A dofollow link passes PageRank to the destination; a nofollow link carries rel="nofollow" in the HTML and signals to Google that you are not vouching for the target page. That distinction matters for every link in your backlink profile, because the mix of dofollow, nofollow, sponsored, and ugc links is data you need during any serious backlink audit. Since September 2019, Google has treated all three rel attributes (nofollow, sponsored, ugc) as hints rather than strict directives for ranking; the same shift for crawling and indexing followed on March 1, 2020. This guide covers what each attribute means, when to apply it, and how to read the rel values in your own link profile.
What “Dofollow” Actually Means in HTML
The term “dofollow” is not an HTML attribute. It is shorthand for the absence of any qualifying rel value. A standard anchor tag with no rel attribute is what SEOs call a dofollow link:
<a href="https://example.com">Anchor text</a>Google treats this as an editorial endorsement. PageRank can flow from the linking page to the destination, and the link may influence rankings for the target URL. When you earn an unqualified link from an authoritative site, that is what you got.
Because dofollow is the default, it does not appear in a backlink export as a tag you can filter on. In tools like Ahrefs or Semrush, these links appear without a nofollow label. In Google Search Console’s link export, there is no attribute column at all, which is one reason many SEOs pull their backlink data into a dedicated tool to see the full attribute breakdown.
The Four Link Attribute States
| Attribute | HTML Example | What It Signals | Passes PageRank? |
|---|---|---|---|
| None (dofollow) | <a href="..."> | Editorial endorsement | Yes (by default) |
rel="nofollow" | <a href="..." rel="nofollow"> | No endorsement; general catch-all | Treated as a hint |
rel="sponsored" | <a href="..." rel="sponsored"> | Paid placement, affiliate, or sponsorship | Treated as a hint |
rel="ugc" | <a href="..." rel="ugc"> | User-generated content (comments, forums) | Treated as a hint |
You can combine values: rel="nofollow ugc" is valid if you want backward compatibility with older systems that only parse nofollow, while also signaling that the link is user-generated.
How nofollow, sponsored, and ugc Work as Hints (Not Directives)
This is where most articles on this topic get the details wrong.
In September 2019, Google announced two new link attributes, rel="sponsored" and rel="ugc", and changed how all three rel values function. As Google stated in its September 2019 announcement: “All the link attributes — sponsored, ugc, and nofollow — now work today as hints for ranking purposes.”
For crawling and indexing specifically, the shift to treating nofollow as a hint took effect on March 1, 2020. Before that date, nofollow was a directive: Googlebot would not follow the link. After March 2020, Googlebot may choose to crawl a nofollowed URL if it considers crawling worthwhile, though it still typically uses the nofollow signal to deprioritize those links for ranking.
The practical consequence: a rel="nofollow" does not guarantee zero PageRank transfer in every case. Google uses these attributes as signals alongside hundreds of other signals. That said, in practice, qualifying paid and user-generated links with the appropriate rel attribute remains Google’s requirement, and failing to do so on paid links is a spam policy violation. Google’s Spam Policies list selling links that pass PageRank as link spam.
When to Use Each Attribute
rel=”nofollow”
Use nofollow when you link to a page but do not want to imply endorsement and when neither sponsored nor ugc is the more accurate description. Typical cases: links to sources you are citing but are skeptical of, links to login or registration pages, or links added for editorial context without constituting a recommendation.
<a href="https://example.com/untrusted-source" rel="nofollow">source</a>Google’s Qualify Outbound Links documentation notes you should also use nofollow (or sponsored) when you “were paid in some way for the link.”
rel=”sponsored”
Use sponsored for any link that exists because money changed hands: affiliate links, sponsored content, paid placements, and any link included as part of a compensation arrangement. Sponsored is the more specific attribute for paid links; nofollow was originally the catch-all for this, and it still works, but sponsored communicates the nature of the link more precisely.
<a href="https://affiliate.example.com/product" rel="sponsored">Product name</a>Google’s 2021 reminder on link tagging and their December 2022 link spam update both reinforced that untagged affiliate and sponsored links are targets for algorithmic and manual action.
rel=”ugc”
Use ugc for links inserted by users rather than by you or your editorial team: forum posts, blog comments, wiki contributions, and community-generated content. The attribute communicates that you did not editorially choose the link.
<a href="https://example.com/user-shared-url" rel="ugc">Link text</a>WordPress added automatic ugc attribution to comment links in version 5.3, which accounts for most of the ugc adoption seen across the web. As of 2020, Ahrefs’ research found that fewer than 1% of domains used ugc, primarily because WordPress added it automatically rather than because site owners were setting it deliberately.
Do Nofollow Links Help SEO?
Nofollow links do not pass PageRank in the traditional sense, but they are not worthless. They still send referral traffic, keep your backlink profile looking natural (a profile of only dofollow links is itself a red flag), and can help Googlebot discover new pages. They are less valuable than dofollow links for direct ranking influence, so chasing them as a primary strategy is inefficient, but refusing them from high-traffic, relevant publications is a mistake too.
For the full evidence-based breakdown, including what the 2019 and 2020 changes actually mean and what a natural dofollow-to-nofollow ratio looks like, see do nofollow links help SEO?.
Why the Attribute Mix in Your Backlink Profile Matters
When auditing an existing backlink profile, the ratio of dofollow to nofollow links is one of the first things to check, but the ratio alone does not tell you much. The questions that actually matter during a backlink audit are:
- Are paid links properly tagged as sponsored or nofollow? Untagged paid links are a spam risk.
