The Nofollow tag in SEO: Everything you need to know

Links are an essential part of the referencing natural. They are used to link pages together and improve navigation for users. Search engines also use them to index and evaluate the content of websites.

That's why it's important to understand the use and influence of different types of links on the optimisation of a site's SEO. website.

Among these links, there is a specific one called "NofollowWe are going to explore the definition of this term, as well as its applications in the field of SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Definition of the Nofollow tag

The link Nofollow is a type of link that sends an indication to search engines such as Google not to follow or index this link specifically. This information is included in the HTML rel= "nofollow ".

So when a webmaster adds this tag to an external link, he is sending a clear signal to the search engines that he does not want the SEO weight of his page to be transferred to this other page.

Example of the use of a Nofollow link

Here is an example of HTML code incorporating the nofollow tag:

<a href="https://exemple.com/links" rel="nofollow"&gt;Visit our partner</a>

By using this tag, the link present on the page will not transmit any "SEO juice" to the target site. As a result, the authority of the sending site is preserved, but none is given to the site receiving the link.

Reasons for and use of Nofollow links

There are several reasons why a webmaster may decide to use a nofollow link rather than a traditional link, known as a "backlink". Dofollow ". Some of these reasons include:

Compliance with search engine guidelines : Google and other search engines encourage the use of Nofollow links in certain situations to avoid spam or link abuse (for example, when you have been paid to place a link).
Comment management : Nofollow links are often used in the comments sections of blogs and websites, to prevent visitors from creating new links. external links to undesirable sites.
Referencing control : The use of Nofollow links allows the publisher of a website judiciously control the pages they wish to highlight for the search engines, without penalising those that are of less interest to them.

Impact of Nofollow links on natural referencing

Although Nofollow links are designed not to transfer any "weight" in terms of SEO, it is interesting to see their influence on SEO and how search engines view them.

Google and the Nofollow tag

Over the years, Google has refined its treatment of Nofollow links. Initially, these were completely ignored by the search engine, but today they are taken into account differently depending on the context:

- For PageRank : Nofollow links do not carry any weight when it comes to assessing the authority of a page, but they can be an indication of its recognition. In other words, several Nofollow links to a page can give it a certain legitimacy in the eyes of Google, without directly impacting its ranking.
- In indexing : Nofollow links are generally not followed by Google's robots. However, some are sometimes discovered and indexed, particularly when several other existing sites also send positive signals about this page.

Other search engines and the Nofollow tag

Although less influential than Google, other search engines such as Bing, Yahoo or DuckDuckGo also have their own methods for taking Nofollow links into account. Generally speaking, they follow the same principles as Google: respect the intention of the link publisher while evaluating the quality signals and clues provided by these links.

Best practice for using Nofollow links

To optimise a site's natural referencing, a few principles should be observed when using Nofollow links:

Apply the Nofollow tag where appropriate: In all situations where it is recommended to opt for a Nofollow link (in accordance with search engine guidelines, comment management, etc.), make sure you use this tag correctly.
Vary the types of links : A good link profile includes both Dofollow and Nofollow links. So don't hesitate to encourage a certain diversity of external links on your site, so that you have rich and varied content that meets the expectations of both users and search engines.
Comply with XHTML/HTML standards: Make sure that your nofollow tags comply with web standards and that they do not cause validation errors in your source code.

In conclusion, understanding and using Nofollow links intelligently is essential for optimising a website's natural referencing.

Not only do they make it possible to comply with search engine guidelines, but they also enable precise control of authority references to other pages, so that visitors can be provided with high-quality, effective content.