Nofollow links don’t pass direct ranking authority the way dofollow links do, but they still help SEO indirectly — by driving referral traffic, building brand visibility, contributing to a natural-looking backlink profile, and in some cases, being treated by Google as a mild ranking signal rather than being ignored entirely. Dismissing nofollow links as worthless is one of the more outdated ideas still floating around in SEO advice.
If you’ve been turning down guest post opportunities or directory listings because they only offer a nofollow link, it’s worth reconsidering — the value isn’t zero, and in a well-rounded link building strategy, it’s rarely something to ignore.
A nofollow link includes a small piece of HTML code (rel="nofollow") that tells search engines not to pass ranking authority through that link. It was originally introduced so website owners could link out — in comments, forum posts, or paid content — without effectively “vouching” for that content in Google’s eyes. A dofollow link, by contrast, passes that authority signal by default, which is why it’s traditionally been seen as more valuable for SEO.
For years, the standard advice was that nofollow links have zero SEO value. That’s no longer fully accurate. Google has stated that nofollow (and related attributes like sponsored and ugc) are now treated as hints rather than strict directives — meaning Google may, in some cases, still choose to consider the link when it comes to crawling, discovery, and even ranking signals, rather than ignoring it outright.
This doesn’t mean nofollow links now behave exactly like dofollow links. It means the gap between nofollow vs dofollow links has narrowed from “zero value” to “less direct value, but not none.”
Even setting aside the ranking-signal question, nofollow links contribute to SEO in ways that are easy to overlook:
No — and it’s worth being direct about that. If the specific goal is passing maximum link authority to boost a page’s rankings for a competitive keyword, a dofollow backlink from a relevant, authoritative site will generally do more. Nofollow links work better as a supporting layer: driving traffic, building visibility, and rounding out a natural link profile, rather than being the primary lever for ranking improvements.
Given all of this, are nofollow links worth it depends on the specific opportunity. A nofollow link from a low-quality, spammy site offers little value either way. But a nofollow link from a genuinely relevant, high-traffic, reputable site — a major publication, an active industry forum, a well-known review platform — is almost always worth pursuing, because the combination of referral traffic, brand exposure, and a more natural link profile adds up, even without a strong direct ranking effect.
The healthiest approach isn’t choosing between nofollow and dofollow links — it’s building a natural mix of both, from a variety of relevant, reputable sources. A backlink profile made up entirely of one type, especially if every single link looks manually placed for SEO purposes, is more likely to raise flags than one that reflects how links actually happen in the real world: some intentional, some incidental, some followed, some not.
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