Nofollow Links: What They Are and When They Matter

A nofollow link is a link carrying the rel="nofollow" attribute (or its cousins rel="sponsored" and rel="ugc"), which signals to search engines that the linking site does not want to pass ranking credit through that link. Google introduced the attribute in 2005 to fight comment spam, but in 2019 it stopped treating nofollow as a strict directive and now reads it as a hint it can choose to honor or ignore for ranking and indexing. In practice, that means a nofollow link rarely passes meaningful link equity, yet it can still send traffic, build brand visibility, and round out a natural backlink profile.

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 rather than a vote of confidence.

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, e.g. rel="sponsored ugc" for a paid link inside user-generated content. This is the inverse of a dofollow link, which carries no rel restriction and is eligible to pass full credit.

The “Hint” Model: What Actually Changed in 2019

For its first 14 years, nofollow was a hard rule — Google would not follow the link, would not pass PageRank, full stop. That changed on September 10, 2019, when Google announced it would treat nofollow, plus the new sponsored and ugc values, as hints rather than directives. For crawling and indexing, the hint model became active March 1, 2020.

Here is what that means 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 won’t pass credit through a nofollow — but it reserves the right to.

We don’t read this as “nofollow links now pass PageRank.” They overwhelmingly don’t. We read it as Google giving itself permission to ignore obvious spam-prevention nofollows (think Wikipedia, which nofollows every external link) when the link is genuinely informative. Build on the rule, not the edge case: plan as if a nofollow passes no ranking equity, and treat any indirect benefit as upside.

Nofollow vs. Dofollow Links

The two link types serve opposite purposes. One vouches; one withholds.

The honest framing: dofollow 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 want both, but you measure them differently — and you never confuse 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’re not vouching for a link, which is better than a blanket “don’t follow this.”

1. rel="sponsored" — Use for any paid or compensated link: ads, sponsorships, affiliate links, paid guest placements. This is a compliance issue, not just an SEO nicety. Failing to mark paid links can trigger a Google penalty for link schemes.
2. rel="ugc" — Use for links inside user-generated content: blog comments, forum posts, profile fields, reviews. It tells Google “a visitor added this, not our editorial team.”
3. rel="nofollow" — Use as the general-purpose “we don’t endorse this” marker when neither paid nor UGC fits — an outbound reference you can’t fully vouch for, or a low-trust third-party link.

If you’re unsure which fits, nofollow is the safe default. Google still understands it. The more specific tags simply give it sharper context.

Do Nofollow Links Help SEO?

Yes — but almost entirely indirectly, and you should 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 isn’t 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. Those visits create engagement, conversions, and the behavioral footprint that surrounds a healthy site.
• Aid discovery. Because nofollow is now a hint, Google may still crawl the target URL. A nofollowed mention can be how a new page gets found. (For how this works mechanically, see how web crawlers work.)
• Build brand and entity signals. Mentions on relevant sites — even nofollowed — drive branded searches and feed the kind of corroboration that supports E-E-A-T. They often seed followed links later, once a journalist or blogger discovers you.
• Keep your profile natural. A backlink profile that’s 100% dofollow looks engineered. Real sites accumulate a mix. A natural ratio of nofollow backlinks is a feature, not a flaw.

In the AI Overviews and AI-search era, this matters more. Answer engines synthesize from a wide web of mentions and don’t filter strictly by rel attribute the way classic PageRank did. A nofollowed citation on a trusted source can still contribute to whether your brand surfaces in a generated answer. “Nofollow = worthless” was always lazy, and it’s 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. Sloppy rel hygiene is a compliance risk, not just an SEO one.
• Don’t nofollow your internal links. PageRank sculpting via internal nofollow has been dead for over a decade; it just leaks crawl efficiency. Keep internal links followed and let your site structure route authority.
• Watch the anchor text anyway. A nofollow doesn’t make spammy, over-optimized anchors invisible — keep them natural regardless of the rel value.
• Audit the followed links that matter. When you run outbound link checks, the question isn’t “is it nofollow,” it’s “should this be.” Most editorial outbound links should stay followed; reserve nofollow for the genuine exceptions.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do nofollow links pass any SEO value?

Nofollow links generally don’t pass PageRank, since Google treats them as a hint to withhold ranking credit. Their value is indirect: referral traffic, brand visibility, URL discovery, and a natural link profile. Plan as if they pass zero equity, and treat any ranking influence as a bonus rather than a strategy you can 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.

Should I nofollow my internal links?

No. Nofollowing internal links does not “sculpt” PageRank — Google ended that behavior years ago — and it only wastes crawl efficiency by withholding signals from your own pages. Keep internal links followed and control authority flow through clean site architecture, navigation, and topical clustering instead.

Are nofollow backlinks bad for my site?

No. Nofollow backlinks are normal and healthy. A profile made entirely of followed links looks artificial, while a natural mix of followed and nofollowed links signals organic growth. Nofollow links from comments, directories, and social platforms accumulate on their own and require no disavowal unless they’re part of an obvious spam pattern.

Does Google ever follow a nofollow link?

Possibly. Since 2019, Google treats nofollow as a hint rather than a strict rule, 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.