How search engines treat nofollow
Since 2019 Google treats nofollow as a hint rather than a strict rule: it may still use the link to discover or understand pages. Google also introduced two more specific values:
rel="sponsored"for paid links, ads and affiliate linksrel="ugc"for links in user-generated content, such as comments and forum posts
When to use nofollow
- Links you were paid for, or that were given in exchange for products or services (sponsored or nofollow).
- Links added by users that you haven’t checked (ugc or nofollow).
- Links to pages you don’t want to endorse.
Nofollow links from other sites still have value: they can send visitors and make your brand known, even if they pass little ranking value. Don’t add nofollow to your own internal links; it doesn’t help steer crawlers.
What the HTML looks like
<a href="https://example.com/" rel="nofollow">Example</a> <a href="https://example.com/offer/" rel="sponsored">Partner offer</a> <a href="https://example.com/comment-link/" rel="ugc nofollow">Commenter's site</a>
Nofollow vs noindex
| Nofollow | Noindex | |
|---|---|---|
| Applies to | A link | A page |
| Meaning | Do not pass ranking credit through this link | Do not show this page in search |
| Where set | On the link (rel attribute) or a page-level meta robots tag | Meta robots tag or X-Robots-Tag header |
Paid links and Google’s rules
Google’s spam policies prohibit buying or selling links to manipulate rankings. Sponsorship and advertising are normal on the web when the link is marked with rel=”sponsored” or rel=”nofollow”. See backlinks.
Nofollow FAQs
Should I nofollow all external links?
No. Link naturally to useful sources, and use nofollow, sponsored or ugc only where they apply.
Is a nofollow backlink useless?
No. It can bring visitors and awareness, and Google may still use it as a hint.
Related: dofollow backlinks.