Adjusting quality scores of external pages based on quality of associated content

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer program instructions executable by a processor to perform operations comprising:

• accessing a content item from a posting user of an online system, the content item comprising a link to an external page that is outside the online system;
• determining an opportunity to present content to a viewing user of the online system;
• determining a quality metric of the content item for the viewing user;
• determining one or more attributes of the external page;
• determining a quality metric of the external page, the quality metric of the external page based on the attributes of the external page;
• adjusting the quality metric of the external page based on the quality metric of the content item;
• computing a value score for the content item, the value score based on the quality metric of the content item and the quality metric of the external page;
• ranking the content item by its value score along with a plurality of other content items;
• selecting, based on the ranking, one or more of:
• the content item and the plurality of other content items;
• and
• sending the selected content items for presentation to the viewing user.