I have been building and managing WordPress sites and blogs for well over 25 years now. Almost every day, someone asks me a question about something in the WordPress admin panel. Often it is a simple setting that has been sitting in front of them for years.
Even in the age of AI, I am surprised by how many bloggers still don’t know what some of these settings do. That’s not a criticism. WordPress contains plenty of small options that aren’t particularly well explained, and most people are busy trying to write their next post, not study the mechanics of a hyperlink.
One question that comes up is about a little checkbox or link option called “nofollow”. Someone is adding a link to a word or phrase, perhaps to an Amazon product, and wonders: Should I check it? Will it stop people from clicking my link? Does it affect my website?
It’s worth understanding because the answer depends on why you’re linking to another page.
First, What Is “nofollow”?
A link normally takes your reader from one page to another. Search engines can also use links to discover pages and understand relationships between websites.
“nofollow” is a small piece of information added to a link’s HTML. It tells Google that you don’t want to give the destination the usual endorsement or ranking credit associated with an ordinary link.
In HTML, it looks like this:
<a href="https://example.com" rel="nofollow">Visit this website</a>Your readers won’t see any difference. The words are still clickable. The website still opens. “nofollow” doesn’t stop traffic, disable a link, or prevent someone from making a purchase.
And it isn’t a foolproof command to keep Google away from a page. Google treats “nofollow” as a hint, and it may find the destination through other links or a sitemap.
Why Was “nofollow” Created?
“nofollow” was introduced in 2005, originally to help fight comment spam. Bloggers remember the problem: people would leave comments with links to their own websites, often not because they wanted to join the conversation but because they hoped to benefit in search rankings.
Marking those links “nofollow” helped separate a genuine editorial recommendation from a link that someone else had placed on your website.
Over time, bloggers also began using it for advertising and affiliate links. Google has since introduced more specific labels for those situations.
“nofollow”, Sponsored, and UGC: What’s the Difference?
Today, Google’s guidance recognizes three useful link attributes:
- “nofollow”: Use when you don’t want to imply an endorsement of the destination, and another label isn’t more appropriate.
- sponsored: Use for links connected to advertising, sponsorship, affiliate commissions, or other compensation. This is Google’s preferred label for affiliate links.
- ugc: Short for user-generated content. This is meant for links left by visitors in comments, forums, and other areas where users contribute content.
These labels can be combined. For example, a compensated product link can contain both sponsored and nofollow. You don’t need to add every possible label to every link.
What About Amazon Affiliate Links?
Suppose you write a review of your favorite gardening book and link to it on Amazon using your Associates tracking ID. Someone may purchase the book, and you may earn a commission.
That link is commercial. Google recommends marking affiliate links with rel="sponsored". Google also accepts "nofollow" for this purpose, and using both is fine.
Here’s an example:
<a href="https://example.com/product" rel="sponsored nofollow">See the book</a>This is only an example, not a working affiliate link. The important part is the rel attribute.
Remember that marking a link as sponsored or “nofollow” is not the same as disclosing an affiliate relationship to your readers. If you earn commissions, provide a clear disclosure where people can see it. These are two separate responsibilities.
Should Every External Link Be Nofollow?
No, and this is where some bloggers become overly cautious.
Let’s say you’re writing about the history of WordPress and include a link to an official WordPress resource. Or you’ve read an excellent article and want readers to see the original. Those are ordinary editorial links. You generally do not need to add “nofollow”.
Google actually encourages useful links to outside sources. A well-chosen reference helps readers understand where information comes from.
And when you link to another article on your own website, you generally don’t need “nofollow” there either. Internal links help readers navigate and help search engines discover your content.
Where Do I Find This Setting in WordPress?
In the WordPress editor, select the words you want to link, then use the link button to add the destination URL. What you see next depends on the editor you’re using and any plugins installed.
Some editors and plugins show an option labeled “nofollow” or Mark as “nofollow”. Others don’t display that option at all. The default WordPress block editor doesn’t necessarily offer a built-in “nofollow” checkbox, so don’t assume something is wrong if you can’t find one.
If your editor doesn’t offer the option, you can edit the link’s HTML and add rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored" as appropriate. In the block editor, that may mean using Edit as HTML on the relevant block. Be careful to change only the link attributes, not the rest of the block.
For someone uncomfortable editing HTML, a reputable link-management or editor plugin may provide a simpler way to add these attributes.
One More Thing: “nofollow” Is Not Noindex
These two words sound similar, but they do different jobs. Nofollow applies to a link. Noindex is an instruction concerning whether a particular page should appear in search results.
Checking “nofollow” on an affiliate link does not keep your blog post out of Google. Nor does it guarantee that the linked page will stay out of search results. They solve different problems.
Don’t Let a Checkbox Become a Mystery
After all these years of working with WordPress, I’ve noticed that many of the questions bloggers ask aren’t about complicated web development. They’re about small decisions made while publishing: which box to check, what a setting means, or whether changing something will cause a problem.
For links, the practical rule is simple. If it’s an ordinary editorial reference, leave it alone. If you’re earning money from the link, identify it as sponsored. If you’re linking to something you don’t want to endorse, “nofollow” may make sense.
Once you understand what the label means, it’s just another small part of managing your website.
