Google’s John Mueller responded to a tweet about the proper use of nofollow for SEO, while agreeing with the tweet, he also pointed out a nuance about the missing nofollow attribute.
The tweet came from an infographic sharing when and when not to use nofollow attributes.
Nofollow infographic
A Yale study showed how the human brain gains consciousness by processing “a barrage of external stimuli,” highlighting the importance of visual cues for communication.
Infographics are useful ways to communicate information because they combine images with messages.
Someone on Twitter posted an infographic on the proper use of nofollows and tagged Google’s John Mueller, who jumped in to offer some commentary.
When to use nofollow links, simple chart for SEOs. pic.twitter.com/nLRGZjtXNI
— Serhii Koksharov 🇺🇦 (@devakatalk) May 10, 2023
The infographic suggested adding a rel=nofollow link attribute to a sponsored link, which is technically correct, but also not as simple as it might seem.
John Mueller he tweeted:
“Sponsored is also nofollow (or nofollow, sponsored). Also, if you’re making these links for SEO, isn’t the purpose for Google to figure them out?”
There’s more to Nofollow than Just Nofollow
The word “nuances”, in the context of language, is about a slight difference in meaning.
John’s tweet was about the additional nuance to the rel link element attribute.
What John’s comment brought up is that there is also the “sponsored” link element attribute, in addition to the usual nofollow.
The message is that while it’s fine to use nofollows for sponsored outbound links, publishers have the option to be more specific about what type of nofollow attribute is used.
For example, as John pointed out, one can also choose to use a nofollow rel=”sponsored” link attribute instead of the normal nofollow attribute.
The rel=”sponsored” link attribute gives Google additional context for the link.
The word semantic deals with the meaning of language.
The rel=”sponsored” link attribute gives Google additional meaning about the context of the outbound link that is not followed as rel=”sponsored”.
Google’s official documentation does not state how Google uses additional semantic information.
Google’s official documentation for the different types of nofollow link attributes recommends that Google prefers that publishers use the appropriate versions of the rel link attribute.
In the case of sponsored links, Mueller’s tweet echoes Google’s official documentation on sponsored outbound links that it explicitly recommends, rel=”sponsored”.
This is Google’s official recommendation:
“rel=”sponsored”
Mark links that are ads or paid placements (usually called paid links) with the sponsored value.
…Note: The nofollow attribute was previously recommended for these types of links and is still an acceptable way to mark them, although sponsoring is preferred.”
Do you use Nofollow on User Generated Content (UGC)?
The infographic also recommends using the nofollow attribute on user-generated content (UGC).
UGC content is content posted by third-party readers, such as in the blog comment section, user reviews, or discussion forums.
There is a warning in the infographic about UGC links (user posted links) that says:
“You will soon become spam if you don’t follow these links”
This statement is actually less than correct.
For SEO, there is nothing wrong with UGC links if the outbound links are properly moderated.
Google guidelines explicitly say to mark sponsored links with a nofollow or rel=UGC attribute.
“Mark links that are ads or paid placements (usually called paid links) with the sponsored value.”
There is no ambiguity, it is a “do this” statement, not an optional recommendation.
Unlike how Google wants to treat the sponsored link, Google only recommends a rel=”ugc” link attribute for user-generated links.
Here’s what Google’s guidelines say about UGC links:
“We recommend marking links to user-generated content (UGC), such as comments and forum posts, with the ugc value.
… If you want to recognize and reward trusted contributors, you can remove this attribute from links posted by members or users who have consistently made high-quality contributions over time.”
So adding nofollow link attribute rel=”ugc” is something optional.
Clearly, then, outlinks from user-generated content are not inherently bad or problematic, either for Google or for the publisher, as long as the publisher is moderating those outbound links.
If UGC links were bad and problematic in general, Google wouldn’t write that it’s okay to allow UGC links if users are trustworthy.
But there is a yes to that statement and it’s a big yes.
Failure to monitor user-generated links can lead to spammers adding links to spam sites, sometimes in a hidden manner.
This is something that can be problematic for a publisher.
The technical nuance of SEO
SEO is getting more and more complicated and technical and there is a lot to do.
You literally need an encyclopedic memory to remember all the components of SEO.
Even for someone like me, who’s been in the business for over 20 years, there are some things where you remember the general outlines of certain specs because there’s just so much to know.
Good thing we have someone like John Mueller to remind us of the nuance every now and then.
Featured image by Shutterstock/Kateryna Onyshchuk
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