Do nofollow links help SEO? Link builders tend to answer with a flat no and discard any placement that carries the attribute. That is half right. A nofollow link does not move rankings the way a followed editorial link does. But treating it as worthless ignores where it sends people and what those people do next, and since 2019 the attribute has not been the absolute it once was.
Do nofollow links help SEO directly?
The baseline comes from Joshua Hardwick’s guide “Nofollow vs. Follow Links” on the Ahrefs blog, updated 29 November 2020: Google does not transfer PageRank or anchor text across nofollow links. Whatever authority the linking page has, it is not handed on, and the words in the anchor do not tell Google what your page is about.
That settles the direct question. If the only reason you want a link is the ranking signal, a nofollow link will not deliver it, and paying for one on that basis is money spent on the wrong thing.
The difference between dofollow and nofollow links
“Dofollow” is not an attribute. It is shorthand for a link with no qualifying rel value, which is the default. What matters is the rel value on the links that are qualified, and there are now three. Google’s current documentation sets them out:
| Attribute | Google says to use it for |
|---|---|
| No rel value (“dofollow”) | Editorial links you vouch for; the default |
rel="sponsored" | Ads and paid placements |
rel="ugc" | User-generated content such as comments and forum posts |
rel="nofollow" | Cases where the other values don’t apply |
Google says links with these attributes “will generally not be followed”. For paid links, “sponsored” is preferred, though nofollow “is still an acceptable way to flag them”.
Hints, not commands
In 2019 Google began treating these attributes as hints. The practical reading is modest: the attribute is a strong signal of how you want the link treated, not a wall, and Google may weigh it alongside other signals. It does not mean nofollow links now pass full value. Anyone claiming a precise weight is guessing, because Google has not published one.
Are nofollow links good for SEO indirectly?
This is where the flat no goes wrong. The Ahrefs guide sets out three indirect benefits, and each is a reason not to turn down a relevant nofollow link:
- Referral traffic. A nofollow link on a busy page sends real visitors. They read, sign up and buy regardless of the attribute.
- Followed links that follow. Some of those visitors run sites of their own. A journalist who finds you through a cited source may link to you properly in their next piece.
- A natural profile. Real link profiles include nofollow links from forums, comments and social platforms. A profile made entirely of followed editorial links is the unusual one.
The first benefit is the one to measure. Check referral traffic in your analytics by source. A nofollow link that sends steady, engaged visitors is doing more for the business than many followed links from pages nobody reads.
The nofollow links most worth having tend to come from taking part rather than asking. A useful answer in a forum thread, a resource cited in a widely read article, a mention in a community round-up: each carries the attribute, and each puts you in front of people already interested in the subject. Dropping links into comment sections does the opposite. It sends no one, carries ugc anyway, and looks like what it is.
A nofollow link on a page people read beats a followed link on a page nobody visits.
When you should use nofollow on your own links
The attribute matters as much on your outbound links as on your inbound ones. Ahrefs notes that marking paid links with nofollow avoids penalties, and Google’s documentation now prefers sponsored for them. Any link that exists because money, a product or a favour changed hands should carry one of those values.
Comments and forum posts should carry ugc, so that a spammer’s link does not borrow your site’s standing. Ordinary editorial links to sources you cite should carry nothing at all. Marking every outbound link nofollow out of caution tells Google you do not vouch for your own references, which is an odd signal for a site that wants to be trusted.
Checking which attribute a link carries takes seconds. Inspect the anchor in your browser’s developer tools and read the rel value, or use an extension that highlights qualified links on the page. Do it before you report a placement as won, and again a few months later: publishers change their link policies, and a link that was followed when it went live can quietly gain a nofollow, or a sponsored value, in a later template update.
A common case is the large publisher that applies nofollow to every outbound link by default. A mention there still has value: it is a citation in front of a big audience, and it is often the kind of mention that other writers find and link to properly.
How to weigh a nofollow link in outreach
When you assess a placement, start with the page, not the attribute. Is it relevant? Does it get visitors? Would a reader click through to you? A yes to all three makes a nofollow link worth having. A followed link on an irrelevant page with no traffic is worth less than it looks, whatever the authority score says; our post on whether domain rating matters explains why.
To find pages that do have readers, the database explorer lets you filter a niche by estimated organic traffic rather than authority alone, which is the check that tells you whether a placement can send referral visits at all. Our guide to guest post targets with real traffic covers the rest of that process, and the guest post sites hub gathers it together.
The limitation: no public source measures how much indirect value a nofollow link produces, and the effect varies with the page. Referral traffic is measurable; the followed links it later earns are hard to attribute, and the weight Google gives a hint is not disclosed. You are making a judgement, not a calculation.
The judgement is still easy in most cases. Take relevant nofollow links from pages with readers, do not pay for them as if they pass authority, and label your own paid and user-generated links correctly. More on this side of the work is in the link building archive.
Frequently asked questions
Do nofollow links pass PageRank?
No. According to Ahrefs, Google does not transfer PageRank or anchor text across nofollow links. Their value is indirect.
What is the difference between dofollow and nofollow links?
A “dofollow” link has no qualifying rel value and is treated as an editorial link. A nofollow link carries rel=”nofollow”, and Google says such links will generally not be followed.
Should I use nofollow or sponsored for paid links?
Google prefers rel=”sponsored” for paid links, but says nofollow is still an acceptable way to flag them.
Are nofollow links worth building?
On relevant pages with real readers, yes, for the referral traffic and the followed links that can follow. Not as a ranking signal on their own.
The takeaway Nofollow links do not pass ranking signals, but they pass visitors. Judge a placement by its readers, and label your own paid and user-generated links correctly.
