SEO & Redirects
What is a nofollow link?
A nofollow link is a hyperlink that includes the rel="nofollow" attribute, an instruction to search engine crawlers not to follow the link for ranking purposes and not to pass link juice or SEO equity through it to the linked page. Where a standard followed link endorses the destination page and contributes to its authority in search engine ranking algorithms a nofollow link withholds that endorsement, communicating to search engines that the linking page does not want to vouch for the linked destination.
The nofollow attribute is added directly to the anchor element in HTML:
The rel="nofollow" attribute communicates the relationship between the linking page and the linked page, specifically that the linking page does not endorse the linked page for ranking purposes. The link itself remains functional, users can click it and navigate to the destination, but search engine crawlers treat it differently from followed links when calculating PageRank and authority signals.
Nofollow was introduced by Google in 2005 primarily as a spam prevention mechanism, giving website owners a way to link to user-submitted content, advertisements, and other third-party links without passing PageRank that might incentivise spam. The mechanism addressed a real problem, webmasters who allowed comments or user-generated content were being exploited by spammers who submitted links specifically to accumulate PageRank for their sites.
The history and evolution of nofollow
Nofollow has evolved significantly since its 2005 introduction, from a binary followed or not-followed signal to a more nuanced set of link relationship attributes with updated treatment by search engines.
Original nofollow, 2005: Google introduced nofollow as a way to combat comment spam. Before nofollow every link on a page, including links submitted by spammers in blog comments, passed PageRank. Spammers flooded blogs and forums with comments containing links specifically to accumulate PageRank. Nofollow gave webmasters a tool to link without passing PageRank, applying nofollow to user-submitted links eliminated the PageRank incentive for comment spam.
The original treatment was binary, followed links passed PageRank, nofollow links passed zero PageRank. The rule was treated as a hard directive, crawlers would not follow nofollow links and PageRank was not passed through them.
Link attribute expansion, 2019: Google introduced two additional link relationship attributes alongside nofollow, rel="sponsored" and rel="ugc": to provide more specific signals about the nature of links.
rel="sponsored": for paid links, advertisements, and sponsored content. Indicates a commercial relationship between the linking and linked pages.
rel="ugc": User Generated Content, for links in comments, forum posts, and other user-submitted content. Indicates the link was not placed by the site owner but by a user.
These new attributes give webmasters more precise tools for communicating link relationships. The underlying nofollow attribute remains valid and widely used, the new attributes are additional options rather than replacements.
Nofollow as hint, 2019: alongside the new attributes Google announced that it would treat nofollow, and the new sponsored and ugc attributes, as hints rather than directives. Where previously nofollow was a hard rule, no PageRank passes through nofollow links, Google’s updated position is that it may choose to use nofollow links for crawling and indexing purposes and may pass some PageRank through them as part of its overall link quality assessment.
This change reflected the reality that many legitimate, high-quality links carry nofollow attributes, links from Wikipedia, major news sites that nofollow all outbound links, and many editorial contexts where nofollow is applied as a blanket policy rather than a specific editorial judgment. Treating all nofollow links as zero-PageRank made Google’s link graph less complete and accurate than treating them as weaker-but-non-zero signals.
The practical implication for SEO is nuanced, nofollow links from high-authority sites may pass some PageRank even with the nofollow attribute, though less than followed links from the same pages. The old binary followed/nofollow distinction has given way to a spectrum where followed links pass full PageRank and nofollow links pass partial PageRank in some contexts.
Types of nofollow implementation
Nofollow can be applied at the link level, to individual links, or at the page level, to all links on a page.
Link-level nofollow: applied to specific anchor elements:
Link-level nofollow is the most precise implementation, specific links are nofollowed based on their nature, paid links, user-submitted content, unendorsed external links, while other links on the same page remain followed.
Page-level nofollow, robots meta tag: applying nofollow to the robots meta tag in the page head instructs crawlers not to follow any links on the page:
Page-level nofollow prevents PageRank from flowing through any link on the page. This is a blunt instrument, rarely appropriate for content pages where some links should be followed. Useful for utility pages, search results, filtered views, where the links are navigational rather than editorial.
Meta description: A nofollow link tells search engines not to pass ranking authority to the linked page. Learn how nofollow works, when to use it, and how it affects link juice and SEO equity.
What is a nofollow link?
A nofollow link is a hyperlink that includes the rel="nofollow" attribute, an instruction to search engine crawlers not to follow the link for ranking purposes and not to pass link juice or SEO equity through it to the linked page. Where a standard followed link endorses the destination page and contributes to its authority in search engine ranking algorithms a nofollow link withholds that endorsement, communicating to search engines that the linking page does not want to vouch for the linked destination.
The nofollow attribute is added directly to the anchor element in HTML:
The rel="nofollow" attribute communicates the relationship between the linking page and the linked page, specifically that the linking page does not endorse the linked page for ranking purposes. The link itself remains functional, users can click it and navigate to the destination, but search engine crawlers treat it differently from followed links when calculating PageRank and authority signals.
