What Is a Nofollow Link?
A nofollow link is a hyperlink with the rel="nofollow" attribute. This tells search engines not to pass ranking authority (link equity) to the linked page. It was introduced by Google in 2005 to combat comment spam.
<a href="https://example.com" rel="nofollow">Link text</a>
Follow vs Nofollow
| Type | Passes Link Equity? | Default? |
|---|---|---|
| Follow (no rel attribute) | Yes | Yes — all links are follow by default |
| Nofollow (rel="nofollow") | No (hint to Google) | No — must be added explicitly |
| Sponsored (rel="sponsored") | No | For paid/advertising links |
| UGC (rel="ugc") | No | For user-generated content |
When to Use Nofollow
- Paid links — any link you were paid to place (Google requires this)
- User-generated content — blog comments, forum posts, wiki edits
- Untrusted content — links to sites you cannot vouch for
- Login/signup links — no SEO value in passing equity to login pages
When NOT to Use Nofollow
- Internal links — do not nofollow your own pages (wastes link equity)
- Editorial links — links to useful resources you genuinely recommend
- Citation links — references to sources and authorities
Check your nofollow ratio with the nofollow checker.
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Last updated: March 2026