External Link (External Link / Outbound Link) is a link from one web page to a page on a different domain. These are links from your page content to another website.
SEO effects of external links:
- Linking to authoritative and relevant sources strengthens E-E-A-T signals
- Showing your information sources transparently increases trustworthiness
- It creates an indirect relationship with the sites you link to (it can be a first step toward earning a backlink)
- It adds value for the user and improves the perceived quality of the content
A common myth says that “linking out leaks authority.” This is not true; modern Google works with quality signals, and meaningful external links do not lower rankings, but rather support them.
Things to pay attention to when giving external links:
- Do not link to spam or low-quality sites
- Add
rel="sponsored"to links that contain ads or sponsorships - Add
rel="ugc"to links in user-generated content - Add
rel="nofollow"to links you do not trust
Tip: In your content, give external links to original sources for the data, statistics, and quotes you cite. This both improves editorial quality and creates an E-E-A-T signal.