The rel="nofollow" attribute and dofollow links (links without nofollow) determine whether a link passes link equity and trust to its target page. Understanding the difference is critical for building a link strategy, handling UGC and advertising, and managing internal linking. This guide explains when to use each type.
Dofollow and nofollow: the basics
Dofollow (default)
A link without rel="nofollow" is dofollow. Search engines follow it, take it into account when calculating link equity, and pass relevance from the anchor text. This is a “regular” link.
<a href="https://example.com/page">Текст ссылки</a>Nofollow
The rel="nofollow" attribute tells search engines not to take the link into account when passing link equity. A bot may follow the link to discover content, but it does not pass PageRank.
<a href="https://example.com/page" rel="nofollow">Текст ссылки</a>Additional attributes (2019+)
- rel="ugc" — user-generated content (comments, forums)
- rel="sponsored" — paid links, advertising
- rel="nofollow noopener" — a combination for external links with target="_blank"
Google treats ugc and sponsored as types of nofollow for passing link equity. For a crawler, they are equivalent to nofollow.
When to use nofollow
Paid advertising and sponsored content
Links in ad placements, native integrations, and paid reviews should use rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow":
<a href="https://partner.com" rel="sponsored">Партнёрская ссылка</a>User-generated content (UGC)
Comments, forums, and reviews contain content created by users, and you do not control the links. Use rel="ugc" or rel="nofollow":
<a href="https://user-site.com" rel="ugc">Ссылка из комментария</a>Untrusted content
Login pages, shopping carts, and service sections should not receive link equity or rank. Internal links to these pages should be nofollow.
Pages with no indexing value
Calendars, on-site search results, and duplicates — if a page should not compete in search, links to it may be nofollow.
When to use dofollow
Internal links to important pages
Pages you want to promote — categories, articles, and products — should receive link equity through dofollow links. Internal links are dofollow by default.
External links to authoritative sources
Linking to quality resources as sources is standard practice. Dofollow does not “give away” link equity in a negative sense; citing authoritative sources can strengthen trust in your page.
Partner and editorial links
If a link is editorial (not paid) and you recommend the resource, dofollow is acceptable. A paid link intended to manipulate rankings should use sponsored/nofollow.
SEO impact
Passing link equity
Dofollow passes link equity; nofollow does not. Inbound dofollow links from other sites are important for building a page’s authority.
Crawling
Bots follow nofollow links. Nofollow does not block the target page from being indexed — it may be indexed through other links. Nofollow only prevents your page from passing link equity through that link.
Internal links
Too many nofollow internal links dilute the distribution of link equity. Use nofollow only for service pages (login, cart, thank-you pages).
Practical recommendations
Balance of inbound links
A natural link profile is a mix of dofollow and nofollow. A site with only dofollow links looks suspicious. Nofollow links from authoritative sites (Wikipedia, social networks) are normal.
Outbound links from your site
| Link type | Attribute |
|---|---|
| Editorial link to a quality resource | dofollow |
| Paid advertising, sponsorship | sponsored or nofollow |
| Comments, UGC | ugc or nofollow |
| Service pages (internal) | nofollow |
Checking link attributes
The reChecker link analyzer shows inbound and outbound links with their attributes. It is useful for auditing a link profile.
Frequently asked questions
Does a page lose link equity when it has an outbound dofollow link?
Theoretically, yes — link equity is distributed among outbound links. In practice, one or two links to authoritative sources do not cause problems. Selling links from your site at scale carries a risk of penalties.
Do external links need nofollow?
Not necessarily. Editorial links to quality resources can be dofollow. Use nofollow for advertising, UGC, and untrusted content.
Does Google take nofollow into account?
Google says that nofollow is a hint, not a directive. In some cases, nofollow links may be taken into account. But dofollow remains the primary signal for passing link equity.
History of nofollow and updates in 2019
The introduction of nofollow (2005)
Google introduced the nofollow attribute in 2005 to combat comment spam. Bloggers could add rel="nofollow" to links in UGC to avoid passing link equity to spam sites.
The 2019 update: ugc and sponsored
In September 2019, Google announced two new attributes: rel="ugc" (user-generated content) and rel="sponsored" (paid links). The original plan was for Google to use them to better understand context. Since March 2020, all three (nofollow, ugc, sponsored) have been treated as hints — Google may take them into account or ignore them when ranking. The recommendation for webmasters remains the same: use the appropriate attribute for transparency.
Combining attributes
You can combine multiple rel values:
<!-- Внешняя ссылка: nofollow + noopener (безопасность) -->
<a href="https://external.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Ссылка</a>
<!-- Партнёрская ссылка -->
<a href="https://partner.com" rel="sponsored noopener">Партнёр</a>
<!-- Ссылка из комментария -->
<a href="https://user-site.com" rel="ugc nofollow">Комментарий</a>noopener is recommended for all target="_blank" links — it prevents the opened page from accessing window.opener.
Impact on crawling
Nofollow does not prevent a bot from following a link. Googlebot follows nofollow links to discover content. Crawling is blocked through robots.txt or meta noindex, not by using nofollow on links.
Link profile and naturalness
A natural inbound link profile contains a mix of dofollow and nofollow. Sites with 100% dofollow links look suspicious. Authoritative sources (news sites, Wikipedia, social networks) often use nofollow — such links are normal and can bring traffic and brand awareness.
Considerations by niche
E-commerce
Affiliate links should use sponsored. Links to manufacturers and suppliers in product descriptions can be dofollow if they are editorial. Links in user reviews should use ugc.
Media and blogs
Links to sources in articles should be dofollow. Comments should use ugc. Native advertising and paid reviews should use sponsored.
Forums and communities
User-generated content should use ugc. Whether to use nofollow for links in user signatures is up to the moderators; they are often nofollow.
Checking link attributes on your site
Manually checking dozens of links is time-consuming. The reChecker link analyzer extracts all links from a page and shows their attributes. It is useful for auditing outbound links and checking compliance with your policy (all partner links use sponsored, all comments use ugc).
Checklist
| Scenario | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Internal link to an important page | dofollow |
| Internal link to a login page/cart | nofollow |
| Editorial external link | dofollow |
| Paid advertising | sponsored/nofollow |
| User comments | ugc/nofollow |
| Affiliate program (paid) | sponsored/nofollow |
| Links in press releases (paid) | sponsored |
| Citing sources | dofollow |
Adding nofollow at scale
During a migration or policy update, you may need to add nofollow to many links. Options include:
Regular expressions
Use find and replace in HTML: find link patterns (for example, links to specific domains) and add rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored".
CMS and plugins
WordPress: plugins for adding nofollow at scale (for example, by domain). Bitrix: settings in modules, or custom logic in templates.
Scripts
Python or Node.js — parse HTML, modify links, and save. Suitable for one-off bulk changes.
Documenting your link policy
Create an internal document specifying which links should be dofollow and which should be nofollow/sponsored/ugc. Include examples for each category. This will make the content team’s and developers’ work easier and reduce errors.
Related materials
For an internal linking strategy, see the internal linking guide. For anchor text optimization, see the article about anchor text. For link analysis, see the reChecker link analysis tool.