On this page
- Who this guide is for, and how we wrote it
- What is a nofollow link?
- Do nofollow links help SEO in 2026?
- How do nofollow links help SEO indirectly?
- Nofollow vs dofollow links: what's the difference for SEO?
- What's the difference between nofollow, sponsored and ugc?
- When is a nofollow link worth chasing?
- When should you add nofollow to your own links?
- What matters more than whether a link is nofollow?
- Common mistakes people make with nofollow links
- How do you earn more useful links, nofollow or not?
- Final verdict: do nofollow links help SEO?
- Common questions
Do nofollow links help SEO? Yes, but mostly indirectly. Since 2019, Google treats rel="nofollow" as a hint rather than a strict block, so some nofollow links may pass a little ranking value. Their bigger value is the traffic, brand searches, mentions in AI answers and later editorial links they bring. They won't replace followed links from relevant sites, but they're far from worthless.
This guide is for business owners and marketers deciding where to spend link building time. You'll learn what nofollow actually tells Google in 2026, how it differs from sponsored and ugc, when a nofollow link is worth chasing, when to add nofollow to your own links, and what matters more than the attribute.
Key takeaways
- Nofollow links help SEO indirectly through referral traffic, brand awareness and the followed links that often come later.
- Google has treated nofollow, sponsored and ugc as hints since September 2019, so it may still use some nofollow links for ranking and discovery.
- Relevance and real readers matter more than the attribute: a nofollow link from a busy industry site often beats a followed link from a site nobody visits.
- A natural link profile includes both followed and nofollow links. Avoiding nofollow links, or removing them, gains you nothing.
- On your own site, mark paid links as sponsored and user-submitted links as ugc, and use nofollow when you don't want to vouch for a page.
Who this guide is for, and how we wrote it#
This guide is for small and mid-sized businesses, marketers and site owners who keep seeing nofollow in their backlink reports and want to know whether those links count. It's based on Google's own documentation on qualifying outbound links and its link spam policies, plus the link review process we use with Uplift AI customers.
A quick disclosure: Uplift AI sells software that writes and publishes content, links pages internally, shares posts on social media and tracks backlinks. We don't sell links of any kind. The examples below are illustrations, not client results, and every factual claim about how Google handles links comes from Google's public guidance.
What is a nofollow link?#
A nofollow link is a hyperlink with the attribute rel="nofollow" in its HTML code, which tells search engines the site doesn't want to vouch for the linked page or pass ranking credit to it. To a visitor it looks and works exactly like any other link. The difference is only in the code.
Google introduced nofollow in 2005 to fight blog comment spam, when people were dropping links into comments purely to boost rankings. Today it's used much more widely. Wikipedia, Reddit, most social networks and many news publishers add nofollow or a similar value to outbound links by default.
- Followed link: <a href="https://example.com">. Passes ranking signals normally.
- Nofollow link: <a rel="nofollow" href="https://example.com">. The site doesn't vouch for the page.
- Sponsored link: <a rel="sponsored" href="https://example.com">. The link is an ad, a paid placement or an affiliate link.
- UGC link: <a rel="ugc" href="https://example.com">. The link sits in user-generated content such as comments or forum posts.
Do nofollow links help SEO in 2026?#
Nofollow links help SEO in 2026, but they help less directly than followed links. In September 2019, Google announced that nofollow, sponsored and ugc would all be treated as hints for ranking, and from March 2020 as hints for crawling and indexing too. That means Google may choose to count a nofollow link, though it won't say when.
In practice, don't count on a nofollow link to move rankings on its own. Count on what it brings: real visitors, people searching your brand name, journalists and bloggers who find you and link later, and a link profile that looks natural. Those effects are why nofollow links show up on the link profiles of most sites that rank well.
How do nofollow links help SEO indirectly?#
The indirect value of a nofollow link depends on how many real people see it. A nofollow link in a popular Reddit thread, a widely read news story or a Wikipedia citation can send steady traffic for years. Some of those visitors become customers, and some are writers who later cite you with a followed link.
