There’s so much talk about where to use nofollow links in the blogging world. I didn’t really realize it when I first got started blogging, since it’s not something we generally worried about at my day job doing SEO. It’s not typically a penalty I see, and it’s not typically a strategy that the companies I work with need. So when I got started blogging, I was more than a little surprised to see all the talk about nofollows, and decided to put together a guide on what they are, what they do, and when to use them.
What’s the difference between nofollow links and dofollow links?
A dofollow link is the default. When you make a hyperlink to another page, it’s automatically a dofollow. It passes search authority and page authority (sometimes called “link juice”) to the linked page, and is something of an endorsement for that page. I only want to link to sites that I trust and want to send my readers to. These links would be dofollows.
A nofollow link is a link with an attribute (the nofollow attribute) that tells search engines like Google not to pass authority to that page. Nofollows used to be used to sculpt a page’s PageRank, but PR is dead, so it doesn’t matter anymore (what matters more is page and domain trust). That said, if I put a link on my website to a spammy website, I’d put a nofollow attribute on it, because I don’t want search engines to think I’m endorsing that site.
What do nofollow attributes do?
Google has this to say about nofollows.
Essentially, using nofollow causes us to drop the target links from our overall graph of the web. However, the target pages may still appear in our index if other sites link to them without using nofollow, or if the URLs are submitted to Google in a Sitemap. Also, it’s important to note that other search engines may handle nofollow in slightly different ways.
Where should you use nofollow attributes?
Untrusted content: Comments on your blog are a good example of this. You don’t always know who these people are, and most systems automatically add a dofollow attribute to those links. Lots of spam on the internet is from comments. You don’t want that associated with your website.
Paid links: Text ads, image ads, sponsored content should all have nofollow attributes. If a company asks for a dofollow link, tell them no. Do not charge for dofollow links, as that’s directly against Google’s terms of service. If they give you shit, tell them they’re still getting their name in front of customers, and that’s what matters.
Link farms: You know those arrangements where folks say “link to me and i’ll link to you”? Big no-no. You shouldn’t do it at all, but if you do, make sure to nofollow. But I’m telling you not to do it, so don’t blame me if you get penalized! Same goes for automatic link creation tools, like widgets. Avoid, avoid, avoid!
Crawl prioritization: If you’re so inclined, putting a nofollow on links where search engines can’t get to anyway (like a sign in option or register button) isn’t a bad idea in order to preserve your crawl budget. But honestly, most sites won’t have an issue with crawl budget, and a good, intuitive site architecture is more likely to send clearer signals about what’s important and what’s not to search engines.
When should you use dofollow links?
Natural reference in your blog: If I’m writing about my favorite lubes and want to link to Lilly’s guide on different kinds of lube, that’s totally fine, and doesn’t need a nofollow. It’s natural, it’s useful for my readers, and that’s all that matters to search engines.
Images: Image search is important, so make sure images on your site, be they internal links to self-hosted images or offsite images to another company or manufacturer, make sure they’re dofollow, unless it’s part of paid content.
Any internal links: If you’re linking to yourself, keep the link as a dofollow. Internal links are a great way to make sure all your pages are getting crawled and indexed.
Overall, this can sound scary. Penalizations and losing traffic are scary and difficult for a lot of us. It can mean losing income. If you’re really worried, you can check and see if you have a penalty in Google Search Console, or with a tool like this. But all in all, you’re not likely to get penalized unless you have paid links or sponsored content that’s not nofollowed on a massive, massive scale, like when RapGenius fucked up. Many blogs, even heavy hitters who have been around for years, probably don’t have the volume to trigger an automatic action from Google. Of course it’s possible, but not likely. Google has bigger fish to fry. Keep your sights set on creating useful, creative, original content, and if a dofollow link fits naturally, include it.