A nofollow link is a link carrying the rel="nofollow" attribute (or its cousins rel="sponsored" and rel="ugc"), which tells search engines that the linking site does not vouch for the target and does not want to pass ranking credit through it. Google introduced the attribute in 2005 to fight comment spam. In 2019 it stopped treating nofollow as a strict directive and began reading it as a hint it can choose to honor or ignore. In practice a nofollow link rarely passes meaningful link equity, yet it can still send traffic, build brand visibility, and help a new page get found.
Nofollow Links
Nofollow links are HTML links marked with rel="nofollow", rel="sponsored", or rel="ugc" that tell search engines not to pass ranking credit (PageRank) through the link and to treat it as an unendorsed citation.
What types of links should be nofollow?
Google’s guidance on qualifying outbound links comes down to one question: did you pay for this link, did a user add it, or would you rather not vouch for it? If any answer is yes, the link gets a rel value. The common cases:
| Link type | Example | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Paid ads and sponsorships | Banner, sponsored listing, paid newsletter mention | rel="sponsored" |
| Affiliate links | Product link that earns you a commission | rel="sponsored" |
| Paid or compensated guest posts | Article you were paid (in money or product) to publish | rel="sponsored" |
| User-generated content | Blog comments, forum posts, profile fields, reviews | rel="ugc" |
| Links in embeddable widgets | A badge or calculator other sites paste in | rel="nofollow" (or no link) |
| Links you cannot vouch for | A source you cite as an example of what not to do | rel="nofollow" |
What should stay followed: editorial links to sources you trust, links to your own pages, and links you would happily stand behind if a reader asked why they are there. Marking every outbound link nofollow is a reflex some sites picked up years ago. It reads as trusting nobody, and it withholds credit from the sources that made your page useful.
How a nofollow link looks in the markup
The attribute lives in the anchor tag. A standard followed link and its nofollowed counterpart differ by a single attribute:
<!-- Followed link: passes ranking signals -->
<a href="https://example.com/resource">trusted resource</a>
<!-- Nofollowed link: ranking credit withheld -->
<a href="https://example.com/resource" rel="nofollow">unvouched resource</a>
<!-- Paid placement: use sponsored -->
<a href="https://advertiser.com" rel="sponsored">ad</a>
<!-- User-generated: forum reply, comment, profile link -->
<a href="https://user-site.com" rel="ugc">commenter's site</a>You can combine values when a link fits more than one bucket, for example rel="sponsored ugc" for a paid link inside user-generated content. A link with no rel restriction is what SEOs call a dofollow link: it is eligible to pass full credit.
The “hint” model: what changed in 2019
For its first 14 years, nofollow was a hard rule: Google would not pass PageRank through the link, full stop. That changed on September 10, 2019, when Google announced it would treat nofollow, plus the new sponsored and ugc values, as hints for ranking. For crawling and indexing, the hint model took effect on March 1, 2020.
In plain terms:
Google can now choose to follow a nofollowed link, crawl the target, and even use the link’s signals if its systems judge that doing so improves results. It usually will not pass credit through a nofollow, but it reserves the right to.
We do not read this as “nofollow links now pass PageRank.” The likelier reading is that Google gave itself room to learn from sites that nofollow everything by default (Wikipedia nofollows every external link) when a link is genuinely informative. Build on the rule and treat the edge case as luck: plan as if a nofollow passes no ranking equity, and count any indirect benefit as upside.
Nofollow vs. dofollow links
One vouches; the other withholds.
| Dimension | Dofollow link | Nofollow link |
|---|---|---|
rel attribute | None (default) | nofollow, sponsored, or ugc |
| Passes PageRank | Yes | Generally no (hint model) |
| Crawlable | Yes | May still be crawled |
| Editorial endorsement | Implied | Explicitly withheld |
| Best for | Earned, editorial, internal links | Paid, untrusted, or user-generated links |
| Direct ranking benefit | Can be high | Low to none |
| Indirect benefit | Traffic, authority, discovery | Traffic, brand exposure, discovery |
The honest framing: followed editorial links move rankings, and earning them is the core of any serious link building effort. Nofollow links keep your profile clean, compliant, and human. You will end up with both, so measure them differently and never mistake a pile of nofollows for an authority win.
The three rel values, and when to use each
Google’s modern guidance splits the old single nofollow into three intent-specific attributes. Using the right one tells search engines why you are not vouching for a link, which gives them sharper context than a blanket “don’t follow this.”
rel="sponsored": any paid or compensated link: ads, sponsorships, affiliate links, paid guest placements. This one is a compliance matter. Google’s spam policies count paid links that pass ranking credit as a link scheme, and unmarked paid links can earn a Google penalty for the site selling them as well as the one buying. Our write-up of Google’s spam policies covers how that enforcement works.rel="ugc": links inside user-generated content: blog comments, forum posts, profile fields, reviews. It tells Google a visitor added the link, and your editorial team did not choose it. See UGC links for the detail.rel="nofollow": the general-purpose “we don’t endorse this” marker when neither paid nor UGC fits: an outbound reference you cannot fully vouch for, or a low-trust third-party link.