Here's an illustrative example. A bakery's guide to sourdough starters gets a nofollow link from a busy cooking forum. The forum sends a few hundred visitors a month. Two food bloggers find the guide there and link to it in their own posts, this time with followed links. The forum link didn't pass ranking credit directly, but it started a chain that did.
- Referral traffic: visitors who click through, read and sometimes buy or subscribe.
- Brand searches: people who saw your name and search for it later, which can show up in Search Console.
- Follow-on links: writers who discover you through a nofollow link and cite you with a followed one.
- Faster discovery: links on busy pages can help search engines find new pages sooner, since nofollow is now a crawling hint rather than a block.
- AI visibility: AI assistants and AI Overviews read the text on a page, so a mention of your brand on a trusted site can be picked up whatever the link attribute says.
Nofollow vs dofollow links: what's the difference for SEO?#
The difference between nofollow and dofollow links is whether the linking site vouches for the page it links to. "Dofollow" isn't a real attribute. It's just the name people use for a normal link with no rel value that limits it. Followed links pass ranking signals by default, while nofollow links pass them only if Google decides to treat the hint that way.
Here's how the two compare on what matters for your site.
- Ranking credit: followed links pass it by default; nofollow links may pass a little at Google's discretion.
- Referral traffic: identical. Visitors can't tell the difference and click both the same way.
- Brand exposure: identical. Your name and link are just as visible.
- Crawling: followed links are crawled normally; nofollow is a hint that Google may or may not follow.
- Risk: followed links bought to pass ranking credit break Google's spam policies; nofollow and sponsored links don't.
- Typical sources: followed links come from editorial mentions and resource pages; nofollow links come from social media, forums, Wikipedia, comments and many news sites.
What's the difference between nofollow, sponsored and ugc?#
Nofollow, sponsored and ugc all tell Google not to treat a link as an endorsement, but each one explains why. Sponsored marks paid or affiliate links. Ugc marks links in user-generated content such as comments and forum posts. Nofollow covers any other case where you don't want to vouch for the page.
Google's documentation says you can combine values, such as rel="ugc nofollow", and that nofollow is still acceptable for paid links, though sponsored is preferred. You don't need to go back and change old nofollow links. For new links, picking the most accurate value helps Google understand them.
When is a nofollow link worth chasing?#
A nofollow link is worth chasing when the page has real readers who match your customers. Judge it the way you'd judge an advert: who will see it, and will they care? If the answer is "lots of the right people", the attribute barely matters.
A nofollow link is not worth chasing when the page has no readers. A nofollow link from an empty directory or a spammy comment section gives you nothing: no ranking credit, no traffic and no awareness.
- Worth it: a mention in an industry news story or trade publication.
- Worth it: a helpful answer in a busy Reddit thread or niche forum, posted within the community's rules.
- Worth it: a citation on Wikipedia, added by an editor because your page is a reliable source.
- Worth it: a guest appearance on a podcast or webinar page with a real audience.
- Not worth it: comment links, forum signatures and profile links on sites with no real activity.
- Not worth it: bulk directory submissions and "link packages" of any kind.
When should you add nofollow to your own links?#
Add nofollow, sponsored or ugc to your own links when you're not editorially vouching for the destination. That protects your site from looking like it sells ranking credit, which Google treats as link spam, and gives Google an honest picture of your links.
Don't add nofollow to links you genuinely recommend, and never to your own internal links. Internal links help search engines understand how your pages relate, and nofollowing them only hides that structure. An auto linking tool can keep internal links consistent across new and old posts.
- Paid placements, ads and sponsored posts: use rel="sponsored".
- Affiliate links: use rel="sponsored".
- Blog comments, forum posts and user reviews: use rel="ugc", often with nofollow too.
- Links to pages you mention but don't endorse: use rel="nofollow".
- Editorial links to sources you trust: leave them followed.
What matters more than whether a link is nofollow?#
Relevance, real readers and placement matter more than the attribute. A link inside the body of a relevant article, from a site your customers actually read, does more for you than any link in a footer, sidebar or profile page, followed or not.
The number to watch is referring domains from relevant sites, not the share of followed links. Our guide on how many backlinks you need to rank shows how to set a realistic target from the pages already ranking. You can track the links you earn, and see which pages they support, with Uplift's backlink tracking.
