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Marketing Glossary· NOFOLLOW

What is a Nofollow Link?

By Nikhil Sharma · Updated 1 November 2026 · Marketing Glossary
Definition

Nofollow Link is a hyperlink carrying a rel="nofollow" attribute, which tells search engines not to pass ranking credit (link equity) to the destination.

Nofollow vs dofollow

A normal (‘dofollow’) link passes authority — a vote that can help the destination rank. A nofollow link tells search engines not to pass that credit. Google now treats nofollow as a hint rather than a strict rule, and also uses sponsored (paid) and ugc (user-generated) variants.

When to use nofollow

  • Paid or sponsored links (use rel="sponsored").
  • User-generated content like comments (rel="ugc").
  • Untrusted or irrelevant external links.
  • Links you don't want to vouch for.

Why it matters

Nofollow helps you avoid passing authority to pages you don't endorse and stay compliant (paid links must not pass link equity). For earning authority, you generally want followed editorial backlinks — though nofollow links from big sites still bring traffic and brand exposure.

Related terms
BacklinkAnchor TextDomain AuthoritySEOE-E-A-T
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Written & reviewed by Nikhil Sharma
Founder, Fabulous Media
Nikhil has led growth for 850+ brands across 35 nations since 2008. Fabulous Media is an invitation-only growth agency that reports on pipeline and revenue, not vanity metrics. Meet the team · Request an invite.

Questions, answered

A dofollow link passes ranking credit to the destination; a nofollow link, via rel="nofollow", tells search engines not to pass that credit. Google now treats nofollow as a hint rather than a strict directive.

For paid or sponsored links (rel="sponsored"), user-generated content such as comments (rel="ugc"), and untrusted or irrelevant external links you do not want to vouch for.

They generally do not pass ranking credit, but nofollow links from reputable sites still drive referral traffic and brand exposure, and a natural backlink profile includes both followed and nofollow links.

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