What Is Nofollow?
Nofollow is an HTML link attribute that signals to search engines that a hyperlink should not pass PageRank or link equity to the destination. It is applied directly to individual anchor tags in the form rel="noopener". When Google's crawler encounters a nofollowed link, it historically treated that link as invisible for ranking purposes, meaning the linked page gained no authority benefit from the connection.
Google introduced nofollow in 2005 as a way to combat comment spam. Websites that allowed user comments were being flooded with links inserted by spammers hoping to gain SEO advantage. By marking user-submitted links with nofollow, site owners could accept comments without worrying about inadvertently endorsing unvetted content in the eyes of search engines.
In 2019, Google updated its treatment of nofollow, along with introducing two additional attributes. rel="sponsored" is now the recommended value for paid placements and affiliate links. rel="ugc" (user-generated content) is recommended for comments, forum posts, and other user contributions. Google reclassified all three as hints rather than strict directives, meaning it may choose to follow and use these links as weak signals in some circumstances.
From a practical SEO perspective, nofollow links still have value beyond PageRank. They drive referral traffic, contribute to brand visibility, and provide natural link profile diversity. A website that has only dofollow backlinks can appear suspicious to Google, as natural link profiles typically include a mix of followed and nofollowed links. South African businesses earning coverage in online news publications, directories, and social platforms will accumulate both types as part of a healthy backlink profile.
Nofollow In Practice
The scenario below is an illustrative example, not a Juicy Designs client result. The details show how nofollow, ugc and sponsored attribute work is typically applied, so treat them as indicative rather than measured.
Picture a Cape Town food blog that allows readers to leave comments. To prevent comment spammers from gaining ranking benefit by inserting links into the comment section, all commenter-supplied URLs would be automatically tagged with rel="ugc". This protects the blog's authority without requiring manual review of every link submitted.
Imagine the same blog also has a partnership with a restaurant booking platform and includes sponsored links in several articles. Those links should be tagged rel="sponsored" in line with Google's guidelines. Failing to tag sponsored links correctly is a violation of Google's Webmaster Guidelines and can result in a manual link scheme penalty, which would require a reconsideration request to recover from. Proper use of nofollow and sponsored attributes protects both the linking site and the linked site from policy violations.
What nofollow means
Nofollow is a link attribute (rel="nofollow") that tells search engines the linking site does not necessarily endorse the linked page and, traditionally, does not want to pass ranking credit (link equity) to it. It was introduced so that sites could link to pages without vouching for them, originally to combat comment spam and to mark links the site did not want to be seen as endorsing. A normal (followed) link passes some ranking signal to its target, a vote of confidence that contributes to the target's authority; a nofollowed link signals that the endorsement should not be assumed and, historically, that ranking credit should not flow. Nofollow is commonly used on links a site cannot vouch for or that are not editorial endorsements, such as user-generated content (comments, forum posts), and it is closely associated with paid and sponsored links, which should not pass ranking credit to avoid manipulating search results. Google later introduced more specific attributes, rel="sponsored" for paid or sponsored links and rel="ugc" for user-generated content, alongside the general rel="nofollow", to let sites label links more precisely. Nofollow matters in SEO because it governs whether a link is treated as passing endorsement and ranking credit, which affects both how a site manages its outbound links and how backlinks to it are valued.
Using nofollow correctly
Using nofollow (and its related attributes) correctly is part of sound link hygiene and staying within search-engine guidelines. The core cases for marking a link nofollow (or sponsored/ugc) are paid and sponsored links, which must not pass ranking credit, since passing credit through paid links to manipulate rankings breaches Google's guidelines and can incur penalties, so any link you are paid for, or that is part of an advertising or sponsorship arrangement, should carry the sponsored (or nofollow) attribute; user-generated content links, such as blog comments and forum posts, which a site cannot vouch for, appropriately marked ugc or nofollow; and links you wish to include without implying endorsement or passing credit. Google's more specific attributes let you label the reason, sponsored for paid, ugc for user-generated, and nofollow generally, and using the accurate one is good practice, though nofollow remains valid. An important nuance is that Google now treats nofollow (and the related attributes) as a hint rather than a strict directive for ranking and indexing purposes, meaning it may consider such links as signals rather than absolutely ignoring them, but the attributes still correctly communicate the nature of the link and remain the right way to mark paid and non-editorial links. For a site's own SEO, over-nofollowing genuine editorial links needlessly withholds signal, while failing to nofollow paid links risks a guidelines breach, so the discipline is to nofollow (or mark sponsored/ugc) the links that genuinely should not pass endorsement, chiefly paid and user-generated ones, and to leave genuine editorial links followed, which keeps a site's linking both compliant and useful.
FAQ
Does Google ignore nofollow links completely?
Not completely. Google updated its treatment of nofollow in 2019, reclassifying it as a hint rather than a strict directive. Google may still crawl a nofollowed link and use it as a weak signal when the destination page has many such hints pointing to it. For most practical purposes, nofollow links do not pass significant PageRank, but they are not invisible to Google either.
Should South African businesses nofollow all paid links?
Yes. Google's guidelines require that paid links, sponsored content, and affiliate links be tagged with rel="sponsored" or rel="noopener". Failure to do so can result in a manual penalty against your site. The sponsored attribute is preferred for paid placements as it provides clearer signal to Google, while nofollow remains appropriate for untrusted user-generated content and general disclaimers.