Various tags are used on websites to control how search engines crawl them. Among these tags is ‘nofollow’. The nofollow tag is primarily used when there are pages or links that you do not want to be crawled.

In this article, we will discuss the specifics of the nofollow tag, how to use it, and how to set it up.

What is nofollow?

The nofollow tag is a meta tag used when you want to deny crawling of irrelevant links within your site or when you want to refuse crawling altogether. It’s mainly used as a measure against spam, telling Google not to establish a relationship with the link by including ‘rel=”nofollow”‘ in the link to prevent it from being crawled.

Backlinks from external sites to your own site are critical information that can significantly influence your site’s evaluation. Paid links or spam attacks from external sources could potentially lead to penalties from Google, so it’s necessary to appropriately use rel=”nofollow” to manage external links.

The Differences Between ‘nofollow’ and ‘noindex’

There is a tag similar to ‘nofollow’ called ‘noindex’. What are the differences between ‘nofollow’ and ‘noindex’?

‘noindex’ is a tag used to refuse indexing of a page. By setting the noindex tag on a page, it prevents that page from appearing in the search results of Google, Yahoo!, and other search engines.

On the other hand, the ‘nofollow’ tag is used to refuse crawling of link destinations. While noindex tags still allow crawling, they do not permit indexing. Both nofollow and noindex have benefits for enhancing SEO effectiveness.

How to Use nofollow

When should the nofollow tag actually be used? Here are some scenarios where ‘nofollow’ is commonly applied.

• Paid pages
• Pages with unreliable content, such as comments
• To optimize crawling efficiency
• To combat trackback spam

The primary purpose is to control crawling and avoid penalties from Google, so keep these points in mind when using it.

Paid Pages

If you intentionally set up paid pages on your site, you need to set them as rel=”nofollow” to deny them. This is because pages that require payment could become targets of Google penalties and might ultimately not be indexed.

For example, ‘article advertisements’ fall into this category of intentionally set paid pages. Article advertising involves creating promotional content on your own site at the request of an advertiser. Since advertisers pay for links placed within these articles, Google considers them paid links, which are subject to penalties.

Therefore, it’s necessary to include rel=”nofollow” in links within article advertisements to refuse crawling and thus avoid penalties associated with paid links

Pages with Unreliable Content Like Comments

Links from unreliable sources can subject your site to Google penalties, significantly lowering its rating. To avoid such penalties, it’s essential to use the rel=”nofollow” attribute on links that cannot be verified for reliability.

For instance, many blogging platforms automatically apply the rel=”nofollow” attribute to links posted in comment sections by unspecified users. This is because links to low-quality or spam websites posted by anonymous users could potentially degrade your site’s reputation.

Thus, the nofollow tag plays a crucial role in protecting your site.

Optimizing Crawling

Beyond avoiding Google penalties, the nofollow tag is also used to optimize crawling, enhancing the indexing of important pages.

Google’s crawlers navigate through links within your site, reading page content and indexing them sequentially. Therefore, an excessive number of links can potentially prevent important pages from being indexed by Google.

By using the rel=”nofollow” tag on low-quality content or pages that do not need indexing (such as ‘shopping carts’ on e-commerce sites or ‘member registration input screens’), you can focus the indexing on more critical pages.

This strategy is primarily employed by medium to large-scale sites. Sites that have already secured a sufficient user base may implement this, but it is not a high priority during the early stages of site operation (focus on content creation instead).

Related Article: Explaining Four Ways to Optimize Your Crawl Budget!

[Supplementary Note] Trackback Spam

Related to the discussion on pages with unreliable content, there are malicious users who exploit Google’s penalties to launch ‘trackback spam’ attacks on sites. In these cases, the nofollow attribute can be used as a countermeasure.

Trackback spam refers to the practice of sending trackbacks (linking to a site or quoting it within an article) with the aim of directing traffic to a site or lowering the target site’s rating by linking it to low-quality sites.

While you can deny backlinks through Google Search Console, controlling them with the nofollow tag is another viable option. Although supplementary, it’s useful information to keep in mind.

Related Article: What is Google Search Console? Introduction and Usage Guide

How to Set Up ‘nofollow’

To directly implement the ‘nofollow’ tag, there are two main methods.

Apply the ‘nofollow’ attribute to an entire page.

Apply the ‘nofollow’ attribute to specific links.

These tasks are not difficult and can be accomplished by anyone with a basic understanding of code. Consider trying these methods for yourself.

Applying ‘nofollow’ to an Entire Page

If you want to deny crawling for a specific page, add the following line inside the <head> tag

<meta name=”robots” content=”nofollow” />

With this tag, crawlers will not traverse the page. Be sure to use this tag when intentionally placing paid links, like in article advertisements.