Nofollow was introduced by Google in 2005 primarily as a spam prevention mechanism, giving website owners a way to link to user-submitted content, advertisements, and other third-party links without passing PageRank that might incentivise spam. The mechanism addressed a real problem, webmasters who allowed comments or user-generated content were being exploited by spammers who submitted links specifically to accumulate PageRank for their sites.
The history and evolution of nofollow
Nofollow has evolved significantly since its 2005 introduction, from a binary followed or not-followed signal to a more nuanced set of link relationship attributes with updated treatment by search engines.
Original nofollow, 2005: Google introduced nofollow as a way to combat comment spam. Before nofollow every link on a page, including links submitted by spammers in blog comments, passed PageRank. Spammers flooded blogs and forums with comments containing links specifically to accumulate PageRank. Nofollow gave webmasters a tool to link without passing PageRank, applying nofollow to user-submitted links eliminated the PageRank incentive for comment spam.
The original treatment was binary, followed links passed PageRank, nofollow links passed zero PageRank. The rule was treated as a hard directive, crawlers would not follow nofollow links and PageRank was not passed through them.
Link attribute expansion, 2019: Google introduced two additional link relationship attributes alongside nofollow, rel="sponsored" and rel="ugc": to provide more specific signals about the nature of links.
rel="sponsored": for paid links, advertisements, and sponsored content. Indicates a commercial relationship between the linking and linked pages.
rel="ugc": User Generated Content, for links in comments, forum posts, and other user-submitted content. Indicates the link was not placed by the site owner but by a user.
These new attributes give webmasters more precise tools for communicating link relationships. The underlying nofollow attribute remains valid and widely used, the new attributes are additional options rather than replacements.
Nofollow as hint, 2019: alongside the new attributes Google announced that it would treat nofollow, and the new sponsored and ugc attributes, as hints rather than directives. Where previously nofollow was a hard rule, no PageRank passes through nofollow links, Google’s updated position is that it may choose to use nofollow links for crawling and indexing purposes and may pass some PageRank through them as part of its overall link quality assessment.
This change reflected the reality that many legitimate, high-quality links carry nofollow attributes, links from Wikipedia, major news sites that nofollow all outbound links, and many editorial contexts where nofollow is applied as a blanket policy rather than a specific editorial judgment. Treating all nofollow links as zero-PageRank made Google’s link graph less complete and accurate than treating them as weaker-but-non-zero signals.
The practical implication for SEO is nuanced, nofollow links from high-authority sites may pass some PageRank even with the nofollow attribute, though less than followed links from the same pages. The old binary followed/nofollow distinction has given way to a spectrum where followed links pass full PageRank and nofollow links pass partial PageRank in some contexts.
Types of nofollow implementation
Nofollow can be applied at the link level, to individual links, or at the page level, to all links on a page.
Link-level nofollow: applied to specific anchor elements:
Link-level nofollow is the most precise implementation, specific links are nofollowed based on their nature, paid links, user-submitted content, unendorsed external links, while other links on the same page remain followed.
Page-level nofollow, robots meta tag: applying nofollow to the robots meta tag in the page head instructs crawlers not to follow any links on the page:
Page-level nofollow prevents PageRank from flowing through any link on the page. This is a blunt instrument, rarely appropriate for content pages where some links should be followed. Useful for utility pages, search results, filtered views, where the links are navigational rather than editorial.
Combined rel attributes: multiple rel values can be combined in a single attribute:
Combining nofollow with sponsored or ugc provides both the traditional nofollow signal and the more specific relationship context.
When to use nofollow
Nofollow is appropriate in specific contexts, each reflecting a situation where the link exists for reasons other than editorial endorsement of the destination.
Paid and sponsored links: the most important nofollow use case from an SEO policy perspective. Google’s Webmaster Guidelines require that paid links, links obtained in exchange for money, products, services, or other compensation, be nofollowed or tagged with rel="sponsored". Paid followed links that pass PageRank violate Google’s guidelines and can result in manual actions against both the linking and linked sites.
Paid link schemes, buying and selling followed links specifically to manipulate PageRank, have been a significant challenge for Google’s quality systems throughout the history of SEO. The nofollow requirement for paid links is Google’s primary mechanism for preventing commercial link transactions from polluting the link-based ranking signals.
User-generated content: links in blog comments, forum posts, social media profiles, and other user-submitted content should be nofollowed. Site owners do not endorse every link submitted by users, applying nofollow to user-submitted links communicates this and eliminates the PageRank incentive for comment and forum spam.
Most blogging platforms, WordPress, Ghost, and others, apply nofollow to comment links by default. Forum software similarly nofollow user-submitted links. This default behaviour reflects the community norm that user-submitted links should not pass PageRank.
Untrusted or unendorsed external links: links to external sites that the linking page is not willing to editorially endorse, links to sources that are cited for reference purposes without positive endorsement, links to sites whose quality is uncertain, or links that exist for informational purposes without constituting a recommendation. If a site owner is not comfortable vouching for a destination’s quality and relevance nofollow is the appropriate signal.
