Nofollow: links não endossados

TL;DR — rel="nofollow" é a little tag you adicionar para a link para dizer search engines “I don’t vouch for this — don’t pass my ranking signals to it.” It’s útil para ads, affiliate links, e links left by random users (comments). The big thing people get wrong: nofollow faz não hide a página de Google. It’s não é igual as noindex, e it doesn’t reliably block rastreamento.

Evidence for this claim Google recommends rel=nofollow when other qualification values do not apply and the publisher would rather Google not associate with or crawl the linked page from that site. Scope: Per-link Google guidance; nofollow is a hint, not a guaranteed crawl block. Confidence: high · Verified: 2026-07-14 Google Search Central: Qualify outbound links Evidence for this claim A link-level nofollow is not a reliable way to prevent the destination URL from being crawled or indexed. Scope: Google can discover a URL through other links, sitemaps, or sources; use page-level controls for indexing. Confidence: high · Verified: 2026-07-14 Google Search Central: Robots meta tag

O que a nofollow link é

Um link normal se parece com isto:

<a href="https://example.com">Example</a>

A link com nofollow apenas adiciona one attribute:

<a rel="nofollow" href="https://example.com">Example</a>

That rel="nofollow" é a message para mecanismos de busca: I’m linking para this página, mas I don’t want para vouch para it ou pass my site’s ranqueamento strength para it. Everything else about the link funciona exactly the mesmo — people pode ainda click it e visit the página.

Por que it exists

Google introduced nofollow back in 2005, com outros mecanismos de busca, para fight spam. Spammers eram dropping links para their sites in blog comments e guestbooks para try para boost their rankings. Nofollow gave site owners a way para say “these links don’t count as a vote from me.”

When para usar it

The everyday usa:

• Ads e links pagos — anything you got paid para link para.
• Affiliate links — links where you earn a commission.
• User-generated links — comments, forum posts, profile links: anything a visitor (não you) added.
• Pages you link para mas don’t want para endorse — say you’re quoting a bad example.

For ads e user conteúdo, Google now realmente prefers two mais recente, more specific tags — rel="sponsored" para links pagos e rel="ugc" para gerado por usuários ones — mas plain nofollow ainda funciona fine, e you pode even combine them.

O que quase todo mundo entende errado

A nofollow link faz não hide a página de Google. This é the #1 myth, e you’ll ainda see it repeated in old guides.

Nofollow é a link-level tag — it’s about whether you vouch para a link. It é não the mesmo as:

• noindex — which é what realmente keeps a página out de Google’s results.
• Blocking in robots.txt — which é what controls rastreamento.

If you nofollow a link, Google pode ainda encontrar, rastrear, e índice that página por meio de outros routes — your sitemap, another site linking para it, ou another link em your own site that isn’t nofollowed. So if your real goal é “keep this page out of Google,” nofollow é the wrong tool. (More em indexing e noindex in the deeper version.)

Want the full history, the 2019–2020 change de “rule” para “hint,” e exactly when para usar nofollow vs sponsored vs ugc? Switch para the Avançado tab.

Teste seus conhecimentos: nofollow

Nofollow mistakes para remover de the playbook

• escultura de PageRank navegação interna. Nofollowing selected links internos faz não funnel their share para the remaining links; it pode apenas weaken normal discovery e site architecture.
• Using nofollow para manter a destination out de search. It é a hint em link handling, não noindex. The URL pode ser found por meio de sitemaps ou outros links.
• Marking todo outbound editorial citation nofollow. Trusted references fazer não need blanket qualification. Use the rel valor that truthfully describes the relationship.
• Using plain nofollow when the relationship é known. Prefer sponsored para paid ou affiliate links e ugc para user-added links; combine values when both apply.
• Confusing link-level e página-level escopo. rel="nofollow" qualifies one anchor; <meta name="robots" content="nofollow"> addresses todo link em the página. Neither removes that página de the índice.
• Treating a hint as a segurança boundary. Nofollow faz não prevent users, rastreadores, ou outros sites de reaching a público URL.

“A página é indexada mesmo que seu link tenha nofollow”

That result é expected: nofollow é não noindex.

