I suppose this was inevitable: Flickr has finally put the no-follow tag on some of the outbound links that users can place on the photo-sharing service.

Here’s a look at the most recent photo on my personal photo stream, which includes a link to my personal blog, where I wrote about the photo in more detail:

The pink highlight = a nofollowed link. That link is in the photo description that I wrote about my own photo, so now there’s no linking benefit to sharing photos on Flickr. Links that other users place in the comments on a photo are also no-followed, so including a link in comments you leave on other photos is pointless from a linkbuilding perspective. As I said above, this was inevitable.

One thing that’s unchanged is this: Links in your user profile are still, at least at this moment, followed. Here’s a look at two links in my profile:

What’s the Impact?

1.) Using Flickr as a linkbuilding tool is almost dead. And, as a loyal Flickr user, if that cuts down on the amount of spam that masquerades as comments on photos, I’m all for it. But I’d also like the links that I place on my own photos to be able to pass juice — like in the first screenshot above. And, as long as they allow links in profiles to pass juice, you can bet Flickr will see more of this crap.

2.) Using Flickr for social media marketing is alive and well. Nowhere in my How to Market on Flickr article do I talk about using Flickr for linkbuilding. I talk about being part of the community that makes up your target audience and becoming a valued contributor. I have no doubt that still has plenty of value if you do it the right way.

BTW, credit for this discovery goes to Gab Goldenberg of SEOROI, who shared the news on Sphinn. There’s going to be a Sphinn button below this paragraph, but please don’t Sphinn this — go join the discussion on Gab’s post, instead.