What Is a Nofollow Link?

A nofollow link is a link marked with the rel="nofollow" attribute, which tells Google not to pass ranking credit from your page to the one you link. It is a way to link to a page without vouching for it. Since September 2019, nofollow and its siblings "sponsored" and "ugc" are treated as hints, not strict commands, so Google may still use them as signals.

How does a nofollow link work?

A nofollow link adds the rel="nofollow" attribute to a link's HTML, and that attribute tells Google how to treat it. In markup it looks like <a href="..." rel="nofollow">.

Google's qualify your outbound links guidance says to use nofollow when "you'd rather Google not associate your site with, or crawl the linked page from, your site".

A normal, followed link passes a small signal of trust to its target. A nofollow link withholds that signal.

Because links are how Google discovers and weighs pages, the attribute lets you link to something without lending it your page's credibility.

nofollow, sponsored, and ugc: what is the difference?

Nofollow is the general "do not pass credit" marker. Sponsored and ugc are two more specific versions Google introduced in 2019, for paid links and for user-generated links.

Attribute	Use it for
rel="sponsored"	Ads, paid placements, affiliate links
rel="ugc"	Comments, forum posts, other user content
rel="nofollow"	Any other link you would rather not endorse

These values come from Google's Evolving nofollow announcement of September 10, 2019. You can combine them where a link fits more than one case.

Are nofollow links a directive or a hint?

Nofollow links are a hint, not a strict directive, and have been since 2019. Google's announcement, linked above, put it directly: the attributes are "treated as hints about which links to consider or exclude within Search".

The change has two dates. For ranking, the hint behavior started on September 10, 2019. For crawling and indexing, nofollow became a hint on March 1, 2020.

The reason is practical. Google wanted the information in these links, for fighting spam and understanding the web, even from links a site chooses not to endorse.

Does nofollow stop a page from being indexed?

No. A nofollow link controls how Google treats the link, not whether a page gets indexed. Google can still index a nofollowed page if it finds the URL another way.

To keep a page out of search, the tool is a noindex rule, which Google recommends over nofollow for that job. Marking a link nofollow is different from blocking a crawler in robots.txt or keeping a page out of the index.

In our experience, a confusion that still comes up is treating nofollow as a way to hide a page from Google. It was never that, and a page linked nofollow can rank perfectly well.

Frequently asked questions

Do nofollow links help SEO at all?

Yes, in indirect ways. Since 2019 Google treats nofollow as a hint, so a nofollow link from a strong, relevant site can still carry some value and send real visitors. Beyond ranking, links from reputable places build brand awareness and referral traffic, and they keep a link profile looking natural. Treating them as worthless is outdated, and treating them as identical to followed links is also wrong. They sit in between.

When should I use rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow"?

Use rel="sponsored" on any link you were paid for: ads, sponsorships, and affiliate links. Use rel="ugc" on links inside user content like comments and forum posts. Use plain rel="nofollow" for anything else you would rather not endorse, such as a source you cite critically. Marking paid links is not optional politeness, because unmarked paid links that pass credit are a link-spam violation.

Is an internal link ever nofollow?

Rarely, and usually by mistake. Internal links between your own pages should almost always be followed, because you want Google to crawl and understand your whole site. Adding nofollow to internal links just withholds signal from your own pages. The old tactic of "sculpting" internal link flow this way stopped working over a decade ago. Leave internal links normal unless you have a specific, rare reason.

How do I check if a link is nofollow?

Right-click the link, choose "Inspect", and look at the anchor's HTML for a rel attribute. If you see rel="nofollow", rel="sponsored", or rel="ugc", it is not passing full ranking credit. Browser extensions can also highlight nofollow links on a page automatically. For links pointing to your own site, a backlink tool will label each one's attribute so you can see the mix at a glance.

Are most links on big sites nofollow?

Often, yes, especially user-generated ones. Large platforms like news sites, social networks, and forums frequently apply nofollow or ugc to outbound and user-posted links by default, to discourage spam. That is why a raw count of backlinks matters less than where they come from and whether they are editorial. One followed link from a trusted, relevant site can outweigh dozens of nofollowed ones.

Marking links honestly

Storming Solutions runs SEO, AEO, and GEO for Malaysian businesses, and part of that is keeping a site's links labeled the way Google expects. Our stance: chasing followed links from anywhere is the wrong goal, because a natural profile mixes followed, nofollow, sponsored, and ugc links without being engineered.

Not sure whether your paid or partner links are marked correctly? Message us on WhatsApp or read our SEO in Malaysia guide to see where links fit the bigger picture.