A nofollow link is a normal hyperlink with a small instruction attached: rel="nofollow". It tells search engines you are not vouching for the page you are linking to and would prefer they not pass ranking credit through it.
Visitors see no difference. They can click a nofollow link like any other. The attribute only changes how search engines may treat the link.
What is a nofollow link?
A nofollow link is an HTML link that includes the rel="nofollow" attribute in its anchor tag, for example <a href="https://example.com" rel="nofollow">. Google's documentation on qualifying outbound links says to use nofollow when no other value fits and you do not want Google to associate your site with the linked page or crawl it from your site.
Nofollow has two siblings. Rel="sponsored" is for ads and paid placements, and rel="ugc" is for user-generated content such as comments and forum posts. You can combine them, like rel="ugc nofollow". Links without any rel value are often called "followed" or "dofollow" links, although dofollow is not an actual attribute.
How Google treats nofollow links
Google announced in September 2019 that nofollow would become a hint rather than a strict rule. For crawling and indexing, that change took effect on March 1, 2020, as Search Engine Journal reported from Google's announcement.
In practice, that means Google says nofollow links are generally not followed, but it may still use them in some cases. A page that only gets nofollow links can still be discovered through sitemaps or links from other sites. The attribute also only works on crawlable <a> elements.
It is worth separating nofollow from two tools that do different jobs. To stop Google from crawling a page on your own site, use a robots.txt disallow rule. To keep a page out of search results, use a noindex tag and leave the page crawlable so Google can see it.
When to use nofollow, sponsored and ugc
Paid and sponsored links
Any link that exists because money, products or services changed hands should be qualified. Google prefers rel="sponsored" for these, though nofollow is still acceptable. Its spam policies state that paid links are not a violation when they carry nofollow or sponsored. Leaving them unqualified is link spam.
User-generated content
Comments, forum posts, reviews and community Q&A should carry rel="ugc" or nofollow. Google's SEO Starter Guide suggests your CMS add this automatically. Google also notes you might drop the attribute for trusted members with a long record of quality contributions.
Untrusted sources
If you need to reference a page you do not trust, nofollow lets you link without vouching for it. Google's link best practices are clear that you should not nofollow every external link, only the ones you genuinely do not trust.
Nofollow links in practice
Say a software company sponsors a podcast, and the show notes link back to the company's site. That link should use rel="sponsored". The company still gets listeners clicking through and its name in front of a relevant audience. It simply does not try to claim ranking credit for an ad.
Now say the same company runs a community forum. Members link to tools they like in their posts. The forum software should add rel="ugc" automatically, so spammers have little reason to fill threads with links.
Are nofollow links worth getting?
Yes, often. A nofollow link from a well-read publication, a popular forum or a busy social profile can send real visitors, build awareness and lead to followed links from people who discover you there. Because nofollow is a hint, it is also not accurate to say these links are always ignored.
What you should not do is judge a link purely by its attribute. A relevant nofollow mention can do more for your brand than a followed link on a site nobody reads. A healthy backlink profile naturally includes both.
Common mistakes
- Nofollowing every outbound link. Citing good sources is a normal part of trustworthy content. Blanket nofollow is unnecessary.
- Using nofollow on internal links to "sculpt" ranking. For pages on your own site, Google points to robots.txt to control crawling and noindex to control indexing.
- Forgetting paid links. Affiliate links, sponsored posts and gifted product reviews all need qualifying.
- Expecting nofollow to hide a page. It does not block crawling or indexing. Use the right tool for that job.
How Butter approaches nofollow links
Nofollow is not a service on its own, but it shows up throughout our work. When we review a site, we check that paid, affiliate and user-generated links are qualified correctly, and that internal links are not being nofollowed by mistake. In our link building work, we look at relevance and audience first and the attribute second, because a nofollow mention on the right site still builds visibility for both search and AI answers. Those recommendations show up in our monthly on-page and off-page reports.
Frequently asked questions
Do nofollow links help SEO?
Indirectly, yes. Google treats nofollow as a hint, so it may not pass ranking credit, but these links can still bring visitors, build awareness and lead to followed links. They are rarely a waste of effort when the site is relevant.
What is the difference between nofollow and sponsored?
Sponsored is specifically for paid or advertising links, while nofollow is a general-purpose value. Google prefers sponsored for paid links but still accepts nofollow for them.
How do I check whether a link is nofollow?
Right-click the link in your browser and choose Inspect, then look for rel="nofollow", rel="sponsored" or rel="ugc" in the anchor tag. Most SEO browser extensions and crawlers can also highlight them.