A nofollow link is a link attribute that helps search engines evaluate the relationship between one website and another linked page. It is used by adding rel="nofollow" to a link in HTML. This value can be used when the linking website does not want to directly endorse, pass trust to or send ranking signals to the linked page. It is especially useful for links to untrusted sources, user-added links or pages that are not editorially endorsed.
To understand nofollow, it is useful to compare it with regular links. Links added with a standard <a> tag and without any limiting rel attribute can be evaluated by search engines as normal links. In SEO, these are often referred to as “dofollow” links. However, there is no official HTML attribute called “dofollow”. No special dofollow tag needs to be added for a link to be followed or evaluated. If a link does not include values such as nofollow, sponsored or ugc, it is simply left in its natural form.
A nofollow link can be written as follows: <a href="https://example.com" rel="nofollow">Example Website</a>. This usage tells search engines that the link should be treated with caution. However, nofollow does not mean “never follow this link under any circumstances” or “never index this page”. Today, Google treats nofollow as a hint that may be considered in ranking, crawling and indexing processes rather than as an absolute directive.
Nofollow links can be used for comment sections, forums, user profiles, untrusted sources and links that are not editorially approved. In areas where users can add their own links, nofollow or rel="ugc" can help reduce spam and manipulation risks. For paid partnerships, sponsored content or advertising links, rel="sponsored" is the more appropriate option. Multiple values can also be used together on the same link when needed.
PageRank is one of Google’s older and foundational algorithmic approaches for evaluating the importance of web pages through links. In the past, the publicly visible Toolbar PageRank score between 0 and 10 was widely discussed in SEO. However, this public score is no longer an active metric available for use. Today, SEO analysis often relies on third-party metrics such as domain authority, page authority or similar indicators. These metrics, however, are not official Google ranking scores.
The relationship between nofollow and PageRank should be evaluated in this context. In the past, it was more common to state that nofollow links did not pass PageRank. Today, Google does not have to treat these links as direct trust-passing signals, but it may still evaluate nofollow as a signal or hint rather than ignoring it completely. For this reason, it is not accurate to say that nofollow links have no SEO value at all. Even if they do not directly pass authority, nofollow links can still provide value through referral traffic, brand visibility, discovery and a natural link profile.
Automatically marking all external links on a website as nofollow is not always the best approach. Linking naturally to trustworthy, useful and relevant sources can support content quality. Nofollow should be considered mainly for links that are untrusted, uncontrolled, paid or not intended as an endorsement. The purpose of the link, the context of the content and the value provided to the user should all be considered when choosing the right link attribute.
In summary, a nofollow link provides an additional signal about how a link should be evaluated by search engines. When used correctly, it helps reduce spam risk, classify paid or user-generated links more accurately and manage a link profile in a more controlled way. However, nofollow is not a standalone solution for blocking indexing, ensuring security or fixing SEO problems. A healthy link strategy requires using nofollow, sponsored, ugc and natural links in the right context.
