How does Google handle nofollow links in terms of ranking?

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How does Google handle nofollow links in terms of ranking?

Asked on Nov 21, 2025

Answer

Google treats nofollow links as a signal to not pass PageRank or influence the ranking of the linked page. However, they can still be used for discovery purposes, meaning Google might crawl the page but won't consider the link as a ranking factor.

Example Concept: Nofollow links use the rel="nofollow" attribute to instruct search engines not to pass PageRank or ranking credit to the linked page. While they do not directly impact rankings, they can still help search engines discover new content.

Additional Comment:

Nofollow links are often used in user-generated content, comments, or paid links to avoid passing link equity.
Google introduced the rel="sponsored" and rel="ugc" attributes as alternatives for specific types of links.
While nofollow links do not contribute to ranking, they can drive referral traffic and increase brand visibility.

✅ Answered with SEO best practices.

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