SEO explained
rel=nofollow, and when to use it
A rel="nofollow" attribute on a link tells search engines you are not vouching for the page it points to. It was introduced in 2005 to fight comment spam, and since 2019 Google has treated it as a hint it may ignore rather than a rule it must obey.
The three attributes, and which to reach for
Google recognises three values, and they can be combined. rel="sponsored" is for links you were paid for, including affiliate links. rel="ugc" is for anything a visitor submitted — comments, forum posts, profiles. rel="nofollow" is the general case for a link you do not want to endorse.
If you get the choice wrong between sponsored and ugc, nothing bad happens. If you leave a paid link with no attribute at all, that is a link scheme by Google's own definition, and it is the one mistake here with a real penalty attached.
Do nofollowed links do anything?
They send traffic, which is often the larger prize. A nofollowed link on a page real people read is worth more in visits than a followed link on a page nobody visits.
For ranking, treat them as approximately zero and be pleasantly surprised. Google says it uses these attributes as hints for crawling and indexing, which leaves room for a nofollowed link to count for something — but not enough room to build a strategy on.
Where the attribute genuinely belongs
Paid and affiliate links, always. Links in user comments and profiles, by default. Links you are obliged to include but would not choose — a required disclosure, a partner's page you have doubts about.
Where it does not belong: internal links. Nofollowing your own navigation to hoard link equity has not worked since 2009, when Google changed how it distributes signal so that a nofollowed internal link wastes it rather than redirecting it.
How to check what a link carries
On a single page, view source and read the <a> tag — there is nothing to install. Across a whole backlink profile, you need an index that records the attribute per link, which is what the dofollow/nofollow column in a backlink tool is showing you.
The number worth watching is the ratio. A profile that is almost entirely followed links is unusual enough to look built rather than earned; real profiles collect plenty of nofollowed links along the way.
Questions people ask
- Is nofollow still relevant in 2026?
- Yes, but as a disclosure rather than a lever. Its job now is to tell Google which of your outgoing links are paid or user-submitted, which keeps you on the right side of the link spam policies.
- Should I nofollow outbound links to keep authority?
- No. Linking out does not drain a fixed pool, and pages that cite sources tend to do better, not worse. Nofollow the links you cannot vouch for, and leave the rest alone.
- What is the difference between nofollow and noindex?
- Nofollow is about a single link on a page. Noindex is about the page itself and asks Google to keep it out of search results entirely. They solve unrelated problems and are often confused because both appear in robots meta tags.
Tools that answer this on your own site
- Backlinks
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