If you are unsure which fits, nofollow is the safe default. Google still understands it, and Google has said you do not need to relabel old nofollow links as sponsored or ugc.
Do nofollow links help SEO?
Yes, almost entirely indirectly, so size your expectations accordingly.
What nofollow links won’t do: reliably pass PageRank, lift a page’s ranking on their own, or replace earned editorial links. If your acquisition tactic only produces nofollows, your authority is not growing in the way that moves competitive rankings.
What nofollow links genuinely do:
- Send referral traffic. A nofollow link from a high-traffic page still gets clicked, and those visitors can read, sign up and buy like anyone else.
- Aid discovery. Because nofollow is now a hint, Google may still crawl the target URL, so a nofollowed mention can be how a new page gets found. (For the mechanics, see how web crawlers work.)
- Build brand recognition. Mentions on relevant sites, nofollowed or not, put your name in front of the people who write about your field. Journalists and bloggers who find you that way often link to you later with a followed link.
- Reflect a normal profile. Every real site collects nofollowed backlinks from social platforms, forums, comments and press syndication. Their presence is ordinary and needs no fixing.
AI answers add one more reason. An answer engine that reads a page reads the text, and a brand named on a trusted page is named whether or not the link carries a rel value. Whether that mention ends up in a generated answer is beyond anyone’s control, but “nofollow = worthless” was always lazy, and it is lazier now.
How we handle nofollow in practice
A few rules we apply on client work:
- Don’t chase nofollows for “link equity.” Pursue them when the placement drives qualified traffic or brand exposure: a relevant newsletter, a community, a press mention.
- Mark your own outbound links correctly. Paid?
sponsored. User-submitted?ugc. Genuinely vouching? Leave it followed. Sloppyrelhygiene on paid links is a compliance risk on top of an SEO one. - Don’t nofollow your internal links. PageRank sculpting stopped working in 2009, when Google said the share of PageRank assigned to a nofollowed link is simply lost. Keep internal links followed and let your site structure route authority. If a page should stay out of the index, use
noindex; nofollow on the links pointing at it does not keep it out. - Watch the anchor text anyway. A nofollow does not make spammy, over-optimized anchors invisible to readers or reviewers; keep them natural regardless of the
relvalue. - Ask the right question in audits. When you review outbound links, the useful question is whether each link should be nofollow. Most editorial outbound links should stay followed; reserve the attributes for paid, user-added and untrusted links.
The takeaway is unglamorous: spend your acquisition energy earning followed editorial links, and treat nofollows as the traffic-and-trust byproduct of being mentioned in good places.
When nofollow becomes a business problem
A blog with a handful of affiliate links needs an afternoon and a find-and-replace to add rel="sponsored". You do not need us for that.
Nofollow starts to cost money in two places. The first is outbound: a template or plugin that prints thousands of affiliate or partner links with no rel value, which is exactly what an “unnatural links from your site” manual action looks for. The second is inbound: a link-building vendor whose monthly report counts placements that turn out to be nofollow, sponsored, or on pages nobody reads. You paid for authority and got a list.
On a fractional SEO engagement, the two founders fix the template once and set a link plan built on links that count. Off-page work is agreed with you, and any link spend sits on top of the fee. For scale: Gyfted reached 126,824 Google clicks in its best month on $7k of backlinks in total.
Frequently Asked Questions
What types of links should be nofollow?
Paid links of any kind (ads, sponsorships, affiliate links, paid guest posts) should carry rel="sponsored". Links users add in comments, forums, profiles and reviews should carry rel="ugc". Links in widgets you distribute, and links to sources you cite but do not trust, should carry rel="nofollow". Editorial links to sources you trust and links between your own pages should stay followed.
Do nofollow links pass any SEO value?
Rarely, in ranking terms. Google treats nofollow as a hint to withhold ranking credit and usually honors it. Their value is indirect: referral traffic, brand visibility and URL discovery. Plan as if they pass zero equity, and treat any ranking influence as a bonus you cannot rely on.
What’s the difference between nofollow, sponsored, and ugc?
All three tell Google not to pass full ranking credit, but they describe different link types. Use rel="sponsored" for paid or affiliate links, rel="ugc" for user-generated content like comments and forum posts, and rel="nofollow" as the general “we don’t endorse this” marker when neither of the other two applies. You can combine them, for example rel="sponsored ugc".
Should I nofollow my internal links?
No. Nofollowing internal links does not “sculpt” PageRank (Google ended that in 2009): the share of PageRank assigned to a nofollowed link is simply lost. Keep internal links followed and control how authority flows with clean site architecture, navigation, and topical clustering.
Are nofollow backlinks bad for my site?
No. Nofollow backlinks are normal and come to every real site from comments, social platforms and forums. They also never need a disavow file, because they already tell Google not to pass credit. Save the disavow tool for a pattern of followed spam links you cannot get removed.
Does Google ever follow a nofollow link?
It can. Since 2019, Google treats nofollow as a hint, so it may crawl a nofollowed URL and, in rare cases, use its signals if its systems judge that helpful. In practice it almost never passes ranking credit through one, so build your strategy on earned followed links.