Nofollow

Quick Definition

Nofollow is a link attribute (rel="nofollow") that tells search engines not to pass SEO authority through that link. Use it for affiliate links, sponsored content, and untrusted user-generated links.

Google Search Central docs on nofollow, sponsored, ugc

What Is Nofollow?

rel="nofollow" tells Google: don't pass SEO authority through this link. Since 2019, also: rel="sponsored" (paid links, preferred), rel="ugc" (user-generated). Google: "Links marked with these will generally not be followed."

Use for: affiliate links, sponsored content, comments (WordPress adds automatically since 5.3). Don't use for: regular internal links or genuine external recommendations.

Why It Matters

Not using nofollow on paid links = Google penalty risk. See our SEO checklist and SEO plugins.

Sources: Google: Qualify Outbound Links, Google: Evolving Nofollow, MDN: HTML rel Attribute

Related Terms

Anchor TextAnchor text is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. It tells users and search engines what the linked page is about. Descriptive anchor text improves both accessibility and SEO.BacklinkA backlink is a link from another website that points to your site. Search engines treat backlinks as votes of confidence — the more high-quality sites that link to you, the higher your WordPress site can rank in Google.External LinkAn external link (outbound link) is a hyperlink from your website to a page on a different website. Linking to authoritative sources builds trust with both users and search engines.

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