Reading nofollow like it's 2019

Reading nofollow like it's 2019

Here's what's really going on with link attributes: half the audits we see still bucket every rel="sponsored" and ugc link as worthless and dump them. Meanwhile the brands actually moving treat the nofollow/UGC mix as a trust signal — a profile that's 100% dofollow looks more manufactured than one with a natural spread of unfollowed mentions.

The mistake is optimizing for a dofollow ratio that no clean site has.

What the sharp profiles show —
— Real link graphs carry a healthy chunk of nofollow, UGC, and sponsored. Forum mentions, Reddit, big-media nofollows still pass entity and discovery signal.
— Don't disavow or chase removal of nofollow links. They're part of looking real.

The perfectly dofollow profile is the suspicious one. Watch this space.