This documentation explains how to configure “nofollow” attributes for links posted by users on Discourse forums.
Required user level: Administrator
Default “nofollow” implementation
By default, all user submitted links will have a nofollow attribute added to deter inappropriate or potentially damaging behaviour. This includes all links on user profiles, as robots.txt ignores all profile information.
However, there are exceptions that can be managed by admins to improve the relevance of certain links to your site and your trusted users.
Exceptions
- Staff posts: Links posted by staff members do not receive the “nofollow” attribute.
- Trust Level 3 users: Regular users who have reached Trust Level 3 can have their links followed. This setting can be disabled if necessary.
- Whitelisted domains: Admins can create a whitelist of domains (including subdomains) to allow “follow” links for specific, trusted sites.
Configuring “nofollow” settings
Follow these steps to manage the “nofollow” settings via the Admin Settings:
Step 1: Configuring general “nofollow” settings
- Navigate to
Admin / Site Settings / Spam. - Ensure the
add rel nofollow to user contentsetting is checked by default.
- If you change this setting (not recommended), you will need to rebake all posts to apply the new settings to existing links.
Step 2: Configuring Trust Level 3 settings
- Navigate to
Admin / Site Settings / Trust Levels. - By default, TL3 users’ links are followed. You can check the box to remove this exclusion and keep all user links as
rel="nofollow".
Step 3: Whitelisting domains
- Navigate to
Admin / Site Settings / Required. - Add your site’s parent domain to the
exclude rel nofollow domainswhitelist.
- This allows internal links and links to content on the same site (outside Discourse) to be followed, increasing the visibility and relevance of content.
Tips for Whitelisting:
- Include only the specific subdomain when whitelisting a site on a popular domain. For example, use
myblog.wordpress.comto avoid whitelisting allwordpress.comsubdomains.
Last edited by @SaraDev 2024-08-05T22:14:58Z
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