A nofollow link tells search engines not to count it as a vote for your website

A nofollow link is a hyperlink with hidden instructions attached. When someone clicks a nofollow link to your site, the search engine sees it but does not treat it the way it treats a regular link. Instead of passing along the authority and ranking boost that a normal link would give you, a nofollow link says to the search engine: "I'm linking to this, but I'm not endorsing it enough to help its search ranking."

The difference is invisible to the person clicking the link. They land on your website the same way. The nofollow instruction lives in the code behind the link, in a small piece of text called a rel attribute. A regular link looks like this in the code: <a href="yoursite.com">. A nofollow link looks like this: <a href="yoursite.com" rel="nofollow">. That one extra phrase changes how search engines treat the link entirely.

Key Takeaways

  • Nofollow links do not pass ranking authority to your website the way regular links do, even though visitors can still click them and reach you.
  • Websites use nofollow on links they do not fully trust or endorse, such as user comments, paid links, or links to competitors.
  • Getting nofollow links is not harmful to your site, but they do not help your search engine ranking the way regular links do.
  • You cannot always tell from looking at a website whether a link is nofollow or regular — you have to check the page code or use a browser tool.

Why websites add nofollow to links

Websites add nofollow to links for several practical reasons. The most common is to avoid endorsing something they have not verified. If a website publishes user comments and someone leaves a link in a comment, the site owner does not want search engines to think they are personally recommending that link. Adding nofollow to all comment links solves that problem — the site stays open to comments without accidentally boosting the ranking of spam or low-quality sites.

Another reason is paid links. If a website sells advertising space that includes a link, search engines have rules against passing ranking authority through paid links, because it would let people buy their way to the top of search results. Websites that sell ads are required to mark those links as nofollow so search engines know the link was paid for, not earned.

A third reason is caution. A website might link to a competitor or to a source it is not sure about. Adding nofollow says: "I'm pointing you to this information, but I'm not putting my reputation behind it." News sites sometimes use nofollow on links to unverified sources for this reason.

How nofollow affects your website's search ranking

Nofollow links do not hurt your ranking, but they do not help it the way regular links do. Search engines use links as one signal of whether your site is trustworthy and useful. A regular link from another site acts like a vote: "This site is worth ranking higher." A nofollow link says: "This site exists, but I'm not voting for it." Search engines count the vote but do not weight it.

This matters because search ranking depends partly on how many quality links point to you. If most of your incoming links are nofollow, your ranking will not improve as much as it would if those same links were regular. But if you have a mix of both — some nofollow and some regular — the regular ones still help you. Nofollow links are not a penalty; they are straightforward neutral.

There is one exception: nofollow links can still bring you real visitors. Someone might click a nofollow link to your site and stay, read your content, and come back later. That visitor traffic is real, even though the search engine boost is not. So a nofollow link from a popular website can still be valuable to you, just not for ranking purposes.

Where you will encounter nofollow links

You will see nofollow links most often in user-generated content. Any website that lets people post comments, reviews, or forum messages almost always marks those links as nofollow. Wikipedia does this — every link in a Wikipedia article that points to an external site is nofollow. This protects Wikipedia from being used to artificially boost the ranking of spam sites.

Social media platforms use nofollow on most links. A link you post on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn is marked nofollow, which is why social media links do not directly improve your search ranking. News sites and blogs often use nofollow on links to sources they are citing but not fully endorsing. Job boards, classified ad sites, and directory listings frequently use nofollow as well.

You might also encounter nofollow links in sponsored content or native advertising. If a website publishes an article that a company paid for, the links in that article should be marked nofollow. This is a transparency rule — it tells search engines that the link was paid for, not earned through merit.

How to check if a link is nofollow

You cannot tell by looking at a website whether a link is nofollow or regular. The instruction is hidden in the code. To see it, you have two options. The first is to right-click on the link and select "Inspect" or "Inspect Element" (the exact wording depends on your browser). This opens the page code, and you can look for the text rel="nofollow" next to the link. If you see it, the link is nofollow. If you do not see it, the link is regular.

The second option is to use a browser extension designed to show nofollow links. Several free tools highlight nofollow links in a different color as you browse, so you can see at a glance which links are nofollow and which are not. Search for "nofollow checker" or "nofollow highlighter" in your browser's extension store, and you will find several options.

Nofollow versus other link types

Nofollow is the most common link instruction, but it is not the only one. Search engines recognize several other rel attributes that carry different meanings. Sponsored is used for paid links and advertising, similar to nofollow but more specific — it tells search engines the link was paid for. UGC stands for "user-generated content" and marks links that come from comments, reviews, or forum posts.

These newer instructions let websites be more precise about why they are not passing ranking authority through a link. A link marked as sponsored tells search engines something different than a link marked as UGC, even though both are treated similarly for ranking purposes. Most websites still use nofollow as a catch-all, but larger sites increasingly use sponsored and UGC to be more specific.

What this means for your own website

If you run a website and you link to other sites, you do not have to use nofollow unless there is a reason to. Regular links are fine. You should use nofollow if you are linking to a site you do not fully trust, if you are being paid to link to something, or if the link comes from user comments on your site. Most website platforms handle this automatically — WordPress, for example, can be set to automatically mark all links in comments as nofollow.

If you are trying to improve your own search ranking, focus on earning regular links from other websites rather than worrying about nofollow links. A few nofollow links mixed in with regular ones is normal and not a problem. What matters most is getting links from sites that are relevant to your topic and trusted by search engines.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a nofollow link hurt my search ranking?

No. Nofollow links are neutral — they do not help your ranking, but they do not harm it either. Search engines straightforward ignore the ranking signal from a nofollow link. You can have many nofollow links without penalty.

Can I remove the nofollow tag from a link pointing to my site?

No. The nofollow tag is set by the website that is linking to you, not by you. You cannot change it. If you want a website to link to you without nofollow, you would need to contact the site owner and ask them to change it, but they are under no obligation to do so.

Should I use nofollow on links to my competitors?

You do not have to, but some websites do. Using nofollow on competitor links does not give you a ranking advantage — it straightforward avoids passing ranking authority to them. Most websites link to competitors without nofollow when the link is relevant and helpful to readers.

Why do social media links have nofollow?

Social platforms use nofollow to prevent spam and to avoid artificially boosting the ranking of sites that are straightforward popular on social media rather than genuinely useful. This protects search results from being manipulated through social sharing.

If a link is nofollow, will people still click it?

Yes. Nofollow is invisible to visitors — they see a regular clickable link and can click it the same way. The nofollow instruction only affects how search engines treat the link, not how people interact with it.