Glossaire · SEO

Nofollow link

A nofollow link is a hyperlink carrying the rel="nofollow" attribute, which tells search engines not to follow that link or pass authority (link juice) to the destination page. Introduced by Google in 2005 to combat comment spam, it signals that the publisher does not want to vouch for the linked content. Since 2020, Google treats nofollow as a hint rather than a strict directive: it may therefore choose to consider it or not for crawling and indexing. The nofollow link stands in contrast to the dofollow link, which naturally passes PageRank. You use it for sponsored links, user-generated content, or sources whose reliability you do not want to endorse. Used well, it protects a site's link profile and clarifies editorial intent for both search engines and AI models.

The nofollow link is one of the most misunderstood tools in technical SEO. It lets you control how search engines interpret your outbound links, without hiding them from users.

How it works

In practice, a nofollow link is written with the rel="nofollow" attribute in the HTML code: <a href="https://example.com" rel="nofollow">anchor</a>. This signal tells Googlebot and other crawlers not to associate your page with the destination, and not to pass authority to it through PageRank.

Since March 2020, Google has evolved this mechanism: nofollow is no longer an absolute directive but a hint. The engine may decide to follow the link to discover a URL or refine its understanding of the web. Google also introduced two complementary attributes: rel="sponsored" for paid links and rel="ugc" for user-generated content.

A concrete example

An agency publishes a comparison article and cites a commercial partner that pays it. To stay transparent and avoid a penalty for link exchange, it adds rel="sponsored" (or nofollow) on that link. Conversely, when it cites an authoritative scientific study it wants to recommend, it leaves the link as dofollow to pass a trust signal.

Why it matters

A 100% dofollow link profile looks artificial to Google. Mixing nofollow and dofollow makes your link building credible and natural. Nofollow also protects your site: it avoids vouching for low-quality pages or diluting your authority toward irrelevant destinations.

Key takeaway

Nofollow does not kill a link's value: traffic, awareness, and profile diversity stay intact. It simply signals your level of editorial endorsement.

In a 2026 strategy, this fine-grained control over links also matters for AI engines, which rely on the trust and consistency of signals to decide which sources to cite.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Indirectly, yes. It does not pass PageRank in the classic way, but it drives referral traffic, builds brand awareness, and diversifies a natural link profile. Since 2020, Google may also choose to follow it as a hint.

For sponsored or affiliate links, user-generated content (comments, forums), and sources whose reliability you do not want to vouch for. Google now recommends the more precise rel=sponsored and rel=ugc attributes.

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