Nofollow Link.

A nofollow link is an HTML hyperlink with the rel='nofollow' attribute, which instructs crawlers not to follow the link or pass PageRank to the destination. Introduced by Google in 2005 as a spam-control measure for blog comments, the nofollow attribute signals 'I'm linking here but not vouching for this page.' Nofollow links typically do not contribute to a linked page's ranking authority.

When to Use Nofollow

Use nofollow for: links in user-generated content areas (comments, forums) where you cannot vouch for all destinations; paid advertisement links where Google's guidelines require disclosure; links to untrusted external sites; and widgets or infographic embeds that could be interpreted as manufactured link schemes. Google added rel='sponsored' (for paid links) and rel='ugc' (for user-generated content) in 2019 as more specific variants of nofollow.

Do Nofollow Links Have SEO Value?

In 2019 Google changed its guidance, saying it would treat nofollow as a 'hint' rather than a directive — meaning Google may sometimes follow and credit nofollow links at its discretion. In practice, the contribution to PageRank remains minimal or negligible. However, nofollow links from high-authority sites still have indirect value: they drive referral traffic, increase brand visibility, and a natural backlink profile contains a mix of follow and nofollow links — an exclusively dofollow profile can look manipulated.