- Relevance: is the linking site about your topic or industry?
- Audience: does the page get real visitors who match your customers?
- Placement: is the link in the main content, near related text?
- Anchor text: is it natural, such as your brand name or a descriptive phrase?
- Trust: is the site a real publication with real authors, or a link farm?
Common mistakes people make with nofollow links#
The most common mistake is ignoring good nofollow opportunities because a tool shows them as "no value". Many SEO tools only score followed links, so a nofollow mention on a major news site can look like nothing in a report while it sends real customers.
The opposite mistake is chasing nofollow links in bulk. Hundreds of forum signatures or comment links won't help rankings or traffic, and they can make your link profile look manipulative.
- Asking a site to change nofollow to dofollow. It rarely works, it can damage the relationship, and for paid links it would break Google's spam policies.
- Disavowing nofollow links. There's no need, since they don't pass ranking credit in the way a disavow is meant to block.
- Nofollowing your own internal links to "save" link value. That idea, called PageRank sculpting, stopped working years ago.
- Buying "dofollow" guest posts because nofollow links seem worthless. Bought links meant to pass ranking credit are link spam.
How do you earn more useful links, nofollow or not?#
The most reliable way to earn useful links of both types is to publish pages people want to cite and make sure the right people see them. That means original data, clear guides, checklists and tools, shared where your audience already spends time.
Our AI blog writer plans, writes and publishes those pages after your approval, and social posting shares each one on your own channels. For community sites, our Reddit SEO playbook covers how to take part without breaking the rules. Plans start from $49/month for a limited time per website.
Final verdict: do nofollow links help SEO?#
Yes, nofollow links help SEO, mainly through the traffic, brand searches, AI mentions and follow-on links they create, and Google may count some of them directly now that nofollow is a hint. They won't replace followed links from relevant sites, so don't build a strategy on nofollow links alone. Don't ignore them either.
What actually matters in 2026 is simple: earn links from relevant sites your customers read, in the main content, with natural anchor text. Judge every link by its audience first and its attribute second. If you want help producing content worth linking to, see current plans.
Common questions#
Does Google count nofollow links?
Google may count nofollow links. Since September 2019, it treats nofollow as a hint rather than a directive, so it can choose to use some nofollow links for ranking, and since March 2020 for crawling and indexing too. Google doesn't say when it does this, so treat any direct ranking benefit as a bonus.
Are nofollow links bad for SEO?
Nofollow links aren't bad for SEO. They can't hurt you in normal amounts, and a natural link profile includes them, since sites like Wikipedia, Reddit and most social networks use nofollow by default. Only large volumes of spammy comment or forum links are a problem, and that's because of the spam, not the attribute.
What percentage of backlinks should be nofollow?
There's no ideal percentage of nofollow backlinks. The mix depends on your industry and where your links come from, and Google doesn't use a target ratio. Focus on earning links from relevant sites with real readers. If those links happen to be nofollow, they still bring traffic and awareness.
Are social media links nofollow?
Most social media links are nofollow or use a similar attribute, including links in posts and profiles on networks such as X, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. They rarely pass ranking credit, but they help people find your content, and some of those people may link to it from their own sites later.
Is a Wikipedia link good for SEO?
A Wikipedia link is good for visibility, even though Wikipedia makes outbound links nofollow. It can send steady traffic and signals that your page is a reliable source. Don't add links to Wikipedia yourself to promote your site, since editors remove promotional links quickly and it breaks Wikipedia's rules.
How do I check if a link is nofollow?
To check if a link is nofollow, right-click it in your browser, choose Inspect, and look for rel="nofollow", rel="sponsored" or rel="ugc" in the link's HTML. Most backlink tools also label each link as followed or nofollow, which is easier when you need to review many links at once.
Should I use nofollow for affiliate links?
Yes, mark affiliate links so Google knows they're commercial. Google prefers rel="sponsored" for affiliate and paid links, though rel="nofollow" is also acceptable. Leaving paid or affiliate links unmarked can look like selling ranking credit, which Google treats as link spam.