Applying ‘nofollow’ to Specific Links

To apply the ‘nofollow’ attribute to specific links, particularly when you want to deny crawling of external links, include the rel attribute inside the <a> tag. For example, to deny crawling to google.com, you would write

<a href=”http://www.google.co.jp/” rel=”nofollow”>Google</a>

This method requires more effort because you control each link individually. However, it allows for precise control over crawling, which can enhance SEO effectiveness. It’s more labor-intensive, but controlling crawling in this manner can be very beneficial.

Alternative Methods to Set ‘nofollow’ Without Writing Tags

For site operators with limited knowledge of tags or those who prefer not to handle them directly, here are two alternative methods to set the ‘nofollow’ tag

-Use theme settings.

-Use plugins (such as those available for WordPress).

Using Theme Settings.

 Some CMS themes allow you to set ‘nofollow’ directly from the settings panel.

For example, the popular WordPress theme ‘Keni‘, allows you to set ‘nofollow’ and ‘noindex’ for each page. It’s easy to set up directly from the page posting screen, accessible to anyone.

Setting ‘nofollow’ via the settings panel means there’s no need to write tags directly. This is especially recommended for beginners in site management, as it simplifies the process of applying ‘nofollow’.

Using Plugins (in WordPress)

If you are using WordPress as CMS, plugins can simplify the process of applying ‘nofollow’ on a bulk scale. Recommended plugins for setting ‘nofollow’ include ‘DoFollow Case by Case‘ and ‘Nofollow External Links (SEO)‘.

For instance, once you install and activate the ‘DoFollow Case by Case’ plugin, you can set ‘nofollow’ from the link settings in the post editor. It’s as simple as checking a box, making it easy for anyone to set up.

Distinguishing Between Similar Attributes

There are several settings similar to ‘nofollow’, and it’s important to use them appropriately depending on your goals. Here we introduce settings similar to ‘nofollow’ and their uses

• noindex
• noarchive
• sponsored
• ugc
• robots.txt

noindex

As introduced earlier, ‘noindex’ is a tag used to refuse indexing. While ‘nofollow’ primarily controls external links, ‘noindex’ is used for managing internal links.

For example, ‘noindex’ is used for pages with low-quality content or for pages exclusive to paid members. To set ‘noindex’, you include the following line inside the <head> tag.

“<meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”>

noarchive

The ‘noarchive’ setting prevents search engines like Google from storing a cached version of a page. This is useful when viewing the cache could confuse users.

‘Noarchive’ is commonly used on e-commerce sites (EC sites). EC sites frequently update their content, such as adding new products or running sales. Cached versions of the page might prevent users from seeing the most recent updates.

Therefore, EC sites often use ‘noarchive’ to ensure that users always see the latest information, without caching. To set ‘noarchive’, include the following in the <head> tag

<meta name=”robots” content=”noarchive”>

sponsored

In fact, aside from using ‘nofollow’ to deny crawling of deliberate paid links like article advertisements, the ‘sponsored’ attribute is another option. Currently, ‘sponsored’ is recommended to indicate that links are paid and not organically related.

The ‘sponsored’ attribute is added to the <a> tag as follows.

<a href=”http://www.google.co.jp/” 

Google

Although ‘sponsored’ is recommended for paid links, using ‘nofollow’ is still acceptable.

ugc

Besides ‘nofollow’, another method to deny links posted in comment sections is using the ‘ugc’ attribute. You can add ‘ugc’ to the <a> tag as follows.

Google

Currently, either ‘ugc’ or ‘nofollow’ attributes are acceptable for addressing malicious links in comments.

robots.txt

The robots.txt file informs crawlers which pages within a site they are allowed to crawl.

While it serves a similar purpose to the ‘nofollow’ attribute in controlling crawling, note that the robots.txt file is used to prevent overload from excessive site requests, not to prevent indexing.

Here’s how to write a robots.txt file.

User-agent: Googlebot

Disallow: /nogooglebot/

User-agent: *

Allow: /

Sitemap: http://www.example.com/sitemap.xml

For more detailed instructions on writing robots.txt files, please refer to the link provided.

Be aware that even with a robots.txt file set up, pages can still be indexed without being crawled. If you do not want pages to appear in search results, use ‘noindex’ to control this.

Summary

‘nofollow’ is a meta tag used when there is no relevance to the links within a site or when you want to deny crawling. It’s primarily used for spam control, instructing Google not to crawl links that are related to your site by writing ‘rel=”nofollow”‘. Besides directly writing the tag, ‘nofollow’ can also be easily set using CMS theme settings or WordPress plugin functionalities. While distinguishing it from similar settings, mastering the use of ‘nofollow’ can greatly benefit your SEO strategies.

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Author Profile

International Web Consultant Paveena Suphawet

A trilingual professional in English, Thai, and Japanese, she has numerous achievements in international SEO. She studied the latest IT technologies at Assumption International University, Thailand, and majored in International Business at the University of Greenwich, UK. Following her tenure at ExxonMobil’s Thai branch, she became a key member of Admano from its establishment.

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