The “nofollow” HTML attribute plays an important role for backlinks.
Backlinks are an important part of ranking well on Google.
Google introduced PageRank in 1998. This algorithm showed that Google was placing a huge emphasis on backlinks as a ranking factor. And because of this, irrelevant backlinks started to appear in every corner of the internet.
People were finding all sorts of places to put links to their site that could easily earn them backlinks. Two of the easiest locations were in blog comments or forums, which were chock full of meaningless links.
This created a huge uptick in spam comments across the web, particularly on high-ranking sites like . Many of these sites weren’t vouching for the credibility of these links, yet here they were stealing their link juice through link spam. It wasn’t fair — so Google did something about it by introducing the “nofollow” tag.
What’s a nofollow tag?
“nofollow” is an HTML attribute that is added to a link, telling Google not to pass along link juice to the page.
It looks like this in the code:
<a href=”https://www.somewebsite.com/” rel=”nofollow”>ANCHOR TEXT</a>
When would you use a nofollow tag?
Here are some particular cases where you would add a “nofollow” tag to links on your site:
- To the comments section of a site, preventing users from spamming with irrelevant backlinks
- To a paid advertisement or link
- To links in a press release
- To links that point to untrusted content
- To log in/sign up buttons or links
WordPress adds “nofollow” tags to any links in the comments section of a site. Reddit also uses “nofollow” on links, but actually removes this attribution once something makes it to the front page.
Most social platforms also “nofollow” any links included in a post.
You can identify whether or not a link is nofollow by either installing a Chrome plugin or by searching for “nofollow” in the page source code.
Do nofollow tags have any SEO benefit?
Both “nofollow” and “followed” links affect SEO.
In Google’s eyes, the more “followed” links to a page, the more important and credible that site must be. That’s why incorporating a backlink strategy as part of your SEO efforts is important — other sites certify your worth.
On the contrary “nofollow” links have no SEO benefits. When this attribute is added to a link, it means you’re not vouching for the page. You’re not aiding in increasing that site’s PageRank.
“Nofollow” links are an important way of keeping link spam under control on the internet. They keep poor quality websites from gaining better search visibility through shady backlink tactics. Don’t freely apply the “nofollow” attribute to any and all links — use them with a specific intent in mind.
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