What link settings should I use?

With Yoast SEO, you can add extra settings to your links. You can mark your link as nofollow or sponsored. When you select these options, we enhance the HTML markup of your links to include the relevant instructions (or attributes).Please note that this Yoast SEO feature is only available in the native block editor and not in the classic editor.

Search engines should ignore this link

Enabling this option adds a nofollow attribute to the link.

Before: <a href="https://www.example.com">your link</a>

After: <a href="https://www.example.com" rel="nofollow">your link</a>.

Depending on the search engine, this may either discourage them from following the link, or, discourage them from rewarding the link, for example, by passing PageRank or other signals through it.

It’s good practice to enable this setting on links which lead to third-party websites you don’t endorse or trust, and on any paid, sponsored or otherwise incentivized link. Please note that, despite the name, the nofollow attribute doesn’t necessarily mean that search engines won’t still follow the link.

This is a sponsored link or advert

Enabling this option adds a sponsored attribute and a nofollow attribute to the link.

Before: <a href="https://www.example.com">your link</a>

After: <a href="https://www.example.com" rel="nofollow sponsored">your link</a>.

It helps search engines understand which links may be paid or incentivized placements. Please note that selecting this setting will also automatically select the Search engines should ignore this link setting. We do this in order to comply with search engine guidelines, and because some search engines don’t support or understand the sponsored attribute.

Related articles