Is there a correlation between nofollowed links and search rankings? Explore whether nofollow links can impact your website’s visibility in search.
“Nofollow” isn’t just a peculiar term SEO experts use to sound more mysterious. Nofollow is an HTML attribute that has been around for 14 years.
At its most basic, nofollow is a link attribute that instructs Google not to pass PageRank, so Google doesn’t even crawl nofollowed links.
You can control the nofollowing of any links on your website (whether those are to internal pages or external websites) with the simple addition of the nofollow attribute.
There are also nofollowed links that are out of your control—when another website links to you but has marked it up as a nofollowed link.
But is there any connection between nofollowed links and rankings?
It turns out there is a lot of confusion on this topic. Let’s get to the bottom of it all.
Nofollow Links Are A Ranking Factor
Do nofollow links provide any value?
Nofollow links aren’t just a superficial attribute. They serve as a mechanism to signal search engines to disregard spammy or low-quality links.
Consider nofollow links as a shield to safeguard your site from dubious tactics.
It appears like this in your source code:
<a href=”http://www.example.com/” rel=”nofollow”>Anchor Text</a>
But do nofollow links genuinely influence rankings?
The Evidence For Nofollow Links As A Ranking Factor
Google introduced the nofollow link attribute in 2005 to aid site owners in combating spam. If you engaged in link exchanges, Google required websites to incorporate the nofollow link attribute.
Failure to comply could result in Google penalizing you for link schemes if discovered.
This is when the nofollow links were introduced. The nofollow tag instructs search engines to disregard the destination URL.
Nofollow Links As A Ranking Signal: Our Rating
While links with a nofollow tag are no longer completely ignored, they do not transmit ranking signals.
Though it’s intriguing to note that nofollow links don’t directly impact your rankings, the subtle hints they provide to Google and other search engines are apparent.
Reading between the lines, these “hints” indicate that you can suggest to Google to nofollow a link, but the final decision often rests with Google in “some” cases.
Ultimately, in the majority of instances, your rankings will remain unaffected.
