How to Make an External Link in the Blog Dofollow and Nofollow

One aspect often overlooked in SEO is the use of internal & external links. You might already know that incorporating both internal and external links can significantly benefit your blog’s SEO as google love this type of linking.

These links not only provide your readers with additional information but also improve the user experience by allowing them to explore topics further without navigating away from your page. 

However, there’s a catch when it comes to linking externally, especially if your website has a low domain authority.

Giving out do-follow links indiscriminately can actually dilute your site’s authority, as you’re essentially passing on some of your site’s SEO juice to others.

This is where the concept of nofollow links comes into play, allowing you to link to external sites without affecting your own ranking

But how do you do it on WordPress? In this article, we will learn how to make external links do follow and no follow in the WordPress classic editor and the block editor with some simple and easy steps.

Understanding Dofollow and Nofollow External Links in the Article

Dofollow external links act as powerful endorsements from one site to another. These links are like digital votes of confidence, telling search engines that your content is valuable, credible, and worthy of a higher ranking.

A nofollow link is a directive you can add to external links to tell search engines not to pass on link authority from your site to the external site.

This is achieved by adding the rel=”nofollow” attribute to the hyperlink HTML code. However some plugins allow you add no follow links in external directly from edit and settings.

The strategic use of nofollow links can protect your site’s authority while still providing valuable resources to your readers.

How to Make an External Link Dofollow and Nofollow (Classic Editor)

Creating engaging content also involves directing your readers to additional information. Here’s a simple guide on how to add both types of links to your blog posts using the WordPress Classic Editor.

Steps to Add a Dofollow External Link WordPress Classic Editor

  • Select the Text: Highlight the text in your blog post that you want to turn into a link.
  • Insert the Link: Click on the ‘Insert Link‘ button (🔗) in the editor toolbar. A small popup will appear.
  • Enter the URL: Paste or type the URL of the external site you want to link to in the field provided in the popup.
  • Update: Click the ‘Apply’ button (↵) in the popup to insert the link.
  • Done: That’s it! You’ve successfully added a dofollow external link to your blog post.

By default, links added in WordPress are dofollow, meaning they tell search engines to follow the link and pass on some SEO value to the linked page.

Steps to Add a Nofollow External Link in WordPress Classic Editor

  • Add the Link: Follow the same steps as adding a dofollow link to insert the external link into your post. But one more thing to do here is to open the setting option ⚙️ and click on open in a new tab and update it.
Enable the option of opening a link in a new tab and update it before adding rel-nofollow
Enable the option of opening a link in a new tab and update it before adding rel-nofollow
  • Switch to Text Editor: Once your link is added, click on the ‘Text‘ tab on the right-hand upper side of the Classic Editor. This will switch your view to the HTML code of your article.
make a link nofollow in classic editor wordpress

Add Nofollow Attribute: Before adding nofollow attribute, remember the link which you are adding and always place rel=”nofollow” after the link. Find the link in the HTML code. It will look something like this: <a href=”https://example.com/linked text”.

Here the link address starts with https://thesportstak and ends with big-update“. You just need to place rel=”nofollow” after the link ends.

To make it nofollow, add rel=”nofollow” just after the link ends, like so: <a href=”http://example.com/linked textrel=”nofollow”>“.

  • Save Your Changes: After adding the nofollow attribute, switch back to the ‘Visual’ tab or save your post to apply the changes.
WordPress adjust the code automatically to make in nofollow as well as open in a new tab
WordPress adjust the code automatically to make in nofollow as well as open in a new tab

And there you have it! You’ve now learned how to add both dofollow and nofollow external links to your blog posts using the Classic Editor in WordPress. This simple yet effective technique helps you manage the SEO value that you pass on to other sites while ensuring your readers have access to additional useful information.

Make an External Link in the Blog Dofollow and Nofollow (Block Editor)

Adding a Dofollow External Link in WordPress Block Editor

The process for adding a dofollow link in the Block Editor is the same as adding any regular link:

  • Highlight the Text: First, select the text in your blog post that you want to turn into a link.
  • Insert the Link: Click on the link icon (🔗) in the toolbar that appears above the selected text. A small input box will pop up.
  • Enter the URL: Type or paste the URL of the external site you wish to link to into the input box.
  • Apply the Link: Press ‘Enter’ or click the submit button in the input box to apply the link to your text.

By default, this creates a dofollow link, which is the standard type of link that allows search engines to follow through to the external website.

Adding a Nofollow External Link in the WordPress Block Editor

Adding a Nofollow External Link in the WordPress Block Editor

To add a nofollow attribute to an external link in the WordPress Block Editor, follow these steps:

  • Add a Dofollow Link: First, add an external link following the steps mentioned above for a dofollow link.
  • Click on the Advance option to make the link open in a new tab and scroll down to select option “Search Engine should ignore this link (Mark as nofollow)
  • Done: Your link is now nofollow. You can switch back to the visual editor by clicking on the three dots again and selecting “Edit visually”.

And that’s it! You’ve successfully added nofollow external links to your blog post using the WordPress Block Editor. This method allows you to control which links provide SEO value to other sites while still offering your readers valuable resources.

Want to add nofollow attributes in bulk or you may have 100 pages to remove dofollow. Contact Content Ladder today! Start Now