The NOFOLLOW attribute prevents a link from passing direct PageRank or ranking endorsement to the destination. While originally introduced in 2005 as a strict directive, Google now treats NOFOLLOW as a **hint** starting in March 2020, meaning search engines may still use it for crawling, indexing, and understanding web context—even if it doesn’t pass PageRank like a standard follow link[2][7][9].
NOFOLLOW is commonly applied to user-generated content (e.g., blog comments), sponsored links, affiliate URLs, and checkout flows to avoid endorsing untrusted or commercial content[1][2].
To implement NOFOLLOW on a link, add rel="nofollow" inside the <a> tag:
anchor text
NOFOLLOW can also be used within a robots meta tag to prevent search engines from counting outbound links on a page. Example code:
Google’s Matt Cutts has long recommended using NOFOLLOW on paid or affiliate links to maintain link integrity. However, given Google’s role as the world’s largest link broker, its guidance on link buying/selling should be weighed carefully[2]. Avoid excessive link hoarding, as unnatural patterns can reduce relevancy scores. Conversely, strategic outbound links can boost your content’s relevance and discovery potential in modern search systems[1][3][6].
In 2026, SEO best practices emphasize contextual internal linking, regular audits, and the use of NOFOLLOW only where appropriate—such as for UGC, sponsored content, or non-endorsed references—while keeping internal links as follow unless controlled by robots meta tags or noindex directives[1][2][7].