JNofollow Plugin for Joomla!

JNofollow — FAQ

Answers to the most common questions about the JNofollow plugin for Joomla 4 & 5.

Is the plugin open source and free?

Yes. JNofollow is free of charge and open source under the GNU GPL v3.

Why manage nofollow for external links in Joomla?

Outbound links can be editorial, user-generated, or paid/sponsored. Search engines recommend using appropriate rel values to clarify the relationship: nofollow for unendorsed links, ugc for user-generated content, and sponsored for paid links. JNofollow helps you apply these consistently, add security-minded defaults like noopener/noreferrer, and keep full control via whitelists, blacklists, and per-link bypass rules.

Does it work with Joomla 3?

No. JNofollow supports Joomla 4 and 5. Joomla 3 and older are not supported.

Are there any hidden backlinks to SEO NW?

No. The plugin does not add hidden backlinks to any site (including SEO NW). We keep the output clean and focused on your content.

How can I exclude an article or a section from processing?

Use article switches inside your content:

  • Exclude entire article:
  • Exclude a section: … content …
  • Legacy tokens (fallback): …

Can I keep specific external links as follow?

Yes. Enable the bypass options in the plugin:

  • Bypass via rel token: If a link already has rel="noopener"/noreferrer/ugc/sponsored (and no nofollow), it stays follow.
  • Bypass via CSS class: Add a class like follow to keep a link follow.
  • Bypass via attribute: Add data-follow="1" (or true/yes).
  • Note: The domain blacklist overrides bypass rules.

How do the whitelist and blacklist work?

Add one domain per line:

  • Whitelist: Treat these domains as internal (no external-link processing). Subdomains are covered automatically (e.g., example.com also covers www.example.com).
  • Blacklist: Always force rel="nofollow" on these domains (takes priority over bypass).

What’s the difference between “Keep” and “Overwrite” for rel?

Keep preserves any existing rel tokens and extends them with your settings. Overwrite replaces the entire rel value with your configured tokens.

Can JNofollow open external links in a new tab?

Yes. Set target mode to “Always _blank” to force new-tab behavior for external links. We also recommend rel="noopener" for security.

I set a bypass, but nofollow still appears. Why?

Check that the link does not already include nofollow, confirm the relevant bypass option is enabled, and make sure the domain isn’t on the blacklist. Clear caches and re-test. If the issue persists, enable the plugin’s Debug log and send a short report to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Is there a performance impact?

JNofollow is lightweight and optimized for typical article workflows. You can limit processing via category filters or class filters if needed.