Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Description of problem

Login and Register links rendered by the default UserAndLogin skin control are standard crawlable elements and are typically placed in the site header across all pages.

On many DNN sites, these links generate URLs containing query parameters such as returnurl. When crawlers repeatedly discover these links site-wide, it can lead to unnecessary crawling of low-value, parameterized URLs (e.g. /login?returnurl=...), contributing to crawl traps, wasted crawl budget, and noisy index coverage reports.

These pages are utility/authentication endpoints and generally provide no SEO or search value, yet they are currently treated like normal internal links.

Description of solution

Add rel="nofollow" by default to the Login and Register hyperlinks in UserAndLogin.ascx when the user is not authenticated.
This is a minimal, markup-only change that:

• Does not affect user behavior
• Does not break backward compatibility
• Reduces crawler link-following and discovery of login/register URLs and their parameter variants
• Improves default SEO hygiene for all DNN installations

Example change:

<asp:HyperLink ID="loginLink" runat="server" rel="nofollow" />
<asp:HyperLink ID="registerLink" runat="server" rel="nofollow" />

Description of alternatives considered

1. robots.txt disallow rules. Not ideal as a default platform change. Robots rules are site-specific and do not prevent URL discovery or indexing if URLs are already known.
2. noindex on login/register pages. Effective, but requires page-level logic and broader product decisions. This enhancement intentionally focuses on a minimal, low-risk improvement.
3. Leaving it to site owners / custom skins. Many site owners are unaware of this issue. Providing a sensible default improves the platform out of the box without removing flexibility.

Anything else?

This change aligns with Google Search Central recommendations regarding crawl management and link qualification, especially for non-content utility pages such as authentication endpoints.

It is a small improvement with a high positive impact for SEO-sensitive installations, particularly large or content-heavy portals.

Do you plan to contribute code for this enhancement?

• Yes

Would you be interested in sponsoring this enhancement?

• Yes

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct