Nofollow and Follow Links SEO Moz Case Study
Nofollow and follow links are outbound or inbound links marked to signal whether search engines should treat them as endorsement-bearing links or as links with restricted ranking credit.
Start here
- Audit your link profile to understand your follow/nofollow ratio.
- Use nofollow for paid or untrusted links; use follow for editorial endorsements.
- Don't ignore nofollow links—they can still bring traffic and visibility.
- Aim for a natural mix: too many follow links looks spammy.
- Always use relevant, natural anchor text.
Here's what I'd do first, and what I wish someone had told me earlier.
What I'd do first
- Audit your current link profile using a Backlink Checker to see the ratio of follow to nofollow links.
- For any paid or sponsored links, add
rel="nofollow"orrel="sponsored"immediately. - Don't strip nofollow links from your strategy—they can still drive referral traffic and brand awareness.
- Aim for a natural mix: most links should be follow, but a healthy number of nofollow links from relevant sites is a good sign.
- Use descriptive, natural anchor text—avoid stuffing keywords.
Plain-English take
Think of a follow link as a vote of confidence: Google sees it and says, 'This site trusts that link enough to pass along some ranking power.' A nofollow link is more like a mention without the vote—Google knows the link exists, but it doesn't count toward rankings. That said, since 2020, Google treats nofollow as a hint, not a command. So sometimes it might still use that link for discovery or even ranking. The key takeaway? Both types matter, just in different ways.
When it actually matters
- Building backlinks: You want mostly follow links from authoritative, relevant sites, but a few nofollow links from high-traffic sources can still bring visitors.
- Outbound links: If you're linking to a site you don't fully trust, or if you're paid to link, use nofollow to avoid passing equity.
- User-generated content: Comments or forum posts should use
rel="ugc"orrel="nofollow"to prevent spam. - Link profile audits: A profile with 100% follow links looks unnatural—Google expects some nofollow links.
What I got wrong
- I used to think nofollow links were completely worthless. I'd ignore them in outreach and even remove them from my site. Big mistake. They can still drive traffic and build brand visibility.
- I also applied nofollow to every outbound link without thinking. Now I only use it for paid, untrusted, or policy-sensitive links.
- I assumed nofollow was a hard block. After Google's 2020 update, it's more of a suggestion—so don't rely on it to completely hide links from Google.
Next step
Sources
Primary documentation is linked directly. Anything commercial is marked nofollow.
- Google Search Central — Primary guidance on nofollow, sponsored, and UGC link attributes.
- Moz - The Beginner's Guide to SEO: Link Building — Explains earned links, relevance, anchor text, and maintaining a healthy mix.
- Moz - How Google's rel="nofollow", sponsored, and UGC links work — Summarizes Google's shift from strict nofollow handling to hints.
- Moz - The Hidden Power of Nofollow Links — Explains indirect value such as traffic, visibility, and audience growth.
- Moz - Link Building Case Studies — Relevant for outreach-driven link acquisition examples.
Notes from Callum Bennett.