Login, registration, and utility pages: internal links to login pages, registration forms, cart pages, and other utility interfaces that should not flow PageRank to pages that are not content destinations.
Widgets and embeds: widgets, badges, and embeddable code distributed to third-party sites should include nofollow on links back to the distributing site. Widely distributed followed links from widgets constitute a link scheme, applying nofollow to widget links keeps the distribution compliant with Google’s guidelines.
Nofollow and link juice
The relationship between nofollow and link juice flow has become more nuanced since Google’s 2019 update treating nofollow as a hint.
Pre-2019 binary treatment: before 2019 nofollow was treated as a hard directive. Followed links passed PageRank. Nofollow links passed zero PageRank. The difference was categorical, a followed link from a high-authority site was valuable, the same link with nofollow added was worthless for PageRank purposes.
Post-2019 hint treatment: since 2019 Google treats nofollow as a hint, it may choose to pass some PageRank through nofollow links, particularly from high-authority sources. The practical implication is that nofollow links from authoritative sites have some residual value, they are not zero-value for PageRank purposes but carry less weight than followed links from the same pages.
Real-world value of nofollow links: despite reduced PageRank transmission nofollow links provide several forms of value beyond PageRank.
Traffic, a nofollow link from a high-traffic page delivers visitors regardless of PageRank transmission. A nofollow link from a major publication may drive substantial referral traffic.
Brand visibility, links from authoritative publications build brand recognition and trust even without direct PageRank contribution.
Indirect link acquisition, visibility from nofollow links on authoritative sites may lead other sites to discover and link to the content with followed links, an indirect contribution to PageRank accumulation.
Diversification signals, a backlink profile consisting entirely of followed links may appear unnatural, the web’s link graph naturally includes many nofollow links from news sites, Wikipedia, social media, and other sources. A mix of followed and nofollow links is normal and expected.
Nofollow and redirects
The interaction between nofollow links and redirects affects how equity flows through redirect chains from external backlinks.
Nofollow links to redirect sources: when a high-authority site has a nofollow link to a redirect source URL the equity implications are limited. The nofollow reduces PageRank transmission through the link, and the redirect further reduces PageRank transmission through the hop. The combined effect is minimal PageRank reaching the redirect destination from this specific link.
Followed links to redirect sources: followed links to redirect source URLs pass most of their link juice through the redirect to the destination. A 301 permanent redirect transmits most of the PageRank from backlinks pointing to the source URL. These backlinks are the primary value driver for maintaining redirect source registrations long after the original URL has been retired.
Nofollow on internal redirect links: internal links that redirect, links pointing to old URLs that have been redirected to new URLs, add unnecessary redirect hops to internal navigation. Updating internal links to point directly to canonical destination URLs and removing nofollow from internal links that should pass PageRank internally improves internal link juice flow.
Checking nofollow implementation
Several tools verify that nofollow is correctly implemented, both confirming that intended nofollow links are correctly tagged and identifying followed links that should be nofollowed.
Browser developer tools: inspecting link elements in browser developer tools, right-click, Inspect Element, shows the rel attribute of any link. This is the most direct method for checking specific links.
Crawling tools: Screaming Frog, Ahrefs Site Audit, and similar tools crawl sites and report the rel attributes of all links, identifying followed and nofollowed links across the entire site. Useful for auditing internal link nofollow status and identifying links that should be updated.
Backlink analysis tools: Ahrefs, Moz, and Semrush report whether backlinks from external sites are followed or nofollowed, providing visibility into which inbound links are contributing PageRank and which are nofollow. This data informs link building strategy, prioritising acquisition of followed links from authoritative sources.
Google Search Console links report: Google Search Console shows the links Google has discovered pointing to the site, though it does not comprehensively distinguish followed from nofollow in its interface. The links report provides a Google-perspective view of the site’s link profile.
Common nofollow mistakes
Not nofollowing paid links: one of the most consequential mistakes. Paid followed links that pass PageRank violate Google’s guidelines and risk manual actions. Every paid link placement, sponsored content, paid reviews, paid placements, must include nofollow or sponsored attributes.
Applying nofollow to all external links: some sites apply nofollow to every external link as a blanket policy, not wanting to pass any PageRank externally. This over-application does not benefit the linking site, nofollow does not preserve the PageRank that would have passed through the link, it simply removes the editorial signal that the link would have provided to the destination. Selectively applying nofollow to genuinely unendorsed links while following editorially endorsed external links provides more accurate link relationship signals.
Inconsistent implementation across link types: applying nofollow to some paid links but missing others, leaving some paid links as followed. Inconsistent implementation creates partial compliance, some paid links still pass PageRank against guidelines while others are correctly nofollowed.
Confusing nofollow with hiding pages from search: nofollow on internal links does not prevent the destination page from being indexed. If the destination page has other inbound links, followed or discovered through other means, it is still crawled and indexed. For preventing page indexation noindex directives on the destination page are required, not nofollow on links pointing to it.