Nofollow
What is nofollow?
Nofollow is an instruction that asks search engines not to follow a link or pass ranking credit through it. It can be set on a single link with `rel="nofollow"` or on every link on a page with `<meta name="robots" content="nofollow">`. Since 2019 Google treats link-level nofollow as a hint rather than a strict rule.
Google introduced nofollow in 2005 to fight blog comment spam. In September 2019 it added two more specific values: `rel="sponsored"` for paid and affiliate links and `rel="ugc"` for user-generated content such as comments and forum posts. At the same time, all three became hints for ranking, and from 1 March 2020 also for crawling and indexing. Google may now use a nofollowed link to discover a URL or understand a page, but it decides for itself.
The page-level meta nofollow is different from the link attribute: it applies to all links on the page and is a robots directive, not a link hint. For the full picture of how link attributes are seen from the backlink side, see nofollow links.
Why nofollow matters for SEO
Google’s spam policies require paid links to be qualified with `sponsored` or `nofollow`. Buying or selling links that pass PageRank without one is a link scheme and can earn a manual action.
Nofollow and `ugc` also protect your site from spam in comments and forums, because spammers gain nothing from links that do not pass value.
What nofollow is not: a way to control crawling of your own pages. Adding nofollow to internal links to "sculpt" PageRank does not work, and since nofollow is a hint, it will not reliably keep a URL from being crawled. Use robots.txt or noindex for that.
How to use nofollow correctly
- Mark paid, sponsored and affiliate links with `rel="sponsored"`. `nofollow` is also acceptable.
- Mark links in comments, forum posts and other user-generated content with `rel="ugc"`. Most CMSs do this automatically.
- Use plain `rel="nofollow"` for links you do not want to vouch for, such as a link to a site you are criticising.
- Combine values when more than one applies, for example `rel="ugc nofollow"`.
- Leave normal editorial and internal links without the attribute. Nofollowing your own navigation wastes the internal links that help Google understand your site.
Nofollow example
<!-- One link -->
<a href="https://partner.example/offer" rel="sponsored">See the offer</a>
<a href="https://forum.example/post" rel="ugc nofollow">user link</a>
<!-- Every link on the page -->
<meta name="robots" content="nofollow">Nofollow FAQ
Is nofollow a hint or a directive?
For Google, `rel="nofollow"` on a link has been a hint since 2019 for ranking and since March 2020 for crawling and indexing. Google usually respects it but may use the link for discovery.
Should I use nofollow on internal links?
Usually not. It does not save crawl budget or concentrate PageRank. If you don’t want a page crawled or indexed, use robots.txt or noindex instead.
What is the difference between nofollow, sponsored and ugc?
`sponsored` is for paid or affiliate links, `ugc` is for user-generated content, and `nofollow` is the general catch-all. All three tell Google not to treat the link as an endorsement.
Related SEO terms
A nofollow link carries rel="nofollow", asking search engines not to pass ranking credit. Since 2019 Google treats it as a hint, not a rule.
A dofollow link is a normal link with no rel="nofollow", "sponsored" or "ugc" value, so it can pass ranking credit to the page it points to.
rel="sponsored" is a link attribute that marks a link as paid, sponsored or an affiliate link, so it does not pass ranking credit.
rel="ugc" is a link attribute for links inside user-generated content, such as comments and forum posts, signalling the site does not vouch for them.
A meta robots tag is an HTML tag that tells search engines whether to index a page, follow its links and how to show it in results.
Link equity, or link juice, is the ranking value a link passes from one page to another, based on the linking page’s authority and relevance.
Paid linksBlack hat
Paid links are links bought to pass ranking credit, without rel="sponsored" or nofollow, which breaks Google’s link spam policy.