What is a nofollow link?

A nofollow link is a hyperlink carrying the nofollow attribute, originally meant to tell search engines not to pass ranking credit through it. Introduced by Google in 2005, the attribute was designed as a way for site owners to point to another page without vouching for it in the eyes of a ranking algorithm. In HTML, it looks like rel="nofollow" inside an anchor tag. For years, search engines treated it as a strict instruction: no link equity crosses, full stop. That is no longer how Google handles it.

How Google treats nofollow today

Google now treats nofollow as one hint among several signals rather than an absolute instruction. Since a 2019 policy change, Google has said it may still choose to crawl a nofollowed link and factor it into ranking systems if other signals suggest the link is a useful indicator of relevance or trust. The attribute didn't disappear, it was demoted from a command to a suggestion. Google introduced two related attributes at the same time: rel="sponsored" for paid or affiliate links, and rel="ugc" for user-generated content like comments and forum posts. All three are read as hints, and a site can still use plain nofollow as a catch-all if it doesn't need the more specific labels.

A concrete example: comments and forum signatures

Most blog-comment and forum-signature links are automatically nofollowed by the platform hosting them, specifically to discourage spam link-building. WordPress, Disqus, and most forum software add rel="nofollow" (or rel="ugc") to any link a commenter drops, because comment sections are a prime target for people trying to build backlinks in bulk rather than contribute genuinely. This is also why dropping a keyword-rich link in a random blog's comments rarely moves rankings the way it did a decade ago — the platform strips the ranking signal by default, and Google's own systems are built to recognize the pattern anyway. The anchor text used in that link still tells users and algorithms what the destination is about even when it carries no ranking weight, a distinction covered in more depth in the site's anchor text glossary coverage.

Why nofollow still matters for SEO

Nofollow still matters because it shapes what a backlink profile looks like to both Google and to anyone auditing it, even without direct ranking credit. A natural link profile mixes followed and nofollowed links, since real editorial mentions, social shares, Wikipedia citations, and press coverage produce a blend of both automatically. A profile made up almost entirely of followed links, especially one built through comment spam or paid placements without disclosure, can itself be a red flag; understanding what a link scheme is helps clarify why that pattern draws scrutiny rather than trust. Nofollow links can still send referral traffic, build brand awareness, and contribute to the kind of varied, credible footprint that answer engines and search algorithms both reward. If you're building outreach or a linking strategy rather than just sorting link types, the content gap analysis walkthrough is a practical next step for finding pages worth linking to and getting linked from.

What Is a Nofollow Link? Glossary Definition