In the world of SEO and link building, understanding NoFollow and Follow tags is crucial for optimising your website’s authority, managing link equity, and protecting your rankings.
But what do these tags do, and how do they impact Google’s crawlers and your SEO strategy?
This guide breaks down the importance of NoFollow and Follow links, when to use them, and how they impact your site’s ranking in 2024.
Google’s web crawlers (Googlebot) continuously scan the internet, following links to index web pages. They use this data to determine:
✔ Which pages should be ranked higher in search results.
✔ How different pages connect within a website and across the web.
✔ Which pages gain credibility from authoritative backlinks.
But not all links are treated equally. This is where NoFollow and Follow tags come into play.
✅ Follow links (also called "DoFollow" links) are the default type of hyperlink.
✔ They pass "link juice" (SEO value) to the linked page.
✔ They help search engines determine a page's credibility.
✔ They increase the authority of the destination page.
<a href="https://example.com">Visit Example</a>
By default, all links are Follow links unless otherwise specified.
✔ When linking to trusted, relevant sources.
✔ When directing users to authoritative content.
✔ When linking internally between your own high-value pages.
💡 Pro Tip: High-quality backlinks from authoritative sites significantly improve your search rankings.
🚫 NoFollow links contain an HTML attribute that tells search engines not to pass authority (link juice) to the linked page.
<a href="https://example.com" rel="nofollow">Visit Example</a>
✅ Google introduced NoFollow tags in 2005 to fight spam and control link manipulation.
✔ Sponsored or paid links (Google requires NoFollow for paid ads).
✔ User-generated content (UGC) or blog comments (prevents spam).
✔ Untrusted or irrelevant sources (prevents accidental SEO benefits).
✔ Affiliate links (to comply with Google's guidelines).
💡 Pro Tip: Google introduced rel="sponsored" and rel="ugc" in 2019 to better classify NoFollow links.
✔ Increase domain authority when linked from high-quality sites.
✔ Improve keyword rankings in search results.
✔ Help Google discover and index new pages faster.
🚫 Do not pass link juice (SEO value).
🚫 Do not boost page authority.
🚫 Do not influence Google’s ranking algorithm directly.
✅ They drive organic referral traffic.
✅ They help build brand awareness.
✅ They prevent spam penalties and link manipulation issues.
💡 Pro Tip: A natural backlink profile should include both Follow and NoFollow links for SEO credibility.
1️⃣ Right-click the link and select "Inspect".
2️⃣ Look for the rel="nofollow" attribute.
3️⃣ If it's missing, the link is a Follow link by default.
✔ Ahrefs
✔ SEMrush
✔ Moz Link Explorer
These tools help analyse backlinks and determine whether they pass SEO value.
💡 Pro Tip: A balanced mix of NoFollow and Follow links maintains SEO integrity and prevents penalties.
❌ "NoFollow links are useless."
✅ False. They still drive traffic, increase visibility, and diversify your backlink profile.
❌ "NoFollow links don't get indexed by Google."
✅ False. Google can still crawl NoFollow links, but they won't pass ranking signals.
❌ "All external links should be NoFollow."
✅ False. If the link is to a trusted, relevant source, it should be Followed.
✔ SEO-optimised link-building strategies.
✔ Technical SEO audits to fix link issues.
✔ Building high-quality backlinks to improve rankings.
✔ Implementing NoFollow and Follow links for best practices.
📞 Want to Improve Your SEO Rankings?
💡 Book a FREE SEO Strategy Call – Call 1300 088 544 or email info@hesk.com.au today! 🚀 Get More Traffic, Better Rankings & Stronger SEO with HESK Digital.
