Two ways to do this
Option 1 — Single link from the post editor (recommended)
- Open the post in the WordPress editor
- Scroll down to the LINKILO – Link Analysis Dashboard box below the editor. It lists every internal and external link in the post with its anchor text and destination.
- Find the link you want to change and flip its Follow toggle to nofollow
- Click Save changes at the top of that table
Linkilo updates the link in the actual post content. Reload the page and inspect the link — it now has rel="nofollow". Use the Nofollow Only filter above each table to check what you've already changed.
Option 2 — All external links at once
- Go to Linkilo → Settings → External Links
- Switch Tell Google not to follow on
- If you have partner sites you vouch for, list their domains under Trusted sites (skip nofollow), one per line — those keep a normal follow link
- Click Save Settings
On the same pane, Extra link tags lets you add sponsored (paid or affiliate) and ugc (user-generated content) tags to external links as well.
Use with care. Nofollowing every external link site-wide tells Google you don't vouch for any of your outbound sources. That can hurt the perceived authority of your content. A diversified mix of follow + nofollow + sponsored is usually best.
When to use nofollow
- Paid links / sponsored content — required by Google. Use
rel="sponsored"(Linkilo supports this too) where applicable. - User-generated content — comments, forum posts, profile links. Use
rel="ugc". - Untrusted sources — links you reference but don't want to vouch for.
- Affiliate links — many SEO pros nofollow these by default; Google's official guidance is to use
rel="sponsored".
When NOT to use nofollow
- Internal links — nofollowing internal links wastes link equity within your own site. See How to fix internal nofollow links.
- High-trust external sources — citing a reputable study or institution is a positive signal; nofollowing it dilutes that.
- As a blanket rule on every outbound link — Google sees this as overcautious and it can backfire.
Verifying the change
After saving, view the page on the front-end, right-click the link, and inspect it. You should see rel="nofollow" (or rel="sponsored ugc nofollow" depending on what you applied).
Last reviewed for Linkilo 3.0.0 (October 2026).