A nofollow link is a hyperlink that includes the HTML attribute rel='nofollow', which signals to search engines that the link should not pass ranking equity (commonly called 'link juice') to the destination URL. Introduced by Google in 2005, the nofollow attribute was originally created to combat comment spam — a tactic where spammers posted links in blog comments to manipulate rankings.
How Nofollow Links Work
In standard HTML, a nofollow link looks like this:
<a href="https://example.com" rel="nofollow">Anchor Text</a>
When Googlebot encounters a nofollow attribute, it traditionally uses it as a hint not to follow or pass equity through that link. However, in 2019, Google updated its treatment of nofollow — it's now a 'hint' rather than a directive, meaning Google may choose to crawl and use nofollow links for indexing purposes even if equity isn't passed.
Nofollow vs. Dofollow Links
The opposite of nofollow is dofollow — a standard link with no rel attribute. Dofollow links pass full link equity and are the primary currency of link building. Nofollow links, by contrast:
- Do NOT pass ranking equity (link juice) to the destination page
- May still be crawled by Googlebot (post-2019 hint model)
- Do drive referral traffic to the destination URL
- Do contribute to brand awareness and visibility
- May influence Google's understanding of entity relationships even without equity transfer
When Nofollow Links Are Used
- Blog comment links — to prevent spam exploitation
- User-generated content (UGC) — social platforms, forums, and Q&A sites typically nofollow all links
- Sponsored content and paid links — legally/ethically required to use rel='sponsored' (which implies nofollow)
- Widget and badge links — embeddable content that could constitute link schemes if dofollow
- Untrusted external links — when you're unsure about a site's quality but want to reference it
Nofollow Link Attributes in 2024
Google introduced two additional link attributes in 2019 to provide more granular signals:
- rel='sponsored': For paid or affiliate links — clearer signal than generic nofollow
- rel='ugc': For user-generated content links (comments, forum posts)
- rel='nofollow': Remains for any other case where you don't want to endorse the linked site
Are Nofollow Links Worthless for SEO?
Not entirely. Nofollow links don't directly boost rankings, but they provide indirect SEO value:
- Referral traffic: High-traffic sites linking to you (even nofollow) drive real visitors
- Brand discovery: Exposure on authoritative sites builds brand awareness that leads to branded searches
- Natural link profile: A mix of follow and nofollow links looks more natural to Google — an all-dofollow profile can seem manipulated
- Indexing signals: Google may still crawl nofollow links, helping discover new pages
- Indirect linking: Visitors who discover your content via nofollow links may later link to you with dofollow links
In Sagara's link building strategy, we pursue high-quality dofollow links as primary targets, while treating nofollow placements on high-authority sites as secondary wins — they build brand presence, drive traffic, and contribute to a natural-looking backlink profile.