@terryhutchins Terry, you’ve stumbled on one of the SEO world’s favourite bar arguments. Put ten SEOs in a pub, ask your question, and by the 3rd pint someone’s swearing blind that “link equity is everything” while another insists “traffic is king.” By the fifth pint, most of us can’t see straight and we’ve all agreed Google is out to ruin our lives before heading home sulking
Here’s my take, seasoned by a few scars.
Back in the mid-2010s, I bought a link from a page that had backlinks from sites I could only dream of. Wikipedia, BBC, government domains. On paper it was a goldmine. But, exactly the same dilemma you’re facing here … the page itself got no visitors. Not a soul.
It was like I’d bought prime advertising space in a newspaper that had already stopped printing. The link sat there, glowing with metrics, and absolutely nothing happened. No ranking lift, no referral traffic, just me staring at a lighter PayPal balance.
Fast forward to a couple of years ago. I tested the opposite: a modest little blog in my niche, some decent backlinks pointing to it but a much lower DA … but the writer had a loyal following and steady traffic. I bought a link (cheap, too), and within weeks there was a gentle nudge in the SERPs but also a handful of actual humans clicking through. Some even stuck around and signed up to my list. Those clicks did more for my motivation than any DR90 “dead page” link ever did.
That’s why I now treat “pages with traffic” like the pubs that still have punters inside. Maybe the furniture’s a bit worn and the jukebox is outdated, but people are there, glasses are clinking, conversations are flowing. Compare that with the “high DA, no traffic” pub: big neon sign, beautiful façade, but step inside and the landlord’s sweeping cobwebs because no one’s ordered a pint since 2018.
A few principles I’ve picked up along the way:
If a page has traffic, it’s alive. Google’s crawling it, visitors are engaging, and your link stands a chance of being seen by a real person. That matters.
Authority can decay. Just because a page attracted backlinks in the past doesn’t mean it still carries the same weight. I’ve seen “high DA” pages lose steam quietly while everyone was still fawning over their Ahrefs charts.
Relevance trumps raw numbers. A niche-relevant link on a modest traffic page beats a tangential “authority” link that’s as lively as a brick wall.
So if I were you, I’d pocket the traffic link and not look back. Worst case, you get a few curious clicks from real humans. Best case, you get those clicks plus some ranking love. With the no-traffic “authority” link, you’re essentially betting on Google caring about history more than reality. That’s a risky bet in 2025, when freshness and engagement signals seem to carry more weight than ever.
Of course, the holy grail is finding a page that has both backlinks and traffic. When you spot one of those, grab it with both hands. Until then, I’ll always pick the pub with drinkers in it over the one with cobwebs and nostalgia.
So my vote: Option B, every time. Now, who’s buying the next round?
ps - where are you buying your links? (you don’t have to answer that, lol)
This is a fun thread, Terry — and Rohan’s pint story made me laugh. Let me throw in a slightly different angle.
When I’m weighing backlinks, I don’t just look at traffic or authority. I’ve seen low-metric pages move the needle simply because the backlink was placed well. By “well,” I mean:
- It was contextual, inside the flow of the article.
- It appeared high up in the content (not hidden in the footer).
- The anchor text actually matched the page I wanted to rank.
On the flip side, I’ve had “authority” links from sidebar blogrolls or generic “resources” pages, and they did absolutely nothing. It was like Google barely noticed.
So if you’re comparing a traffic page vs. a high-DA no-traffic page, I’d lean toward the traffic one. But I’d also make sure the placement and anchor give the link maximum chance to work. A traffic page with a buried, branded anchor link isn’t going to cut it. A modest page with the right context can punch way above its weight.
In short: don’t just ask “which page,” ask “what kind of link on that page.” That’s often the real decider. Hope that helps
I’ll just drop what smarter people than me say. Both Aleyda Solis and Brian Dean have said many times that authority metrics (DA, DR, etc.) are not perfect… but they still matter. They’re not gospel, but they’re a proxy for how much trust a page/domain has built.
One quote I saved: “Even if DA is a third-party number, higher authority pages tend to correlate with stronger SEO impact.”
So, traffic is nice (of course), but don’t throw out authority completely. A page with backlinks from BBC or gov sites may look “dead,” but that equity doesn’t disappear overnight.
If I had to bet, I’d say the sweet spot is a link that balances both. But if you can’t have both, authority is still worth something, amigo.
Thanks so much everyone, this has been super helpful.
Rohan, your pub analogy hit a little too close to home. I’ve definitely thrown money at “empty pub” links before and then sat around wondering why nothing moved. Lesson learned the hard way with a heavy hangover!
Sarah, your point about placement and anchor text really got me thinking. I’ve been guilty of accepting whatever anchor the seller wanted to use, without pushing for something more contextual. Looking back at my tracker, most of the links that actually made a difference were the ones that used contextually relevant anchors tied to the keyword I was targeting.
And last but not least … Luis, I appreciate the reminder not to write off authority completely. I’ve been leaning more toward traffic in my head, but you’re right - if a page has serious backlinks from trusted domains, that equity doesn’t just vanish. It may not deliver clicks, but it can still signal trust to Google.
At the moment, I’m still leaning toward the traffic page. At least that way I get a shot at some referral traffic in addition to any SEO boost. But Luis’ point is making me think about a longer-term play: maybe one or two of those authority links sprinkled in as part of the mix.
I think I’ll probs go with the traffic page this time but I’m still wondering if there are real examples where a “dead” but high authority page outperformed a lower DA page with real visitors. That would be a fascinating case study.
Oh … and Rohan, I’m buying these links through Insert.link which I found through your post here. And I was happy to use your affiliate link Thanks for the recommendation!
