Do Nofollow Links Help SEO? Benefits and Limits | Tomako
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Do nofollow links help SEO?
Nofollow links can help people discover your site, but you should not expect them to improve rankings directly. Google generally does not use them for ranking credit, although it treats nofollow as a hint. Relevant referral visits and later citations are the more practical reasons to pursue one.
Nofollow is a value in a link’s HTML rel attribute. It tells Google something about the relationship between the linking page and its destination. It does not stop a person from clicking the link.
Google treats nofollow as a hint, alongside other signals, when deciding how to use links in Search. That leaves room for Google to consider a link; it does not mean every nofollow link passes ranking credit. Google’s announcement also says it will generally continue not to consider these links for ranking purposes. Both parts matter. Google’s explanation of the hint model.
For planning, use a practical rule: an opportunity should still make sense if it produces no ranking lift. A relevant article that sends potential customers to a useful resource can meet that test. A fee justified only by “SEO juice” cannot.
Nofollow, dofollow, sponsored and ugc
“Dofollow” is the common name for an ordinary link not marked , or . You do not need to add to create one.
Eligible to be considered by Google; no link guarantees rankings
nofollow
The publisher does not want to imply endorsement
A hint, not a promise of credit or a block on human visits
sponsored
Advertising, paid placement or other compensation
Google’s preferred label for paid links
ugc
User contributions, such as forum posts
Describes who supplied the content
A link can carry more than one value, such as rel="ugc nofollow". Google still accepts nofollow for paid links, though it prefers sponsored. Google’s link qualification documentation.
These labels describe the link. They are not a quality score for the whole publication. An excellent resource may receive a nofollow citation because that is the site’s editorial policy.
The benefits you can reasonably pursue
Relevant visitors who take a useful next step
A link in a niche tutorial may reach fewer people than a link on a large general site, yet fit your offer more closely. If the tutorial teaches campaign reporting, a link to a worked example such as Tomako’s CTR calculation guide has a clear job: help the reader calculate and compare results.
The label does not determine whether those visitors use the examples, save the guide or try your product. Placement and reader intent matter here. A link buried in a profile signature is a different proposition from a resource cited beside the task it solves.
Exposure that can lead to further citations
An editor or researcher might discover your work through a nofollow link and cite it later. That is a plausible path to an additional link, not a guaranteed SEO benefit. It depends on people finding something worth referring to.
Give those readers a resource they can use and cite: a clear method, an original dataset with its scope, a working calculator or a specific example. Sending everyone to a generic homepage makes the reason to cite you harder to see.
A presence in places your audience uses
A useful answer in a relevant community can help people learn about your expertise. Participate because you can answer the question, and follow that community’s rules. Repeating a promotional comment across forums is not a substitute for earning attention.
Google lists forum comments with optimized links among its link-spam examples. Adding nofollow to a strategy does not make the underlying content useful. Google’s link-spam policy.
Should you pursue this particular link?
Start with the situation in front of you. These are illustrative decisions, not reported campaign results.
Opportunity
Sensible next move
A relevant publication cites your original research and uses nofollow for all external links
Welcome the citation; check the destination and context are correct
A specialist tutorial could link to your worksheet, with a brief editorial request required
Compare your resource with its current references, then pitch the useful addition
A paid directory offers a hidden listing and only promises ranking gains
Decline the SEO pitch; there is no clear reader-based reason to buy
A relevant industry site offers a sponsored article placement with credible audience and click data
Evaluate it as a paid audience test, with a budget and measurable goal
A forum lets anyone drop a link without contributing an answer
Skip the link drop; look for a question you can genuinely help answer
For a paid opportunity, ask for the exact placement, duration, fee and performance evidence from comparable placements. Site-wide visits are not the same as views or clicks on your slot. Buying advertising is a different decision from buying ranking manipulation.
A useful final question is: “What would make me do this again?” If the answer is qualified visits or relevant inquiries, measure that. If the only answer is a hoped-for ranking increase, the business case is too weak.
How to check whether a link is nofollow
You can inspect an existing link in a desktop browser without buying an SEO tool:
Open the page that contains the link. Right-click the linked text and choose Inspect.
In the developer panel, find the enclosing <a> element. The highlighted item may be a <span> inside it; look one level up if needed.
Check that href points to your intended destination. If it uses a redirect, follow the link normally and check where you land.
Read the rel value. Look for the exact tokens nofollow, sponsored or ugc, including combinations.
For example, this illustrative HTML contains a nofollow link:
html
<a href="https://example.com/guide" rel="nofollow">
Read the guide
</a>
Here, href supplies the destination and rel supplies the relationship. target="_blank" only opens a new tab; it does not mean nofollow. Likewise, noopener and noreferrer are not substitutes for the three SEO relationship labels.
Record “no nofollow value observed” when that value is absent. Do not translate that observation into “Google counts this link.” A page-level robots directive can also affect link following, and Google’s treatment cannot be confirmed from one anchor.
For a link that has not been placed yet, ask the publisher about its policy. You can verify the actual HTML after placement; a promise is not an observed result.
Measure visits and useful actions
Keep a small placement log: source page, destination, placement date, actual rel value, cost and intended outcome. Then compare the result with that purpose.
For audience acquisition, check referral visits and the actions that matter on the destination, such as a useful signup or inquiry. Attribution can be incomplete, so do not treat an absent referrer as proof that nobody arrived.
For a resource citation, check that the link and surrounding explanation remain accurate. A citation can meet an editorial goal even with little direct traffic.
For SEO, inspect search performance over time, but account for other changes. A ranking increase after a link appeared does not establish that the link caused it.
Search Console’s Links report can help you discover links to your site, but it is a sample, not a complete inventory. It also does not identify whether a link is nofollow. Use the source page for that check. Search Console’s Links report documentation.
Nofollow is not an indexing control
Do not use nofollow to keep a page out of Google. Google may discover the destination through another route. Use the appropriate indexing control, such as noindex on a crawlable page, when exclusion is the goal. Google’s indexing guidance.
Take one current opportunity and write a one-sentence decision: “I will pursue this because these readers need this resource, and I will judge it by this outcome.” If you cannot fill in those three parts, more link attributes will not make the opportunity clearer.
Tiny is a co-founder of Tomako, working across the full path from growth strategy to channel execution. His experience spans influencer marketing, affiliate marketing, SEO/GEO, and paid acquisition. As an indie maker and creator, he is especially interested in how small teams can make better growth choices with limited resources. On the Tomako Blog, he writes about channel decisions, practical execution, and lessons from building and growing products.
Tiny
