Google: Do Follow - Rel="Follow" Is Not A Thing

Apr 28, 2021 - 7:41 am 1 by

Google Follow

Google has a few link attributes that allow you to tell Google not to pass any link signals from the link to the site you are linking to. There is the classic rel="nofollow" and the newer rel="ugc" and rel="sponsored". But no, there is no do follow or rel="follow" attribute.

Yes, sometimes SEOs will call a link that does not have any of the rel="nofollow" and the newer rel="ugc" and rel="sponsored" attributes on them a "do follow link," but no, Google does not say, this link has a rel="follow" on it, we must follow it. Google ignores an attribute that reads rel="follow".

So if you put a rel="nofollow" and a rel="follow" on the same link, then Google will ignore the rel="follow" and respect the rel="nofollow" directive.

John Mueller of Google confirmed this on Twitter saying "We don't use "follow" - it's ignored like any other unused attribute."

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: November 14, 2025

Nov 14, 2025 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Movemeber Google Update, Opal AI Spam, Discover Spam Fix, Copilot Search, Google Image Ads & More

Nov 14, 2025 - 8:01 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Advertiser Suspension Improvements: Faster & More Accurate

Nov 14, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Ads

Google: Don't Close Your Google Ads Account To Make LSAs Work

Nov 14, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google

Google Shopping With AI Mode Comparisons, Call Store, Track Price & Agentic Checkout

Nov 14, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Brings Brand Inclusions To Standard Shopping Campaigns (NOPE)

Nov 14, 2025 - 7:21 am
 
Previous Story: The Layer On Top Of Google Search Web Rendering Service