Outbound links
What are outbound links?
Outbound links, also called external links, are links on your pages that point to other websites. They are the other side of a backlink: your outbound link is someone else’s backlink. They can be followed, or qualified with rel="nofollow", rel="sponsored" or rel="ugc".
A common myth is that every outbound link “leaks” ranking value and should be avoided or nofollowed. Linking to relevant, trustworthy sources is a normal part of good writing, and Google does not penalise it.
Why outbound links matter for SEO
Linking to sources lets readers check your claims and find more detail, which makes your page more useful and more credible. It is part of showing your work, which supports E-E-A-T.
What you link to does matter. Links to spammy or hacked sites, or followed links you were paid to include, can count against you. Google’s spam policies treat selling followed links as a link scheme. Broken outbound links also make a page look neglected.
How to use outbound links well
- Link to the original source of any statistic, quote or claim.
- Choose reputable, relevant sites, and link to the specific page, not just the homepage.
- Mark paid or affiliate links
rel="sponsored", and user-submitted linksrel="ugc". - Check outbound links regularly for 404s and redirects to unrelated sites.
- Avoid long lists of unrelated links, which look like a link farm.
Outbound links FAQ
Do outbound links help SEO?
Not as a direct ranking boost, but they make content more useful and credible. Google does not penalise linking to good sources.
Should external links be nofollow?
Only when they are paid, user-generated or you do not want to vouch for the site. Ordinary editorial links to good sources can be followed.
Should external links open in a new tab?
It is a usability choice with no SEO effect. If you use target="_blank", modern browsers apply noopener behaviour by default, and adding rel="noopener" is harmless.
Related SEO terms
A backlink is a link from another website to yours. Search engines treat backlinks as votes of trust and use them to rank and discover pages.
rel="sponsored" is a link attribute that marks a link as paid, sponsored or an affiliate link, so it does not pass ranking credit.
A nofollow link carries rel="nofollow", asking search engines not to pass ranking credit. Since 2019 Google treats it as a hint, not a rule.
Internal links are links from one page on your site to another. They help visitors navigate, help crawlers find pages and spread link authority.
Link farmsBlack hat
A link farm is a group of sites or pages that exist mainly to link to each other or to anyone who joins, in order to inflate rankings.
Broken link buildingWhite hat
Broken link building means finding broken links on other sites and suggesting your relevant page as the replacement. It is a white hat tactic.