NoFollow Attribute "rel=nofollow"

The nofollow attribute is an HTML hint for search engine crawlers that tells them you do not want a link to pass normal ranking credit or to be treated as a strong endorsement.

It was introduced in 2005 to combat comment spam and paid links and has since evolved into a small family of link attributes - nofollow, sponsored and ugc - that Google now treats as hints rather than strict rules for crawling and ranking. (Source: Google Search Central Blog)

Understanding how these attributes work today is essential for:

• Managing PageRank and link equity
• Staying compliant with Google’s guidelines for paid and user-generated links
• Avoiding crawl waste on very large sites

What Is The Nofollow Attribute

rel="nofollow" is a value you add to the rel attribute of a hyperlink or in a robots directive. It tells search engines that you link to the page but do not want to imply endorsement or pass normal ranking credit.

Link-level example: <a href="https://www.example.com" rel="nofollow">Example link</a>

On 10 September 2019 Google announced that:

• rel="nofollow" should be used when you link to a page but do not want to imply endorsement or pass ranking credit
• rel="sponsored" should identify advertising or sponsored links
• rel="ugc" should mark links in user-generated content (UGC) such as comments and forum posts

All three are now treated as hints about which links to consider or exclude in Search, not as absolute directives. (Source: Google Search Central Blog)

Dofollow Vs Nofollow Links For PageRank

“Dofollow” is not an official HTML attribute. It is informal SEO shorthand for a normal link without any rel value that restricts crawling or credit.

How PageRank Treats Different Link Types

Link type	Typical HTML	How Google handles it*
Standard link ("dofollow")	<a href="/page">Link</a>	Eligible to be crawled and used as a ranking signal (PageRank, anchor text, etc)
rel="nofollow"	<a href="/page" rel="nofollow">	Hint that Google should not associate your site with or crawl the page from that link and generally should not treat it as a normal ranking signal
rel="sponsored"	<a href="/page" rel="sponsored">	Hint that the link is paid or compensated and should not be used as a ranking signal
rel="ugc"	<a href="/page" rel="ugc">	Hint that the link was created by users and may not deserve full ranking credit

*Google treats nofollow, sponsored and ugc as hints about which links to consider or exclude in Search. (Source: Google Search Central Blog)

In practical terms for PageRank:

• A dofollow (normal) link is fully eligible to pass PageRank and anchor text relevance
• A nofollow / sponsored / ugc link usually does not pass PageRank in the classic sense, though Google may still use it as a hint or for spam analysis

For link building, that means you should not rely on nofollow links to move rankings, but they still matter for discovery, referral traffic and a natural backlink profile.

Does Google Follow Nofollow Links For Ranking

Historically, Google treated rel="nofollow" as a directive and did not count nofollow links in its algorithms at all.

Since 2019, Google’s position has changed:

• All three attributes - nofollow, sponsored and ugc - are treated as hints about which links to consider or exclude for ranking
• Google may choose, in some cases, to use information from these links when analysing the web

“All the link attributes—sponsored, ugc, and nofollow—are treated as hints about which links to consider or exclude within Search… we’ll use these hints—along with other signals—as a way to better understand how to appropriately analyze and use links within our systems.” (Source: Google Search Central Blog)

In other words, as of 2024 and 2025:

• Crawling and discovery – Google can crawl a URL even if every known link to it is marked nofollow, but links with these attributes will “generally not be followed”. (Source: Google Search Central)
• Ranking – Google reserves the right to treat nofollow, sponsored and ugc links as hints, but still positions them primarily as mechanisms to avoid passing normal ranking credit

From a practical SEO point of view:

• Treat nofollow links as passing little to no reliable PageRank
• Assume they help with discovery and link profile naturalness, not with direct ranking power
• Focus your PageRank strategy on high-quality followed links and strong internal linking

How To Implement rel="nofollow" In HTML For SEO

There are three main ways to express nofollow-type instructions.

1. Link-Specific rel="nofollow"

This is the most common pattern. <a href="https://www.example.com" rel="nofollow">External site</a>

You can combine multiple rel values in one link:

<a href="https://www.example.com" rel="nofollow sponsored">Sponsored link</a>

<a href="https://www.example.com" rel="ugc nofollow">User comment link</a>

Google’s current documentation explicitly supports rel="sponsored", rel="ugc" and rel="nofollow" values, as well as multiple values in a space or comma separated list. (Source: Google Search Central)

2. Page-Wide meta Robots Nofollow

You can also request that robots do not follow any links on a page using the robots meta tag:

<head>

<meta name="robots" content="nofollow">

</head>

Or combined with noindex:

<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">

The robots meta tag is page-level. It tells crawlers not to follow links from that page, but it only applies once Google has been able to crawl the page in the first place. (Source: Google Search Central)

3. HTTP X-Robots-Tag Header

For non-HTML resources (PDFs, images) you can send a noindex, nofollow directive via HTTP headers:

X-Robots-Tag: noindex, nofollow

This is useful when you cannot edit HTML but still want to control how search engines treat links on a resource. (Source: Google Search Central)

Meta Robots Tag Vs Link-Specific Attributes

• Use link-specific rel attributes when you want granular control over individual outbound links
• Use meta name="robots" content="nofollow" when you want to treat all links on a page the same
• Use X-Robots-Tag for non-HTML resources

For most SEO scenarios, link-level attributes are more precise and better aligned with Google’s current guidance on qualifying outbound links. (Source: Google Search Central)

Google Guidelines For Sponsored And UGC Links

Google’s latest documentation makes clear recommendations for when to use each rel value. (Source: Google Search Central)

rel="sponsored" For Paid Links

Use rel="sponsored" for links that exist because of advertising, sponsorships or any form of compensation, including:

