Glossary · Glossary
Nofollow
Nofollow is a link relationship value that qualifies a link without making the linked page private or removed from search.
Nofollow is a link relationship value that qualifies a link so it is not treated as a normal endorsement. It is commonly written as rel="nofollow" on an anchor element, and it can also appear inside broader robots directives.
In modern SEO, nofollow sits next to sponsored and ugc. These relationship values help publishers label links that are paid, user-generated, untrusted, or intentionally not endorsed.
Why it matters
Links carry context. A normal link can help users move to a useful source and can also provide search systems with relationship signals. Nofollow gives publishers a way to link without making the same kind of endorsement.
This matters for outbound source links, comments, community content, sponsored references, and editorial policies. It also matters for glossary readers because nofollow is often confused with noindex, privacy, or access control.
How it differs
A normal link does not need a rel value. Dofollow is the informal SEO label for that ordinary link pattern.
Nofollow qualifies the link relationship. sponsored identifies paid or compensated links. ugc identifies user-generated content links. Noindex is different: it asks search engines not to include an accessible page in search results.
Examples
A basic nofollow link:
<a href="https://example.com/source" rel="nofollow">external source</a>A user-generated link can combine values:
<a href="https://example.com/comment-link" rel="ugc nofollow">community reference</a>The link remains visible and clickable. The relationship value only qualifies how the publisher wants the link to be interpreted.
How teams use it
Teams use nofollow in link governance, comment systems, untrusted submissions, legacy sponsored-link handling, and editorial review. A practical review asks:
- Is this link a normal editorial reference?
- Is it paid or compensated and better labeled
sponsored? - Was it added by users and better labeled
ugc? - Does the team want to link without implying endorsement?
- Is someone mistakenly using nofollow when they actually mean noindex?
Common misunderstanding
Nofollow does not make a page private, does not block the linked page from being crawled from other paths, and does not guarantee that a URL cannot appear in search. It is a link relationship signal, not a page-removal mechanism.
Read next
Use these glossary paths to move from the definition into adjacent concepts, topic clusters, and operator guides.