Nofollow
TL;DR
The nofollow attribute on a link tells search engines not to pass trust or authority signals to the destination URL.
Nofollow was introduced in 2005 to discourage link spam in UGC. Since 2019 Google treats nofollow as a 'hint' rather than strict rule. In combination with rel='ugc' (user-generated) and rel='sponsored' (paid link) you now signal more finely. Paid partnerships should use sponsored.
Example
In a sponsored editorial article, the link to your site must carry rel="sponsored". Without it, Google can penalise both sites for link schemes.
Frequently asked questions
Does nofollow pass PageRank?
Since 2019: sometimes. Google treats nofollow as a hint and may pass PageRank. In practice: less effect than dofollow but not zero.
Related terms
Further reading
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