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Nofollow link

A nofollow link has rel="nofollow" in its HTML, asking search engines not to treat it as an endorsement. Since 2019 Google treats nofollow as a hint. Links without it are informally called dofollow links.

A normal link from one site to another is read by Google as a kind of vote. Adding rel="nofollow" asks Google not to count that vote:

<a href="https://www.example.com/" rel="nofollow">Bean & Barrel Coffee</a>

There’s no actual “dofollow” attribute. “Dofollow” is just a nickname for a regular link without nofollow, sponsored or ugc.

A short history

Google introduced nofollow in 2005 to fight comment spam. For years it was treated as a strict instruction: the link passed no ranking value. In September 2019 Google changed that. Nofollow became a hint, which Google may use or ignore when deciding how to treat a link, and from March 2020 it became a hint for crawling and indexing too. Google also added two more specific values, sponsored and ugc (see sponsored and UGC links).

They usually pass less value than a normal link, and you shouldn’t count on them for rankings. But they’re far from worthless:

  • They send real visitors. A nofollowed link from a busy news site or Reddit thread can bring customers.
  • They can lead to followed links, when writers find you through them and cite you elsewhere.
  • A natural backlink profile includes plenty of nofollow links. A profile with none can look engineered.
  • Because it’s a hint, Google may choose to give some of them weight.

Many large sites, including Wikipedia, most news publishers and social platforms, nofollow outbound links by default.

When to use nofollow on your own site

  • Links you don’t want to vouch for, such as a link in a blog post to a source you’re criticizing
  • User comments and forum posts (better: ugc)
  • Paid, sponsored or affiliate links (better: sponsored)

Common mistakes

  • Nofollowing your own internal links. It stops link equity flowing around your own site and has no upside. It was once used for “PageRank sculpting”, which hasn’t worked since 2009.
  • Leaving paid links followed. Links in sponsored posts or paid directory listings should carry sponsored or nofollow.
  • Writing off nofollow outreach. Coastline Plumbing’s mention in a local news story is worth having even if the link is nofollowed: it brings calls and builds recognition.

How to check

Right-click a link and choose Inspect to see its rel value. RankThat’s Site Audit flags internal links marked nofollow, and the Backlinks feature shows your backlink profile, including new and lost links.

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