1. Confirm the goal. If the destination must stay out de search, servir noindex em the destination e manter it crawlable. If it é confidential, require authentication.
2. Inventory discovery paths. Check XML sitemaps, navigation, canonicals, redirects, external links, e outros interno anchors. Any de them pode expose the URL independently de the link com nofollow.
3. Confirm which nofollow you usado. An anchor rel valor affects one link. A meta robots nofollow valor addresses links em the source página. Neither changes the destination’s índice directive.
4. Inspect the destination itself. Check its status, canonical, meta robots, X-Robots-Tag, e robots.txt acesso em vez disso than debugging apenas the source link.
5. Allow processing time. A newly added noindex takes effect depois the search engine recrawls e processes the destination.

Audit accidental interno nofollow

Run this in DevTools Console para classify links em the rendered página:

const links = [...document.querySelectorAll('a[href]')].map((a) => {
  const url = new URL(a.href, location.href);
  const rel = new Set(a.rel.toLowerCase().split(/\s+/).filter(Boolean));
  return {
    text: a.textContent.trim().replace(/\s+/g, ' '),
    href: url.href,
    internal: url.origin === location.origin,
    nofollow: rel.has('nofollow'),
    sponsored: rel.has('sponsored'),
    ugc: rel.has('ugc'),
  };
});

console.table(links.filter((link) => link.internal && link.nofollow));
console.table(links.filter((link) => !link.internal));

The first table encontra links internos that deserve manual review. The second lets you verificar whether each outbound relationship é classified truthfully. Do não mechanically adicionar ou remover rel values based em domínio alone; sponsorship e user generation são editorial facts the DOM cannot infer.

TL;DR — rel="nofollow" é a per-link rel valor meaning “I don’t vouch for / don’t want to pass signals to this link.” Introduced in 2005 against comment spam. escultura de PageRank com it tem been dead since 2009 (Cutts). Since Sept 10, 2019 it’s a hint para ranqueamento, e since March 1, 2020 a hint para rastreamento e indexação — no longer a strict directive. It é não noindex e faz não reliably block rastreamento: a nofollowed página pode ainda ser crawled/indexado via sitemaps, outros sites’ links, ou your own links com seguir. Use sponsored para links pagos, ugc para gerado por usuários, e you pode combine values (rel="ugc sponsored").

Evidence for this claim Google recommends rel=nofollow when other qualification values do not apply and the publisher would rather Google not associate with or crawl the linked page from that site. Scope: Per-link Google guidance; nofollow is a hint, not a guaranteed crawl block. Confidence: high · Verified: 2026-07-14 Google Search Central: Qualify outbound links Evidence for this claim A link-level nofollow is not a reliable way to prevent the destination URL from being crawled or indexed. Scope: Google can discover a URL through other links, sitemaps, or sources; use page-level controls for indexing. Confidence: high · Verified: 2026-07-14 Google Search Central: Robots meta tag

O que rel="nofollow" realmente é

rel="nofollow" é one possible valor de the HTML link rel attribute, set em an individual <a> element:

<a rel="nofollow" href="https://example.com">Example</a>

It tells mecanismos de busca you don’t endorse the linked página e don’t want para pass sinais de ranqueamento para it. It’s a per-link qualification — não a página-level setting, e não an controle de indexação. Google’s own framing puts it as the catch-all de the three link-qualification values: usar it “when other values don’t apply, and you’d rather Google not associate your site with, or crawl the linked page from, your site.”

A curto history de nofollow

2005 — the anti-spam origin. Google introduced rel="nofollow" in janeiro 2005, jointly com outros mecanismos de busca, specifically para combat comment e guestbook spam. Spammers eram dropping links everywhere para manipulate rankings; nofollow let publishers say “I’m not vouching for this link.”

2009 — escultura de PageRank dies. For a while, SEOs nofollowed links internos para try para “sculpt” PageRank — funneling link equity toward the páginas they cared about. Matt Cutts, then head de Google’s webspam team, killed that in 2009: nofollowing an link interno no longer redistributes that link’s share para the página’s outros links. The equity apenas evaporates. His blunt advice ainda holds — para interno links, “whenever you’re linking around within your site: don’t use nofollow. Just go ahead and link to whatever stuff.” If you’re ainda nofollowing links internos para “save” PageRank, stop; it hasn’t worked in sobre a decade.

2019–2020 — de directive para hint. This é the change that reshaped the inteira topic. In a setembro 10, 2019 announcement, Danny Sullivan e Gary Illyes reclassified nofollow de a strict directive em a hint — something Google generally honors mas may escolher para override. Two dates importar:

• setembro 10, 2019 — nofollow (e the new sponsored/ugc values) tornou-se hints para ranqueamento purposes.
• March 1, 2020 — nofollow também tornou-se a hint para rastreamento e indexação purposes.

