What Is External Linking?
External linking (also called outbound linking) is the act of placing a hyperlink in your web content that takes the visitor to a page on a completely different website. If a blog post on your Pretoria law firm's website links to the official CIPC registration portal, that is an external link. The destination is an entirely different domain from yours. This contrasts with internal links, which stay within your own site, and backlinks, which are links pointing inward to your site from elsewhere.
External links matter to SEO for a few reasons. First, Google uses the destinations you link to as a signal about what your page is about. A page about accounting software that links to SARS, Xero, and other relevant authoritative sources looks topically coherent to a search engine. Second, external links support users: they provide evidence, allow readers to explore sources, and build the trust that makes a page credible. Google's Quality Rater Guidelines specifically flag a lack of references or sources as a trust concern on pages that make factual claims.
The two main attributes that control how an external link passes value are dofollow and nofollow. A dofollow link (the default for any plain anchor tag) passes link equity to the destination. A nofollow link, created by adding rel="noopener" to the anchor tag, instructs Google not to pass ranking credit. Google introduced two additional values in 2019: rel="sponsored" for paid or affiliate links, and rel="ugc" for user-generated content such as comments or forum posts. Using these correctly keeps your link profile clean and avoids the penalties associated with link schemes.
External links should always open in a way that serves the user. Common practice is to open external links in a new tab (target="_blank") so the user does not lose their place on your site, and to pair this with rel="noopener noreferrer" for security reasons.
External Linking In Practice
A practical content strategy for a South African financial services company might include external links to the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), the National Credit Regulator (NCR), and the South African Reserve Bank when discussing regulation. These are authoritative, government-backed sources that reinforce the accuracy of the content. Linking to them does not weaken the page's own SEO, it strengthens the page's credibility signal.
Where caution is needed: avoid linking to competitors, low-quality directories, or sites with thin content, as these can reflect negatively on your page's perceived quality. If you run an affiliate programme or receive payment to mention a product or service, that link must carry rel="sponsored" to comply with Google's link scheme policies. Failure to disclose paid links is one of the reasons sites receive manual actions from Google's webspam team.
It is worth auditing outbound links periodically. Destinations change: a credible source from two years ago may have been acquired by a low-quality operator, redirected to an unrelated page, or simply removed (a 404). Broken or low-quality external links can degrade the user experience and, over time, the trustworthiness signals of your content.
External linking and SEO
External linking is linking from your site out to other websites, and a common worry is whether it harms SEO by sending visitors or authority away. Generally, linking out to relevant, authoritative sources does not hurt SEO and can help. Citing credible sources, referencing useful external resources, and linking where it genuinely serves the reader are normal, healthy parts of good content, and search engines regard sensible external linking as a sign of quality content that references and builds on trustworthy information, much as a well-researched article cites its sources. It can also support the topical context of a page. What to avoid is linking to spammy, irrelevant or low-quality sites, which associates your content with poor company, and selling or exchanging links manipulatively, which breaches guidelines. Paid or untrusted external links should carry the appropriate rel attributes (sponsored or nofollow) so they do not pass ranking signal improperly. Used well, external linking to good sources is a positive part of creating genuinely useful, credible content, not a leak to fear, which is why quality content links out where it helps the reader.
External linking best practices
Sensible external linking follows a few practices. Link out where it genuinely helps the reader, to credible, relevant sources that add value, cite evidence, or point to useful resources, rather than gratuitously or to poor-quality sites. Use appropriate rel attributes where needed: paid or sponsored external links should carry rel="sponsored", user-generated links rel="ugc", and links you cannot vouch for rel="nofollow", while genuine editorial links to sources you reference can be normal links. On the technical side, external links that open in a new tab should include rel="noopener" (and often noreferrer) for security, since without it a newly opened page can gain limited access to the originating page, a small but standard safeguard, though internal and trusted links and modern browser defaults reduce the concern. Whether to open external links in a new tab is a usability choice, keeping users on your site versus respecting their control, with no strong SEO implication either way. The overarching principle is that external linking should serve the reader and the content's credibility, done to good sources with correct attributes, which makes it a normal, positive part of quality content rather than something to avoid.
FAQ
Does linking to other websites hurt my SEO?
No. Linking to high-quality, relevant external sources does not hurt your SEO. Google recognises outbound links to reputable websites as a signal that your content is well-researched. What can cause problems is linking to low-quality, spammy, or penalised sites. Always review where you are pointing your external links and use rel="noopener" when linking to paid placements or user-generated content.
When should I use rel="noopener" on an external link?
Use rel="noopener" (or the more specific rel="sponsored" for paid links and rel="ugc" for user-generated content) when you are not prepared to vouch for the destination. This applies to paid partnerships, affiliate links, comments sections, and forum posts. It tells Google not to pass ranking credit to that destination. For editorial links to genuinely useful resources, rel="noopener" is not needed.
Does linking to other websites hurt SEO?
Generally no. Linking out to relevant, authoritative sources is a normal part of quality content and can support it, much as a well-researched article cites its sources, and search engines regard sensible external linking positively. Avoid linking to spammy or irrelevant sites, and mark paid or untrusted links appropriately, but healthy external linking to good sources does not harm SEO.
When should you use rel="noopener" on an external link?
On external links set to open in a new tab, rel="noopener" (often with noreferrer) is a standard security safeguard, since without it a newly opened page can gain limited access to the originating page. Modern browsers increasingly apply this by default, but including it explicitly on new-tab external links remains good practice.