Nofollow links
As you navigate the web, you often encounter links - some of which are nofollow links. These links are essential to understanding how search engines interact with and understand your website. You can learn more about them here.
- Home " Dictionary "
- Last updated:
What are nofollow links?
A nofollow link is a hyperlink that tells search engines like Google not to follow and thus take the link into account when ranking the website in search results. In this way, nofollow links are the opposite of dofollow links.
You can create a nofollow link by adding a 'rel="nofollow"' tag in the HTML code of the link.
When should you use nofollow links?
While it may seem counterintuitive to tell Google not to take your links into account when ranking your website in search results, there are actually several scenarios where nofollow links can benefit your website's search engine rankings.
A typical example is when you link to a page that you don't necessarily want to be associated with or that may have a negative impact on your SEO. This can include links in comments or forums, which can be vulnerable to spam. By making these links nofollow, you ensure that your site is not negatively affected by the link.
How do nofollow links affect your SEO?
Nofollow links influence your SEO strategy as they instruct search engines to ignore a given link so that the link will not generate so-called "link juice". Link juice acts as a kind of recommendation to Google that a link is worth following.
But nofollow links can also be an important part of a healthy link profile because it shows search engines that you don't just focus on building links to improve your ranking in search results. Instead, it shows that you also care about the quality of your links and are trying to build a credible and relevant website. A natural link profile that contains both dofollow and nofollow links shows search engines that you are a trustworthy source.
As mentioned, Google rewards credibility, so a healthy link profile can help you rank high in search results.
How to make nofollow links
Creating a nofollow link is a fairly simple process. It only requires a small addition to the HTML code of the link. Here is an example:
<a href=”http://www.eksempel.dk/” rel=”nofollow”>Link tekst</a>
Here, "rel="nofollow"" instructs the search engine not to consider the link in their algorithms. Voila! You've created your first nofollow link.
More concepts
Want to learn more digital marketing terms? Our digital dictionary is full of them - and we're constantly updating it.
