Also known as: Outbound Link, Outgoing Link
An external link is a hyperlink that points from your website to a page on a different domain. On a Forex affiliate site, external links include citations to economic data or regulators, and — most importantly for revenue — the affiliate tracking links that send users to the partnered broker.
External links serve two very different jobs, and confusing them causes problems. Editorial external links (to a central bank, a regulator, a data provider) build trust and topical credibility. Commercial external links (your affiliate or IB tracking URLs) are how you get paid, and search engines expect them to be marked as such.
The distinction matters because Google treats undisclosed paid links as a link scheme. Editorial links to authoritative sources can pass equity normally, but monetized links must carry a rel attribute — rel="sponsored" for paid or affiliate links, rel="nofollow" for untrusted ones — so search engines know not to treat them as an organic endorsement.
A typical page shows both types at once. In a broker review, you might link out to the official FCA register to prove a broker's license (an editorial link that builds trust) and, in the same article, place a rel="sponsored" tracking link to open an account (the commercial link that earns commission).
Every external link carries signals search engines read. By default an outbound link can pass ranking equity to the target, which is fine for editorial citations but a violation when the link is paid. Google's link attributes solve this: rel="sponsored" flags advertising or affiliate links, rel="nofollow" flags links you do not vouch for, and rel="ugc" flags user-generated content links.
Many affiliates route commercial links through a redirect or link-management layer so tracking, cloaking control, and rel tagging are handled consistently. Editorial external links, by contrast, are left as normal dofollow links to authoritative domains, because associating your content with trusted sources supports its credibility in search.
Decide whether a link is editorial (a citation) or commercial (affiliate/IB tracking) before you publish it.
Add rel="sponsored" (or rel="nofollow") to every affiliate or paid link so search engines do not treat it as an organic endorsement.
Link to regulators, central banks, and data sources as normal links to build topical trust.
Route tracking links through a redirect layer and periodically check for broken or hijacked outbound links.
Why it matters for partnership: Handling external links correctly protects both trust and traffic: authoritative editorial links signal well-researched content, while properly tagged affiliate links keep you compliant with Google's link policies and avoid penalties that could wipe out an IB's organic income.
In a broker review, an IB links to the official FCA register to verify a broker's authorization, then places a rel="sponsored" tracking link to eToro's signup page. The FCA citation strengthens the page's credibility, while the tagged affiliate link stays compliant and still earns the commission when a reader opens an account.
| Attribute | Use for | Passes equity? |
|---|---|---|
| dofollow (none) | Editorial citations to trusted sites | Yes |
| rel="sponsored" | Affiliate and paid links | No |
| rel="nofollow" | Untrusted or unvouched links | No |
| rel="ugc" | User-generated content links | No |
Set external affiliate links to open in a new tab with target="_blank" so your site stays open in the background, and pair it with rel="noopener sponsored" for security and compliance in one attribute.
Forgetting rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow" on outgoing affiliate links, which can trigger a manual Google penalty for participating in a link scheme and collapse your organic traffic.
No. Linking out to relevant, high-authority sites helps SEO by showing search engines your content sits within a quality information ecosystem.
Use rel="sponsored" for affiliate and paid links. rel="nofollow" also works and is accepted, but sponsored is Google's preferred, more precise signal.
No. Keep editorial citations to regulators and data sources as normal dofollow links; only tag paid, affiliate, or untrusted links.
Yes, if paid or affiliate links are left as dofollow and treated as endorsements. Properly tagging them keeps you within Google's link policies.
Not directly. It is a user-experience choice; pair it with rel="noopener" for security so a new tab cannot manipulate your original page.
There is no fixed limit. Link out whenever it genuinely helps the reader, keep it relevant, and make sure every commercial link is tagged.