Links do more than move people between pages. The HTML rel attribute describes the relationship between your page and another resource. The value nofollow means: expresses that the publisher does not endorse following the linked URL for crawling purposes.
What nofollow means
Expresses that the publisher does not endorse following the linked URL for crawling purposes.
Write it as rel="nofollow" on an appropriate <a> or <link> element. Not every relationship is defined for both: the correct element depends on the link type.
Example markup
<!-- Relationship: nofollow -->
<a href="https://example.test" rel="nofollow">Outside resource</a>What the browser does
This example uses <a>, which displays a regular link. The visible link text tells readers where it leads; the rel value adds information for browsers, search engines or other software.
Search engines can treat it as a hint; not a privacy or security feature.
This token communicates a publisher relationship to crawlers, not an access-control rule.
This relationship value does not automatically restyle the link, change its accessible name or make a new page secure. Navigation and user-facing labels still need deliberate HTML.
When to choose this token
Use nofollow only when the relationship is genuinely true for that destination. If it describes a web resource, make sure that resource exists and serves the right content. For an external URL, do not confuse a relationship hint with permission, security or a redirect.
Small practice task
Create a simple test page with the example. Inspect the resulting element in Developer Tools. Change the target to another sensible file or URL, then explain whether the visible page, a network request, or only the relationship metadata changed.
Common Beginner Mistakes
- Search engines can treat it as a hint; not a privacy or security feature.
- Assuming
rel="nofollow"has the same effect on every kind of HTML link. - Adding a relationship token when the destination does not have that relationship.
Key Takeaways
nofollowmeans expresses that the publisher does not endorse following the linked URL for crawling purposes.- Search engines can treat it as a hint; not a privacy or security feature.
- Choose a valid link element and test what the browser actually does.