When are nofollow links worth pursuing vs ignoring?
- Published November 6, 2026
- Linked from 2 answers
- In a cluster of 7
Pursue a nofollow link when it brings something you can see, such as visitors, an audience, or credibility in your field. Ignore it when the only reason you wanted it was a ranking boost. Google has treated nofollow as a hint rather than a strict exclusion since a change it announced in September 2019, so such a link may or may not count for anything in ranking; nothing about it is promised, which is why ranking alone is a weak reason to chase it.
What changed in 2019
Google’s September 2019 announcement introduced rel="sponsored" and rel="ugc" and said that all three link attributes are treated as hints “about which links to consider or exclude within Search.” For crawling and indexing, nofollow became a hint “as of March 1, 2020.” Before that change, Google did not count nofollow links as a signal in its ranking algorithms. So “nofollow passes nothing” and “nofollow passes value” are both too certain: Google decides case by case and does not say how.
Google’s current guidance on qualifying outbound links describes what the attributes are for: sponsored for paid placements, ugc for comments and forum posts, and nofollow when neither applies and a site would rather Google not associate it with the linked page. That is also why a valuable link can arrive as nofollow: a news site, a forum, or a large publisher may mark outbound links that way as a matter of policy.
Worth pursuing
| Link | Why it pays without ranking credit |
|---|---|
| A mention in a news article or a well-read industry publication | Referral visitors, brand searches, and a citation others may repeat with a followed link |
| A useful answer on a forum or community where your audience asks questions | Qualified visitors who arrive with a specific need |
| A listing on a directory people in your field actually use | Leads from people browsing that directory |
| A sponsored placement in front of the right audience | Traffic and awareness, provided it is labeled <!–INLINECODE5–> as Google asks |
Not worth pursuing
A nofollow link on a page no one reads, in a comment section, or in a forum signature you posted only to leave a link brings neither visitors nor a dependable ranking effect. The time is better spent elsewhere, and a pattern of dropping links across communities can annoy the people you want to reach.
How to judge one before you invest
Ask two questions: would people click this link, and would being mentioned here mean something to them? If either answer is yes, the attribute matters little. If both answers are no, the link is only worth pursuing for ranking, and that is the one reason the attribute leaves uncertain. The cost and benefit test for any link lives in when pursuing a link costs more than it returns. Guest posts are one place the question comes up; for whether they repay the work, see whether guest posting is still worth the effort. The test applies to nofollow links unchanged.
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