When to use No-Follow Links and how to insert them

No-follow links

No-follow links are links with a rel=”nofollow” HTML tag applied to them. The no-follow tag tells search engines to ignore that link. Because no-follow links do not pass PageRank they don’t impact search engine rankings. The no-follow tag is a notice sign for search engines saying “Don’t count this”.

When to use no-follow links

No-follow links are applied to any outbound/external links which do not refer to a news/reference site. If you are linking to anything other than a news media or government source, your link needs to be marked as a “no-follow”.  
A news media link could be TimesLive or The Cape Times for instance. A government link could be something like The Department of Tourism.

How to Insert them

First and foremost, any outbound/external link needs to open in a new tab but (to mark it as a “no follow”, simply click on the “no follow” button after clicking on the link in your story).

Rather safe than sorry

If you are at all in doubt about your link – should it contain a no-follow or not – please speak to your editor on duty. Furthermore, it is always better to err on the side of caution and mark any links that you may be unsure of as “no-follow”.