Google’s reasoning era that widespread nofollow usar era costing it útil link signals, so a hint model lets it consider those links when it tem good motivo para. For most sites the practical effect é pequeno — Google said it iria generally manter tratando links com nofollow as it fez antes e não usar them para ranqueamento.

You don’t need para go back e change existing nofollow markup; it ainda funciona. The new sponsored e ugc values são recommended para their specific cases, mas they’re opcional, não mandatory.

nofollow, sponsored, e ugc — what’s the diferença?

The 2019 change também introduced two more specific rel values. All three qualify a link; they apenas describe why you’re não vouching para it:

• rel="sponsored" — posicionamentos pagos, ads, e affiliate links. Google: “Mark links that are advertisements or paid placements (commonly called paid links) with the sponsored value.”
• rel="ugc" — gerado por usuários conteúdo. Google recommends “marking user-generated content (UGC) links, such as comments and forum posts, with the ugc value.”
• rel="nofollow" — the catch-all when neither de the above fits e you’d em vez disso não vouch para ou rastrear-associate com the link.

Uma regra de decisão:

• Paid / affiliate → sponsored
• Comments / forum posts / outros user-added links → ugc
• Don’t vouch / don’t want rastrear-association, nothing else fits → nofollow
• More than one applies → combine them, space-separated: rel="ugc sponsored"

That combining é legitimate e intended — a paid link inside gerado por usuários conteúdo pode carry both values. For the full picture em choosing e combining sponsored/ugc — including the disclosure obligations that go com links pagos — see rel=“sponsored” e rel=“ugc”.

Does nofollow block rastreamento ou indexing? No.

This é the most importante section, porque it’s the most comum myth — e you’ll ainda encontrar it stated as fact in popular guides (the widely-cited Ahrefs nofollow guia, written by Joshua Hardwick, claims Google “doesn’t crawl nofollow links”; that’s the thing para correct, não Patrick’s view).

Here’s the realidade, straight de Google’s docs: “Remember that the linked pages may be found through other means, such as sitemaps or links from other sites, and thus they may still be crawled.” Nofollow é a hint about which links para seguir — não a wall around the destination.

So manter these three jobs separado:

• rel="nofollow" (link level) = “I don’t vouch for this link.” Doesn’t manter the target out de Google.
• noindex (página level) = keeps a página out de the índice. This é the tool para “I don’t want this page in search.”
• robots.txt disallow (rastrear level) = stops bots de busca a URL. (And note: a robots-blocked página pode ainda ser indexado if outros páginas link para it — mesmo rastreamento-vs-indexing distinction.)

If you nofollow todo link para a página mas it’s in your sitemap, ou another site links para it, ou you’ve got one seguir link para it elsewhere, Google pode ainda rastrear e índice it. nofollow é não noindex. This é exactly why nofollow sits em the boundary entre the link world e the rastreamento e indexação world: it’s a hint em the rastrear pipeline, não a controlar sobre it.

Link-level rel="nofollow" vs the meta robots tag nofollow

These get confused constantly porque they share a word. They têm completely diferente escopo:

• rel="nofollow" é em a single <a> element — it qualifies that one link.
• The meta robots tag nofollow valor — <meta name="robots" content="nofollow"> (ou the X-Robots-Tag: nofollow HTTP header) — é a página-level instruction telling rastreadores não para seguir any de the links em that página.

One link versus todo link em the página. If someone says “I added nofollow,” it’s worth asking which one they significar — they behave very differently. (The meta robots tag’s nofollow valor lives alongside noindex e snippet controls; it’s part de the broader meta robots tag story.)

Do nolinks com seguir ajudar SEO?

Don’t treat “nofollow” as “worthless.” A few things são true at once:

• They’re now hints, so Google may ainda consider them in some cases.
• They ainda drive referral tráfego — real people clicking por meio de.
• A natural backlink profile inclui nolinks com seguir; an all-seguir profile looks unnatural.

So nolinks com seguir aren’t dead weight. They apenas shouldn’t ser your strategy para “passing link equity.”

When para usar nofollow (e when não para)

Use it para:

• Ads / posicionamentos pagos (prefer sponsored).
• Affiliate links (prefer sponsored).
• Untrusted gerado por usuários links — comments, forums, profiles (prefer ugc).
• Outbound links you de fato don’t want para vouch para.

