Popularity in search results means a lot of spiders in the page. And, when a user clicks the link, there's a spider follows him to the new page. And it's all about the spider discovered your page and your link as well (as I think).
-
In fact, it's not like that.
I will tell you a very important rule about backlinks and really hard to find it. Tha main point is that the link need to be discovered by Google. And, the page which contain the link must have popularity in Google search results which mean a lot of people entering the page through search results. This what we call "the Quality of the link"
Keep up with your link building journey.
-
The way that I understand it is that the click helps the link to be found faster than if it had not been clicked. It might have equity and pass link juice prior, but before Google finds it, it might not be counted as a link to your site. Does that make sense? The link needs to be discovered before the link juice is actually counted. At least that is the way that I understand it.
I do know a few professionals who believe that if a link isn't clicked link juice is never passed. I don't know if that is necessarily true. It makes sense that a link could be discovered but not have any equity because it isn't being used. I wonder if someone has a better idea of whether or not that is true, or if it another secret Google keeps
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
-
Passing link juice via javascript?
Hello Client got website with javascript generated content. All links there (from mainpage to some deeper page) are js generated. In code there're only javascripts and other basic typical code but no text links (<a href...="" ).<="" p=""></a> <a href...="" ).<="" p="">The question is: are those js links got the same "seo power" as typical html href links?.For example majestic.com can't scan website properly and can't show seo metrics for pages. I know google crawls them (links and pages) but are they as good as typical links?</a> <a href...="" ).<="" p="">Regards,</a>
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | PenaltyHammer0 -
Need a layman's definition/analogy of the difference between schema and structured data
I'm currently writing a blog post about schema. However I want to set the record straight that schema is not exactly the same as structured data, although both are often used interchangeably. I understand this schema.org is a vocabulary of global identifiers for properties and things. Structured data is what Google officially stated as "a standard way to annotate your content so machines can understand it..." Does anybody know of a good analogy to compare the two? Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | RosemaryB0 -
Are backlinks the most important factor in SEO?
I have had an agency state that "Backlinks are the most important factor in SEO". That is how they are justifying their strategy of approaching bloggers. I believe there are a lot more factors than that including Target Market definition, Keyword identification an build content based on these factors. What's everyone's thoughts?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | AndySalmons0 -
Do 404 pages pass link juice? And best practices...
Last year Google said bad links to 404 pages wouldn't hurt your site. Could that still be the case in light of recent Google updates to try and combat spammy links and negative SEO? Can links to 404 pages benefit a website and pass link juice? I'd assume at the very least that any link juice will pass through links FROM the 404 page? Many websites have great 404 pages that get linked to: http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/links?site=http%3A%2F%2Fretardzone.com%2F404 - that was the first of four I checked from the "60 Really Cool...404 Pages" that actually returned the 404 HTTP Status! So apologies if you find the word 'retard' offensive. According to Open Site Explorer it has a decent Page Authority and number of backlinks - but it doesn't show in Google's SERPs. I'd never do it, but if you have a particularly well-linked to 404 page, is there an argument for giving it 200 OK Status? Finally, what are the best practices regarding 404s and address bar links? For example, if
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Alex-Harford
www.examplesite.com/3rwdfs returns a 404 error, should I make that redirect to
www.examplesite.com/404 or leave it as is? Redirecting to www.examplesite.com/404 might not be user-friendly as people won't be able to correct the URL in the address bar. But if I have a great 404 page that people link to, I don't want links going to loads of random pages do I? Is either way considered best practice? If I did a 301 redirect I guess it would send the wrong signal to the crawlers? Should I use a 302 redirect, or even a 304 Not Modified redirect?1 -
SEO value in multiple backlinks from same domain and from various sub-domains.
A site has a link to my site as one of their main tabs, which means whenever a user clicks through to another page within the site, my link - being a main tab - is there. This creates thousands of links from this site. How does Google treat this? Do we have a rough formula estimate. In other words, assume it creates 1,000 backlinks would the SEO value be around the same as if I had just 2 link total as a main tab, but on 2 different non-related sites? Or, does it actually count fully as 1,000 links? Links from various sub-domains. Several .EDU's are linking to my site. Different schools within the overall same university. Example: nursing.abc.edu links to my site, but so does business.abc.edu. For SEO does that count as much as if I had links from complete non-related universities, or would Google evaluate that these links are related (since same main domain) and that will discount any links more than 1 to some extent? If discounted, then what do we estimate the discount to be? thank yoyu
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | knielsen1 -
How long does a new domain need to get a specific level of trust?
We are a small start-up in germany in the Sports and health sector. We currently are building a network of people in that sector and give each person a seperate wordpress blog. The idea is to create a big network of experts. My question is: How long is the period for google to trust a completely new URL? We set up each project and create content on the page. Each week the owner of the site puts up an expert article that contain keywords. And we set certain links from other blogs, etc. Also, do you think it is more important for a site to get say, 20 backlinks from anywhere. Or 5 backlinks from very trusted blogs, etc.?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | wellbo0 -
How to ask for a backlink?
Everyone knows backlinks ( plus content ) is the key to good rankings. BUT, how do you ask for a backlink without sounding douchey? Does anyone have a template or something they could share?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | DojoGuy0