Yoast's outbound links check: citing sources, not chasing a score
Yoast SEO's Outbound links check looks for links in your post that point to other websites. No outbound links is red ("No outbound links appear in this page. Add some!"). Outbound links that are all nofollowed is orange. Any followed outbound link, with or without nofollowed ones beside it, is green.
Linking out is not a direct ranking factor, and one link is enough to pass. The check is really asking whether you have pointed readers to your sources, which is good practice for trust and usefulness rather than for Google.
Exactly what Yoast is counting
An outbound link is any link in the post content to a different domain. The check does not care how many there are, where they point, or whether the pages are any good. It only sorts the links into followed and nofollowed:
| Links found | Result |
|---|---|
| None | Red |
| Only nofollowed | Orange: "All outbound links on this page are nofollowed. Add some normal links." |
| Followed and nofollowed | Green: "There are both nofollowed and normal outbound links on this page. Good job!" |
| Only followed | Green: "Good job!" |
A single link to a relevant source turns it green. Links in your theme's header, footer or sidebar are not part of the post content and do not count.
The case for linking out
The idea behind the check comes from how good writing on the web has always worked: you show your evidence. A post that says a study found something should link to the study. A tutorial that relies on a library should link to its documentation. That helps the reader verify claims and go deeper, and it signals that you are not inventing things.
For a while, some site owners avoided outbound links on the theory that every link "leaked" ranking value away. Yoast's check pushes back on that habit. Google's representatives have said that linking out is not a ranking factor in itself, so there is nothing to protect by refusing to cite sources, and nothing to gain by adding links for their own sake.
When orange is the correct answer
The orange state, all outbound links nofollowed, is sometimes exactly what Google asks for. Its link attribute guidance says:
- links you were paid for, including affiliate links, should use
rel="sponsored"(ornofollow); - links in comments and forum posts should use
rel="ugc"(ornofollow); nofollowis for links you do not want to vouch for.
An affiliate review that links only to merchants, with every link marked sponsored, will show orange forever. That is correct. Removing the attribute to satisfy Yoast would put the page at odds with Google's guidelines on paid links, which is a real risk compared with an orange light. See sponsored and UGC links.
Red is also fine on some pages: a contact page, a checkout page, a short announcement. Nothing needs citing there.
Choosing links worth adding
If you do want to fix a red result, pick links that make the post better:
- Primary sources. The official documentation, the original study, the government page with the rule you are summarizing.
- Tools and specifications you mention. If a step says "validate your markup", link the validator.
- Counterpoints. A link to a respected source that disagrees shows readers you considered it.
Avoid links added only to pass the check, such as a generic Wikipedia link in the first paragraph. Readers notice, and it does nothing for the page. Open-in-new-tab is a user experience choice, not an SEO one; Yoast does not score it.
Recheck citations now and then. Outbound links break as other sites reorganize, and a source that now returns a 404 or redirects to an unrelated page is worse than no link. A periodic run of a link checker over older posts catches them.
External links in Hydrogen SEO
Hydrogen SEO's per-post SEO score includes links as one of its five parts. Full points need three or more internal links and at least one external link; any single link earns half. It counts links in the post content and does not score the nofollow attribute.
Hydrogen's site-wide audit focuses on internal problems such as broken internal links and orphan pages, rather than on where you link out.
Common questions
Do outbound links help my rankings?
Not directly. Google has said linking out is not a ranking factor in itself. Good outbound links help readers check your claims, which supports the trust your page earns.
Should I remove nofollow from affiliate links to make the check green?
No. Google asks for paid and affiliate links to be marked sponsored or nofollow. An orange light is the correct result for a page whose only outbound links are affiliate links.
Do links to my own subdomains count as outbound?
Yoast's documentation describes outbound links as links to other sites, and it does not spell out how subdomains are treated. If it matters, test a draft and see which check the link counts toward.