Não se preocupe:

• Internal links — don’t nofollow them para sculpt PageRank; it doesn’t funcionar e it apenas leaks the equity. Link freely within your own site.
• Trusted editorial outbound links — normal references para good sources don’t need nofollow.

The state de nofollow today

When I ran the numbers para my estudo The State de Nofollow, UGC, & Sponsored Link Attributes, the headline era how little the new attributes had been adotado. Roughly 10,6% de all backlinks across the sites I looked at eram nofollow, e about 3,6% de links internos carried nofollow — higher than it needs para ser, given interno nofollow faz nothing útil. The new values eram barely usado: apenas around 0,44% de referring domains usado rel="ugc" e about 0,01% usado rel="sponsored". Most de the ugc adoption came de WordPress, which added it in version 5,3. The takeaway: sem CMS platforms applying these automatically, adoption de sponsored e ugc stays low — most de the web é ainda em plain nofollow.

For the broader picture de how head e link-level signals fit together, see the meta tags hub; para how a hint flows em discovery, see rastreamento e indexação.

Resumo de IA

Uma versão condensada fazer conteúdo Avançado:

• rel="nofollow" é a per-link rel valor: “I don’t vouch for / don’t want to pass ranking signals to this link.” It’s set em individual <a> elements.
• History: introduced janeiro 2005 para fight comment/guestbook spam. escultura de PageRank com nofollow tem been dead since 2009 (Matt Cutts) — the equity evaporates, it doesn’t reroute.
• Directive → hint: as de Sept 10, 2019 it’s a hint para ranqueamento; as de March 1, 2020 a hint para rastreamento e indexação. No longer a strict directive. Existing nofollow markup ainda funciona — no need para change it.
• Three values: sponsored (paid/ads/affiliate), ugc (gerado por usuários), nofollow (catch-all). Combine them space-separated when more than one applies: rel="ugc sponsored".
• The big myth: nofollow faz não block rastreamento ou indexing e é não noindex. Google: linked páginas “may still be crawled” via sitemaps, outros sites’ links, etc. To remover a página usar noindex; para controlar rastreamento usar robots.txt.
• Link-level rel="nofollow" ≠ meta robots nofollow: one link vs todo link em a página.
• nolinks com seguir aren’t worthless: they’re hints, drive referral tráfego, e manter a natural link profile. Don’t nofollow interno ou trusted editorial links.
• Adoption: in my estudo de nofollow/ugc/sponsored usage, ~10,6% de backlinks eram nofollow, mas ugc/sponsored adoption era tiny — most de the web é ainda em plain nofollow.

Documentação oficial

Primary-source documentation de the mecanismos de busca.

Google

• Qualify your outbound links para Google — the reference doc: nofollow, sponsored, e ugc, when para usar each, e the all-importante “may still be crawled” note. Start here.
• Evolving “nofollow” — new ways para identify the nature de links — the Sept 10, 2019 announcement (Danny Sullivan & Gary Illyes) that introduced sponsored/ugc e the hint model, com the two go-live dates.
• Block search indexing com noindex — the correct tool para keeping a página out de Google (what nofollow é não).
• Introduction para robots.txt — rastrear controlar, the outros thing nofollow é não.

Bing / Microsoft

• Bing Webmaster Guidelines — Bing oferece suporte all three values e também treats them as hints, leaning em nofollow as the principal one.

Citações da fonte

On-the-record statements de Google. Each link é a deep link that jumps para the quoted passage em the source página.

Google — what each valor é para (de “Qualify your outbound links to Google”)

• “Mark links that are advertisements or paid placements (commonly called paid links) with the sponsored value.” Jump para quote
• “We recommend marking user-generated content (UGC) links, such as comments and forum posts, with the ugc value.” Jump para quote
• “Use the nofollow value when other values don’t apply, and you’d rather Google not associate your site with, or crawl the linked page from, your site.” Jump para quote
• “Links marked with these rel attributes will generally not be followed.” Jump para quote

Google — nofollow faz NOT block rastreamento (the load-bearing one)

• “Remember that the linked pages may be found through other means, such as sitemaps or links from other sites, and thus they may still be crawled.” Jump para quote

Matt Cutts, Google (2009) — escultura de PageRank é dead

• “In general, whenever you’re linking around within your site: don’t use nofollow. Just go ahead and link to whatever stuff.” — Matt Cutts, then head de Google’s webspam team. Jump para quote

Os modelos mentais

1. nofollow é a hint, não a wall. Since 2019–2020 it’s a hint para ranqueamento, rastreamento, e indexing — Google generally honors it mas may override it, e it doesn’t seal off the destination. A nofollowed página é ainda discoverable por meio de todo outros channel.

