Are nofollow links worth the effort for SEO?

This is an interesting question I found on Reddit by a user called rotrotora:

Just curious, since getting nofollow links deliberately through forums, discussions is kind of hassle – is it even worth doing it deliberately? I have mixed signs about importance of nofollow links > Do you even think about them at all?

For those that don’t no, Google has different classifications for backlinks. These include:

• Nofollow Links (rel="nofollow") – An instruction not to pass PageRank (direct ranking value).
• Sponsored Links (rel=”sponsored”) – A notification used for paid or sponsored content to comply with Google’s guidelines.
• UGC (User-Generated Content) Links (rel=”ugc”) – A notification designed for links in forums, blog comments, and other user-generated areas to reduce spam.

What are nofollow links?

The nofollow attribute (rel=”nofollow”) was introduced by Google in January 2005 as a way to combat comment spam and link manipulation. Before its introduction, all links would help Google ranking positions, so SEOs would flood blog comment sections, forums, and guestbooks with links, aiming to boost PageRank and increase rankings. Google, along with Microsoft and Yahoo, collaborated to introduce the nofollow attribute to prevent these links from passing SEO value.

If you’re a blogger (or a blog reader), you’re painfully familiar with people who try to raise their own websites’ search engine rankings by submitting linked blog comments like “Visit my discount pharmaceuticals site.” This is called comment spam, we don’t like it either, and we’ve been testing a new tag that blocks it.

From now on, when Google sees the attribute (rel=”nofollow”) on hyperlinks, those links won’t get any credit when we rank websites in our search results.

This isn’t a negative vote for the site where the comment was posted; it’s just a way to make sure that spammers get no benefit from abusing public areas like blog comments, trackbacks, and referrer lists.

Google Blog – 2005

The initial plan was aimed at user-generated content and it didn’t become a major issues until 2012 when Google launched the Penguin update. This was the period when Google declared war on link building and thousands of websites were handed manual penalties for ‘unnatural links’.

During this period, we saw a number of high profile brands get hit by Google penalties, such as Interflora, JC Penny, Overstock and Forbes.

As a result of this, a large number of websites began aggressively applying nofollow to nearly all outbound links. Most notably, major news sites and publishers (e.g., Forbes, The Huffington Post, The Mail Online, Wikipedia, The New York Times) nofollowed all outbound links to avoid penalties.

This widespread overuse of nofollow led to a situation where Google struggled to crawl, index, and assess link relationships because too many authoritative sources were blocking link equity.

Eventually, Google had no choice but to ‘follow’ nofollow links and eventually in 2019, they made it official:

When nofollow was introduced, Google would not count any link marked this way as a signal to use within our search algorithms. This has now changed. All the link attributes—sponsored, ugc, and nofollow—are treated as hints about which links to consider or exclude within Search. We’ll use these hints—along with other signals—as a way to better understand how to appropriately analyse and use links within our systems.

Google Search Central – 2019

So, if Google follows nofollow links, this means they help ranking positions again? In a word, yes.

• It’s a ‘hint’ not a directive: This means Google might actually follow the nofollow link, and pass on signals that help ranking positions. The truth is, we have no way of knowing. Just because the link says it’s a nofollow, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is.
• More frequent indexing: Even though nofollow links may not officially pass PageRank, they can still help Google discover new pages, ensuring better overall indexing.
• Authority: Even without passing link equity, Google recognises mentions on trusted sites as a sign of brand credibility. Some of the most authoritative websites (Wikipedia, Forbes, BBC, CNN, The Guardian) nofollow all outbound links, but getting mentioned on these sites adds credibility and authority to your brand.
• Topical relevance: When your content is linked across relevant industry websites and forums, even with nofollow links, it reinforces topical relevance in Google’s eyes. Being mentioned alongside trusted industry sources helps Google understand your niche and authority. Stronger topical authority and semantic relevance, improving rankings in your niche.
• Local relevance: Local business listings, directories, and review platforms (Google Business Profile, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Trustpilot) often use nofollow links. However, appearing on these sites boosts local search presence, drives referral traffic, and improves brand trustworthiness.
• Referral traffic: Nofollow links from social media, and other high-authority websites drive real traffic to your website. When your content is linked from sites like Wikipedia, Forbes, Reddit, Quora, or major news websites, users click through to visit your site. Even if these links don’t pass direct SEO value, they bring visitors who might convert, engage, or share your content further. More traffic increases brand awareness, improves engagement metrics, and can lead to organic backlinks from other sources.

So, are nofollow links worth the effort?

It depends on what is meant by effort, and it depends on the nofollow link. For example, it may take a lot of effort to get published on a website like Forbes, and all they will give you is a nofollow link, but, you’re published on Forbes!

Links are getting increasingly less important. In fact in April 2024, Patrick Stox on X called out Gary Illlyes with a tweet:

We need very few links to rank pages… Over the years we’ve made links less important.” @methode #serpconf2024

Gary Illlyes then duly responded with:

I shouldn’t have said that… I definitely shouldn’t have said that – Gary Illyes

Which we can take as confirmation.

So, the bigger picture is brand exposure and credibility. It is worth the effort to be featured anywhere your brand is relevant, because it increases brand awareness. If you get a link, then even better as it will drive people to your website. If it’s a ‘dofollow’ link, then wow that’s perfect, if it’s a nofollow, I would shrug and move on.

I guess the subtext behind OPs question, is link building, as in, the ‘blackhat’ kind of link building. As someone who has gone through the Penguin era and seen the damage caused by Google penalties, I would never advocate this anyway. But, if you are in the business of buying ‘dofollow’ links, then I would say nofollow links are essential to give your domain a more natural looking profile. In this case, I would have a dedicated strategy to gain nofollow links and keep an eye on the percentages between dofollow and nofollow.

However, I personally have evolved past link building and I’m more interested in marketing now. If you use traditional marketing tactics to gain brand awareness, understand your audience, and create high value content, then the ‘link building’ should take care of itself.

I would make an effort to gain a nofollow link on a forum, or on Reddit, or on any other platform that may get people clicking through to my website, because my end goal is brand awareness, not ranking positions.

The way things are going, ranking positions may not even exist in a year or two. 😀

Good luck!