{"id":20394,"date":"2020-01-30T16:35:30","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T16:35:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/glosario-digital\/nofollow-link"},"modified":"2026-09-29T14:53:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T14:53:38","slug":"nofollow-link","status":"publish","type":"encyclopedia","link":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/nofollow-link","title":{"rendered":"NoFollow Link"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"boxpad alignright wp-image-23149 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/nofollow-link.jpg\" alt=\"NoFollow Link\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" style=\"margin-top:0;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/nofollow-link.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/nofollow-link-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><strong>Definition:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A <strong>nofollow link<\/strong> is an HTML link whose <code>rel<\/code> attribute contains the value <code>nofollow<\/code>. This value tells compatible search engines that the source site does not want to be associated with the destination or have the link used in the usual way as a ranking signal.<\/p>\n<p>For a person, the link continues to work normally: it can be seen, clicked, and used to visit the destination page. <strong>Nofollow does not<\/strong> disable the hyperlink or prevent it from generating referral traffic.<\/p>\n<p>Google currently interprets <code>nofollow<\/code> as a <strong>hint<\/strong>, not an absolute command. It may decide to use the link to understand the web, discover a URL, or consider it in its ranking systems, even though the attribute communicates that the source does not want to endorse that relationship.<\/p>\n\n<h2>SEO interpretation<\/h2>\n<p>Links allow search engines to discover resources and understand relationships between pages. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/seo-agency-spain\">SEO<\/a>, <code>nofollow<\/code> qualifies that relationship, but it <strong>does not guarantee<\/strong> that the destination URL will remain uncrawled, unindexed, or unranked.<\/p>\n<p>The attribute does not block the linked page either. A URL may be found through other links, a sitemap, a redirect, or external references. Access, crawling, and indexing must be controlled with the <strong>appropriate mechanism<\/strong> for each objective.<\/p>\n<p>The term <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/link-juice\">link juice<\/a> is used informally to describe authority passed through links. <strong>There is no<\/strong> visible amount that a site owner can store or reassign by placing <code>nofollow<\/code> on selected links.<\/p>\n<h2>Related values<\/h2>\n<p>Google distinguishes <strong>several <code>rel<\/code> values<\/strong> to explain why a link should receive different treatment. The <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/crawling-indexing\/qualify-outbound-links\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">official documentation<\/a> identifies these three cases:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>nofollow:<\/strong> used when the other values do not apply and the site does not want to be associated with or endorse the destination.<\/li>\n<li><strong>sponsored:<\/strong> identifies links created as part of advertisements, sponsorships, commercial agreements, or other compensation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>ugc:<\/strong> identifies links in user-generated content, such as comments and forum posts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Values can be <strong>combined<\/strong> in the same attribute, separated by spaces. For example, a link may use <code>rel=\"ugc nofollow\"<\/code> when it comes from users and compatibility with systems that do not recognize <code>ugc<\/code> is desired.<\/p>\n<h2>Use cases<\/h2>\n<p>Nofollow was introduced to reduce the incentive for comment spam, but its application is not limited to blogs. <strong>Common uses<\/strong> include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Links to resources that are cited without an intended endorsement.<\/li>\n<li>Links added by users when the destination is not reviewed in advance.<\/li>\n<li>Links whose commercial nature must be identified, although <code>sponsored<\/code> is preferred for these.<\/li>\n<li>Older systems that do not yet distinguish between <code>ugc<\/code>, <code>sponsored<\/code>, and <code>nofollow<\/code>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The attribute should describe the <strong>actual relationship<\/strong> between the pages. It does not make a deceptive practice acceptable or replace visible advertising disclosure when that disclosure is required.<\/p>\n<h2>HTML implementation<\/h2>\n<p>The value is added to the <code>rel<\/code> attribute of the <code>a<\/code> element. A <strong>basic example<\/strong> is <code>&lt;a href=\"https:\/\/example.com\" rel=\"nofollow\"&gt;Link text&lt;\/a&gt;<\/code>.<\/p>\n<p>A promotional link may use <code>rel=\"sponsored\"<\/code>, while a link added by a user may use <code>rel=\"ugc\"<\/code>. If an element already contains other values, they remain in the <strong>same attribute<\/strong> and are separated by spaces.<\/p>\n<p>The values <code>noopener<\/code> and <code>noreferrer<\/code> serve different purposes. <strong>Nofollow affects<\/strong> the relationship communicated to search engines, while the other values concern window security and the transmission of referrer information.<\/p>\n<h2>Errors and limitations<\/h2>\n<p>Using nofollow on internal links to direct authority, a technique known as PageRank sculpting, <strong>does not preserve<\/strong> that authority for distribution among the remaining links. It can also make the site&#8217;s architecture harder for search engines to understand.<\/p>\n<p>The attribute <strong>does not protect<\/strong> private content, prevent a URL from appearing on other sites, or block access by users or robots. It also does not remove the need to review linked destinations.<\/p>\n<p>A nofollow link can provide visits, context, and visibility even when it is not treated as a conventional signal. Its <strong>value to users<\/strong> depends on the relevance of the destination and the usefulness of the link within the content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A nofollow link uses rel=&#8221;nofollow&#8221; to qualify its relationship with a destination. Learn how Google treats it, its uses, and related attributes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":81111,"template":"","encyclopedia-tag":[319],"class_list":["post-20394","encyclopedia","type-encyclopedia","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","encyclopedia-tag-linkbuilding-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia\/20394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/encyclopedia"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"encyclopedia-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia-tag?post=20394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}