I am responsible for editing posts on a website and right now am assigned to edit a post which has a backlink to the post of another domain. I was told to fix it, since apparently the wrong post was linked.
I was told that losing a backlink does more harm than it initially helped. Would changing the external link hurt the page previous linked? Would it even benefit the other post as much? I understand that two backlinks from the same domain count less than one from another.
I did hear multiple experiences of "link juice" still being around for a couple of months after removal, however in the end a removed link will lead to a stop of passing link juice. Never heard of an extra negative effect of losing a link (as in more negative than 0).
Bear in mind that SEO is a constantly changing entity and that there is almost no way to do completely unbiased tests on single factors. Most SEO knowledge is based on experiences, gut-feelings, and in my opinion an extreme amount of self-fulfilling prophecies.
