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 rel="noopener nofollow ugc" added to deter inappropriate or potentially damaging behaviour. The nofollow attribute tells search engines not to endorse the link, while ugc identifies it as user-generated content. 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.
- Allowlisted domains: Admins can create an allowlist 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: Allowlisting domains
- Search for
exclude rel nofollow domainsin Admin / Site Settings, or find it in the Analytics area. - Add your site’s parent domain to the
exclude rel nofollow domainsallowlist.
- 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 allowlisting:
- Include only the specific subdomain when allowlisting a site on a popular domain. For example, use
myblog.wordpress.comto avoid allowlisting allwordpress.comsubdomains.
Last edited by @SaraDev 2024-08-05T22:14:58Z
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