• Affiliate links
• Paid placements in articles or resource pages
• Sponsored reviews and advertorials

Google notes that nofollow is still acceptable for these links, but sponsored is preferred. (Source: Google Search Central)

Google’s 2019 announcement also confirms that you do not need to go back and change historic nofollow markup on paid links, but any link that is clearly an ad or sponsored should be marked with sponsored or nofollow going forward to avoid link scheme problems. (Source: Google Search Central Blog)

Google has further clarified that while sites are unlikely to receive a manual penalty solely for unmarked affiliate links, using sponsored or nofollow remains strongly recommended. (Source: Search Engine Journal)

rel="ugc" For User-Generated Content

Use rel="ugc" for links created by users rather than by you, for example:

• Blog comments
• Forum posts and signatures
• Guest books or profile bios on community platforms

Google explicitly recommends ugc for these areas and notes that you can remove the attribute for trusted contributors whose links you are happy to fully endorse. (Source: Google Search Central)

In practice, many sites use rel="ugc nofollow" together for extra clarity and to keep spammy UGC links from being treated as normal endorsements.

rel="nofollow" As The General Purpose Hint

Use rel="nofollow" when neither sponsored nor ugc apply, and you simply:

• Do not want to vouch for a page
• Do not want Google to associate your site with the target
• Prefer Google not to crawl the link from your page

Google’s documentation describes this as the fallback value when other values do not fit. (Source: Google Search Central)

Best Practices For Managing Outbound Link Juice And Crawl Budget

For most sites, link attributes are about risk management and clarity, not micromanaging every drop of PageRank. Here are practical guidelines.

Note that for certain enterprise sites these techniques may not apply, so although it is great to understand general best practices, seek advice from a top expert link the RankBee Team before making major technical changes to your website

- Aris Vrakas

1. Use Followed Links For Genuine Editorial References

• Link out normally (no rel attribute) when you genuinely endorse a resource
• Do not add nofollow to trustworthy editorial citations just to “hoard” link equity

Healthy outbound linking to authoritative, relevant sources is part of a natural link profile and supports topic clarity for search engines.

2. Mark Paid And Compensated Links Correctly

• Use rel="sponsored" (optionally with nofollow) on all paid, sponsored or compensated placements
• Configure your CMS so affiliate modules and ad components automatically set the correct rel values

This keeps you aligned with Google’s link spam policies while still allowing monetisation and partnerships. (Source: Google Search Central Blog)

3. Protect User-Generated Areas

• Default to rel="ugc nofollow" for all links in comments, forums and other UGC blocks
• Combine this with spam filters and moderation
• Consider removing ugc / nofollow for high-trust contributors whose links you are happy to endorse

This keeps link spam from turning your site into a source of manipulative links and reduces the odds of a manual action. (Source: Google Search Central)

4. Do Not Use Nofollow For Index Control

If your goal is to keep a page out of the index, do not rely on nofollow:

• Use meta name="robots" content="noindex" or X-Robots-Tag: noindex to control indexing
• Use robots.txt to fully block crawling of URL patterns that should never be fetched

Google’s crawl budget documentation explicitly recommends robots.txt for blocking URLs you do not want crawled and warns that noindex and other page-level rules still cost crawling resources. (Source: Google Crawling Infrastructure)

5. Manage Crawl Budget With Architecture First

On very large sites, the wrong link patterns can waste crawl budget.

Google’s faceted navigation guidance recommends:

• Using robots.txt to disallow faceted URLs you do not need indexed
• Using rel="canonical" from duplicate variants back to a main URL
• Optionally using rel="nofollow" on filter links only if you can apply it consistently to every link pointing at those URLs

They note that nofollow on filter links can discourage crawling but does not remove cost entirely, because any URL that is crawled still consumes resources. (Source: Google Search Central Blog)

For crawl budget optimisation on large sites, prioritise:

• Clean, deduplicated URL structures
• robots.txt rules for clearly non-valuable patterns
• Avoiding infinite filter combinations
• Fast, reliable responses so Googlebot can fetch more per unit of time

(Source: Google Crawling Infrastructure)

6. Avoid PageRank Sculpting With Mass Nofollow

Using nofollow internally to “sculpt” PageRank (for example, nofollowing footer links or navigation items en masse) is rarely worth it:

• Google now treats nofollow as a hint, not as a guaranteed block
• You risk breaking discovery of important URLs, especially on mobile-first indexing
• A clear information architecture and sensible internal linking give you more predictable control over how PageRank flows

Focus internal link equity on the pages that need to rank by:

• Keeping navigation focused on important sections
• Adding contextual internal links from strong pages to key commercial or informational pages

Quick Implementation Checklist

Use this as a practical reference when auditing your site.

For each outbound link type, ask:

• Is this link paid or compensated in any way? → Use rel="sponsored" (plus nofollow if you prefer)
• Is this link placed by a user rather than your team? → Use rel="ugc" (often with nofollow)
• Is this a normal editorial reference you are happy to endorse? → No rel attribute needed
• Is this a link you do not want to endorse but that is not paid or UGC? → Use rel="nofollow"

For crawl budget and index control:

• Use robots.txt and clean URL structures to stop Google crawling low-value patterns
• Use noindex (meta or header) to keep specific pages out of the index
• Use rel="canonical" to consolidate duplicate variants
• Use rel="nofollow" only as an additional hint where you cannot restructure links, not as your primary crawl budget control

How This Relates To AI Search And RankBee

Although link attributes were created for classic web search, they indirectly influence how AI systems see your site:

• Clean, compliant link practices reduce spam risk and help search engines treat your domain as a trustworthy source
• That trust carries through into how AI-powered experiences such as Google AI Mode and LLMs decide which sources to quote and cite