The nofollow attribute is an anchor attribute that tells search engines and other web robots not to follow a hyperlink on a web page. For example, user comments in an online forum may add the nofollow attribute to an user-submitted link. Doing so prevents posted links from being used to artificially inflate the page rank of external sites.

Where should I add the nofollow attribute?

You should give the nofollow attribute to:

  • Any link you don’t want to contribute to page rank.
  • Links not related to your website.
  • User-generated links.
  • Links that are part of a script that creates similar content.

Below is a list of the most common places the nofollow attribute is used on websites.

  • Comments (e.g., the comments on a WordPress blog).
  • Bulletin board or Forums.
  • Wiki.
  • Guest posts.
  • Scripts that generate similar content with links.

, Anchor, Hyperlink, SEO terms, Web design terms

If the hyperlink is pointing to a different website related to the web page content, consider omitting the nofollow attribute. Some believe that they should include a nofollow link on all links that points to a different website. However, Google and other search engines reward websites that have high-quality related links.

  • How to create an HTML link on a web page.