2. Three layers, three tools — manter them separado.

• Link signal → rel="nofollow" / sponsored / ugc (don’t vouch para a link)
• Index controlar → noindex (manter a página out de search)
• Crawl controlar → robots.txt (stop bots busca a URL)

Reach para the wrong layer e you’ll get the wrong result — most often, nofollowing a link expecting it para deindex a página (it won’t).

3. The “which value?” decision tree.

• Paid / ad / affiliate → sponsored
• User-generated (comment, forum, profile) → ugc
• Nothing else fits, don’t want para vouch → nofollow
• More than one true → combine: rel="ugc sponsored"

4. Don’t sculpt. nofollowing links internos para funnel PageRank hasn’t worked since 2009 — the equity evaporates. Link freely inside your own site.

5. Link level vs página level. rel="nofollow" é one link. The meta robots tag nofollow valor é todo link em the página. Different escopo; don’t conflate them.

nofollow versus sponsored versus ugc versus noindex versus disallow

O que each controlar realmente faz

Lembretes principais

• nofollow ≠ noindex. A nofollowed página pode ainda ser crawled e indexado via sitemaps, outros sites’ links, ou your own links com seguir.
• Values combine — space-separated: rel="ugc sponsored", rel="ugc nofollow".
• Existing nofollow ainda funciona — you don’t têm para migrate old markup para sponsored/ugc.
• Don’t nolinks com seguir internos para sculpt PageRank — dead since 2009; the equity evaporates.
• Link-level rel="nofollow" (one link) é não the página-level meta robots nofollow (todo link em the página).

HTML rápido

<!-- catch-all -->
<a rel="nofollow" href="…">…</a>
<!-- paid / ad -->
<a rel="sponsored" href="…">…</a>
<!-- user comment / forum post -->
<a rel="ugc" href="…">…</a>
<!-- a paid link inside user content -->
<a rel="ugc sponsored" href="…">…</a>

Recursos que valem seu tempo

My related writing

• The State de Nofollow, UGC, & Sponsored Link Attributes — my original-research estudo em how much (ou how little) the web realmente adotado these attributes.

Official

• Google’s Qualify your outbound links para Google — the reference doc para nofollow/sponsored/ugc.
• Google’s Evolving “nofollow” — the 2019 announcement de the hint model e the new attributes.
• Matt Cutts em escultura de PageRank — the 2009 post that ended interno-nofollow sculpting.

Do restante fazer setor

• r/TechSEO — the comunidade para “why is my nofollowed page still indexed” debugging.
• Google’s new treatment de nolinks com seguir tem arrived (Search Engine Land, Mar 1 2020) — confirms the March 1, 2020 rastreamento/indexing hint go-live date de Danny Sullivan e Gary Illyes.
• Google Crawl e Indexing Update: nofollow Becomes a Hint (Search Engine Journal) — detailed coverage de the March 2020 hint change com practical implications.
• Por que Google Turned Nofollow Into a Hint (Search Engine Journal) — explains Google’s reasoning: widespread nofollow usar era costing Google útil link signals.
• PageRank Sculpting Is Dead! Long Live PageRank Sculpting! (Search Engine Land) — the definitive 2009 article em Matt Cutts’s confirmation that interno nofollow sculpting no longer funciona.
• Bing oferece suporte rel=sponsored & rel=ugc (Search Engine Land) — Bing’s confirmation that it oferece suporte all three values as hints.

Stats que vale citar

From my estudo The State de Nofollow, UGC, & Sponsored Link Attributes:

• ~10,6% de all backlinks eram nofollow — nofollow é comum across the web. Source
• ~3,6% de links internos carried nofollow — higher than it deve ser, since interno nofollow faz nothing útil (no escultura de PageRank since 2009). Source
• ugc/sponsored adoption era tiny — apenas ~0,44% de referring domains usado rel="ugc" e ~0,01% usado rel="sponsored", com most ugc coming de WordPress (added in 5,3). Without CMS defaults, adoption stays low. Source

Registro de alterações