How To Add Nofollow Links In WordPress?

If you are wondering how to add nofollow links in WordPress, you have come to the right place.

Nofollow links are hyperlinks that do not pass the link juice or domain authority.

As you know, hyperlinking, to both internal pages and external pages, plays a vital role in Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

When you hyperlink to Page B from Page A, you are not only directing your readers to Page B but also telling Google that Page B has relevant information and hence, should be followed. You are passing your authority to Page B, thereby, contributing towards its SEO ranking.

Basically, it acts a recommendation for the linked page from your side to Google – a signal of some sorts telling search engines that this page has valuable content and hence, should be ranked well.

Now, if this link from Page A to Page B is a nofollow link, it means you do not want to pass your link juice to Page B.

Nofollow links are usually used when you are linking to an external page of a non-authoritative site or to sidebar pages.

In this article, I will explain how to add nofollow links in WordPress.

What Are Nofollow Links? How To Add Nofollow Links In WordPress?

As I explained above, nofollow links are links that do not pass authority to the linked page. You can also read this article on nofollow and noindex tags to get a detailed knowledge of the same.

All links in WordPress are normal or dofollow links by default.

The HTML code for a dofollow link looks like this:

<a href="https://example.com">hyperlink</a>

On the other hand, a nofollow link has the nofollow attribute (rel="nofollow") added to the code:

<a rel="nofollow" href="https://example.com">hyperlink</a>

Adding a nofollow attribute to a link do not act as a ranking signal.

Know About Noindex & Nofollow Tags In Details

Why Do You Need To Add Nofollow Links?

Many SEO Experts believe that:

1. Adding nofollow links to external websites and passing link juice to it is unnecessary. It\’s like you are promoting another website, helping it in SEO ranking for no reason. Why help a competitor?
2. As making external links as nofollow doesn\’t \’waste\’ the link juice, it helps in improving the ranking of their own website.

I personally feel this particular approach a bit selfish. If you are linking to a quality article, one that provides valuable and relevant information, you shouldn\’t make it a nofollow link, even if it is a less authoritative site.

Second, if you are linking without the nofollow attribute to a relevant page of a website that has high authority, it will help in establishing relevancy of your article as well as your website.

But if a site has low authority and is infamous for its content, then while linking to it, you should use a nofollow attribute. Because you don\’t want search engines to identify your site to be someone promoting this type of websites. It will have a negative impact on your site authority.

Now that you know why nofollow links are used in general, let\’s move on to how to add nofollow links in WordPress.

How To Add Nofollow Links In WordPress Classic Editor?

Adding nofollow links in WordPress Classic Editor is easy:

1st Step: Select the text for the link. Refer to the image below. Here, the link will be added to the text \”link\”.

2nd Step: Now, click on the \’Insert/edit link\’ icon as shown in the above image. You can also click on \’Ctrl + K\’. You will see the following:

3rd Step: To add a simple link, just paste the link in the given field and click on the blue \’Apply\’ button.

But to add a nofollow link, click on the \’Link options\’ icon.

A new window will open:

4th Step: Enter the link in the URL field.

5th Step: Enter the text or anchor text (in this case \’link\’) in the Link Text field.

6th Step: Now, this is the most important step. Check the box against rel=\”nofollow\” as shown in the above image (inside the red box).

7th Step: Click on the \”Add Link\” button.

How To Add Nofollow Links In WordPress Gutenberg Editor?

In the Gutenberg Editor, you can add nofollow links in two different ways:

A. You can simply add a Classic Editor block and then follow the same steps mentioned above.

B. You can add manually:

1st Step: Select the text.

2nd Step: Click on the icon for link as shown in the above image. You will see the following:

3rd Step: Paste the link in the given field.

4th Step: Click on the \”Apply\” button. The link will be added. But it\’s still not a nofollow link.

5th Step: Click on the three dots for \’More options\’ as shown below:

6th Step: You will see the following options.

Click on \’Edit as HTML\’. You will see the HTML code for that block.

7th Step: The HTML code for the above example block is:

<p>This paragraph includes a <a href="https://example.com">hyperlink</a>.</p>

Here, the HTML code for the link is:

<a href="https://example.com">hyperlink</a>

Just after <a , place the nofollow link attribute – rel="nofollow" so that the HTML code for the link looks like this:

<a rel="nofollow" href="https://example.com">hyperlink</a>

8th Step: Now, click on the \’More options\’ icon (3 vertical dots). Click on \”Edit visually\” to go back to the visual format.

Now the link becomes a nofollow link. You can switch between HTML mode and Visual mode to add nofollow attributes wherever required.

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So, now you have a clear idea about how to add nofollow links in WordPress. I hope this detailed article helps you.

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