How to link to at least two authoritative sources
Linking to at least two authoritative sources shows research and gives AI engines corroboration for your claims. Cite the primary documents you actually used, link them inline where the claim appears, and avoid link farms, paid link schemes or random directories.
By ratemysite.ai editorial team. Updated .
How do you fix it?
- List the factual claims on the page that someone could doubt, such as numbers, rules and dates.
- Find the primary source for each, for example official documentation, a standard or a study.
- Link the source inline at the claim using descriptive anchor text, and add a short Sources list at the end.
- Open each link to check it works and still says what you claim.
- Re-run the audit and confirm the External links check passes.
What counts as an authoritative source?
An authoritative source is a publisher with first hand knowledge of the topic: a standards body, a government site, a platform's official documentation, a peer reviewed study or a well known industry reference. It is not another blog repeating the same claim. Google's guidance on helpful content asks whether a page shows evidence of expertise, and cited sources are one of the simplest signals of that. Two to five good citations per guide is a healthy range.
How should I place the links?
Put each link next to the claim it supports so a reader can verify it in one click. Use anchor text that names the source or the fact, such as "Google's title link guidance", never "this page". Keep a short list of sources at the bottom as a reference. Review the links every 6 months, because pages move, and a dead citation reflects badly on the claim. Avoid linking to sites you would not recommend to a friend.
How much does this check matter?
- This check is worth about 1.7% of the overall score.
- A finished report is reused for 24 hours before you can re-analyze it.
- Each page is fetched with a timeout of 10 seconds, and HTML larger than 2 MB is not audited.
What else do people ask?
- Do outbound links hurt my ranking?
- No. Linking to relevant, trustworthy pages is a normal part of good content. Use rel="sponsored" for paid links.
- Should external links open in a new tab?
- Optional. For long guides, opening in a new tab keeps readers on your page, but add rel="noopener" for safety.