- Are any links that should be dofollow showing up as nofollow due to a site configuration error? Some CMS platforms or plugins nofollows all outbound links by default.
- Are any links flagged as sponsored or ugc in your export but linking to your site without your involvement? That could indicate a placement issue or an error in how the linking site applied the attribute.
- Is the overall ratio plausible for your site’s history? A profile that is 95% dofollow from link-building-heavy tactics with almost no nofollow presence from normal mentions can look manipulated.
How to Check the rel Value of a Specific Link
Browser inspection. Right-click the link on the page, choose “Inspect” (or “Inspect Element”), and look at the <a> tag in the Elements panel. If you see rel="nofollow", rel="sponsored", or rel="ugc", the attribute is there. No rel attribute means dofollow.
Backlink tool exports. Ahrefs, Semrush, and Moz all show the rel attribute alongside each referring link in their backlinks reports. Filter by nofollow to isolate those links. In Ahrefs’ Site Explorer, the Backlinks report has a “Link type” column that distinguishes dofollow, nofollow, and redirect links.
BacklinkTower’s classifier. If you have a backlink export from Ahrefs, Semrush, or GSC, you can drop it into BacklinkTower’s classifier to get a breakdown of dofollow, nofollow, sponsored, and ugc links across your full profile, including anchor-text distribution by attribute type.
Bulk check. For large exports, filtering programmatically on the type or follow column in a spreadsheet is faster than inspecting links one by one in a browser.
Common Misconceptions
“Nofollow means the link is not counted.” Not since March 2020. Google treats nofollow as a hint. The link may or may not influence rankings depending on Google’s assessment of the overall signals.
“I should nofollow all outbound links to preserve PageRank.” This was a practice called PageRank sculpting that SEOs experimented with in the late 2000s. Google confirmed it does not work the way practitioners assumed and using nofollow excessively on internal or outbound links does not give your other pages more PageRank.
“Nofollow links are the same as noindex.” They are different attributes with different purposes. rel="nofollow" goes on the <a> tag and affects how the link itself is treated. noindex goes in a meta robots tag or HTTP header and tells search engines not to include the target page in their index. A nofollowed link can still point to an indexed page.
“I need to switch all my old nofollow sponsored links to rel=’sponsored’.” Google has said explicitly there is no need to change existing nofollow links on paid placements. Nofollow continues to work for that purpose. Switching to sponsored where you add new paid links is a good practice, but a retroactive migration across thousands of links is not necessary.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do nofollow links help with SEO rankings?
Nofollow links do not pass PageRank directly, so they do not help rankings in the same way dofollow links do. They still provide referral traffic, contribute to a natural-looking link profile, and can help with content discovery and indexation. The practical advice: accept nofollow links from relevant, high-traffic sources; do not make them a primary outreach target.
Is a dofollow link always better than a nofollow link?
For direct ranking influence, yes. For overall link profile health, the answer is more nuanced. A single dofollow link from a high-authority, relevant site is more valuable for rankings than ten nofollow links from the same site. But a profile that is exclusively dofollow, with no nofollow links from press, Wikipedia, forums, or other natural sources, can look like a manipulated profile to Google.
When should I use rel=”sponsored” instead of rel=”nofollow” for paid links?
Use rel="sponsored" for any link created as part of a compensation arrangement: affiliate links, paid placements, sponsored posts, and advertising. Nofollow still works for paid links and Google accepts both. Sponsored is simply the more specific signal and communicates the link’s commercial nature more clearly. If you are unsure which to use, sponsored is the better choice for any paid or affiliate link.
Does Google still respect nofollow in 2026?
Yes, but as a hint rather than a directive since March 1, 2020. Google may choose to crawl and even credit nofollowed links in some cases, but it still uses the nofollow signal to deprioritize those links for ranking purposes. You should continue to use nofollow (or sponsored) on paid links; failing to qualify paid links remains a violation of Google’s spam policies.
How do I check whether a backlink to my site is dofollow or nofollow?
Three methods work depending on your situation. For a single link: right-click it in a browser, choose Inspect, and look at the <a> tag for a rel attribute. For a batch of links: use Ahrefs Site Explorer, Semrush’s Backlink Analytics, or Moz’s Link Explorer, all of which show the link type per referring link. For a full profile export: drop your GSC, Ahrefs, or Semrush export into BacklinkTower’s classifier to get a complete attribute breakdown across your profile.
What is the difference between nofollow and noindex?
These are separate attributes that control different things. rel="nofollow" is placed on an <a> tag and tells Google not to treat the link as an editorial endorsement (or more accurately since 2020, to treat it as a hint). noindex is a meta robots directive placed on the linked page itself, telling Google not to include that page in its search index. A nofollowed link can point to a fully indexed page, and a nofollowed page can still receive dofollow links from other sites.
Should I nofollow all my outbound links to keep PageRank on my own site?
No. The practice known as PageRank sculpting (using nofollow on outbound links to redirect more PageRank to internal pages) was tested by SEOs in the 2000s and Google confirmed it does not work as intended. Excessive nofollow on outbound links looks unnatural and does not benefit your rankings. Use nofollow only when it accurately describes the link’s relationship: paid placement, ugc, or a link you do not wish to endorse.
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