Yay! There’s more confirmations from Google! This time around Google’s John Mueller has stated that external links are not a ranking signal. The news came from a Google Hangout, and can be viewed here at 19:53 in the video.
Our point of view, external links to other sites, so links from your site to other people’s sites isn’t specifically a ranking factor. But it can bring value to your content and that in turn can be relevant for us in search. And whether or not they are not followed, doesn’t really matter.
Just to be clear, we’re talking about external links – as in links on you’re website pointing to someone else’s website. These links only help the person you’re linking to – but they do nothing for you’re own ranking.