A dofollow link, called "lien dofollow" in French SEO jargon, is an ordinary web link with no rel value limiting it, so Google can follow it and credit the target site. A nofollow link carries rel="nofollow" in its HTML code and mainly brings visits, brand awareness and a credible backlink profile.
- For rankings
- An editorial dofollow link from a site in the same field remains the decisive lever on a competitive query.
- For traffic and trust
- A nofollow link, a mere hint for Google since 2019, sends visitors and keeps the link profile plausible.
- For paid placements
- Google asks for rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow" on any link bought to influence rankings.
What is a dofollow link in the HTML code?
A dofollow link is a standard hyperlink whose a tag carries no rel attribute restricting it. The word "dofollow" does not exist in the HTML standard: no search engine reads rel="dofollow", and every link is followed by default as long as it carries neither nofollow nor one of its two variants. In the source code of a web page, it looks like this: <a href="https://example.com/page/">anchor text</a>. The href holds the destination URL, the text between the tags is the anchor.
Googlebot, the Google crawler, discovers the URL in the href, follows it to the destination page and counts it when it calculates popularity. The anchor helps the search engine understand what the target page is about. A followed link therefore works on two levels: it makes a URL discoverable, and it passes on part of the trust granted to the site that publishes it, what SEO specialists call link juice.
This transfer is neither automatic nor equal from one link to another. A dofollow link placed in the body of a blog article, surrounded by text on the same subject, carries far more weight than a footer link repeated across thousands of URLs. The source site matters too: a blog with real organic traffic and a clear editorial line gives its links a value that a network of empty sites cannot imitate.
The nofollow link and its two variants, rel sponsored and rel ugc
A nofollow link carries rel="nofollow" in its a tag. Google introduced the attribute in January 2005, together with Yahoo and MSN, to fight spam in blog comments: a URL posted by a stranger under an article was no longer supposed to boost a casino site or a dubious pharmacy. For nearly fifteen years, the nofollow worked as a strict instruction, and the search engine ignored such links for ranking.
On 10 September 2019, Google changed its doctrine and added two more specific values. Rel sponsored flags a paid link, an advertisement or a paid agreement. Rel ugc (user generated content) marks content published by users, in a forum or a comments section. The three values then became hints that the search engine may take into account or not, first for ranking, then from 1 March 2020 for crawling and indexing. A nofollow link can therefore sometimes pass on a signal, but nobody outside Google knows when or to what extent.
| rel value in the HTML code | Typical use | How Google reads it |
|---|---|---|
| none (dofollow link) | Editorial citation, internal linking | Followed, popularity passed on |
| rel="nofollow" | Link the site does not want to vouch for | Hint since 2019 |
| rel="sponsored" | Advertising, paid article, affiliate link | Hint, declared as paid |
| rel="ugc" | Comments, forum posts | Hint, user content |
Combinations stay possible, for example rel="nofollow sponsored" on an advert, for search engines that do not yet read the recent value. Choosing the right value mainly serves to describe the nature of an external link honestly.
Dofollow vs nofollow: the difference, criterion by criterion
The difference between dofollow and nofollow links lies less in traffic than in the transfer of authority. Both types of link send the same visitors, since visits depend on the audience of the source page; what changes is the weight Google gives them in its ranking. The comparison below covers the criteria that shape a link building strategy.
| Criterion | Dofollow link | Nofollow link |
|---|---|---|
| Popularity passed on | Yes, depending on the source site | Low or none, at the discretion of Google |
| Crawling by the robot | Systematic | Possible since March 2020 |
| Visits brought | Identical, tied to the audience | Identical, tied to the audience |
| Risk if overdone | Artificial profile, filter or manual action | No direct risk |
| Usual sources | Editorial articles, press, specialist blogs | Social media, forums, comments, Wikipedia |
| Effect on ranking | Direct and lasting | Indirect, through brand awareness |
The verdict lies in the last row: to move up on a competitive query, nothing replaces a followed backlink from a relevant site. The nofollow link works elsewhere, on brand visibility and on how plausible the backlink profile looks.
What impact does a dofollow link have on SEO?
A dofollow link affects the SEO of a page because the Google algorithm still relies on the idea behind PageRank: a page cited by reliable pages deserves more trust. Google stopped showing a public score when the PageRank toolbar was retired in 2016, but its official documentation still presents links as one of the signals that help judge the relevance of a page.
The impact of a backlink varies according to four factors found in any backlink analysis:
- the subject area of the publishing site, close to or far from the target page;
- the authority and traffic of the domain name, measured by indicators such as Trust Flow or Domain Rating;
- the placement: in the body of the content, in a sidebar, in the footer;
- the anchor text, descriptive without being over-optimised.
SEO agencies and digital marketing teams review these four criteria to select the websites for a link building campaign: a web site visited by real users, carefully written content and a section close to the page being pushed. Backlink tools such as Ahrefs, Semrush or Majestic display this data for each domain name. The same tools show, for a target keyword, how many referring domains the pages already ranking on that keyword hold: this keyword-level view tells how many new dofollow links a page realistically needs. A dofollow backlink rarely scores top marks on all four, and it does not need to: a well-ranked article on a specialist blog, with a natural anchor, is often enough to gain a few places on a long-tail query. An exact-match anchor repeated everywhere turns that gain into a risk, which is why the wording of each anchor text deserves as much care as the choice of the site. Conversely, an avalanche of followed links on sites with no visitors produces at best a short-lived effect.
Why use nofollow links?
Nofollow links have a real use, both for the web publisher and for the site being cited. For a publisher, the rel attribute protects its own site: Google asks for purchases and third-party contributions to be qualified, otherwise the site hosting them risks a loss of trust. A forum, a comments section or an open directory therefore has every interest in setting its outgoing links to nofollow or ugc.
For the site receiving it, a nofollow link keeps three benefits:
- Qualified traffic: an active forum discussion or a mention in a media outlet sends visitors, whatever the rel value.
- A credible profile: no real site receives only followed links, because Wikipedia, social media platforms and most networks set their outgoing links to nofollow.
- Brand awareness: a brand mentioned here and there ends up searched for by name, which counts towards its online visibility.
A backlink profile made up of one hundred per cent dofollow links draws attention, especially on a young site. Black hat campaigns are often spotted this way: hundreds of followed links, exact-match anchors and no mention from social media. Since the Penguin update of April 2012, Google has been able to demote this kind of profile.
What share of dofollow links should a site aim for?
No official ratio between dofollow and nofollow links exists, and Google has never published one. The sound approach is to look at the backlink profile of the competitors on the first page for the target query: their split shows what the search engine considers normal in the subject area. Three site profiles come up often in practice.
A new site or a newly launched blog
A new site needs varied signals above all: listings in serious directories, profiles on social media, a few mentions, then the first followed links on sites in its field. Creating a volume of dofollow links too quickly on a domain name with no history looks like manipulation, and the pace of link acquisition matters as much as the nature of each link during the first months.
An established site targeting competitive queries
An established site with a natural link profile can focus its efforts on editorial dofollow links. Nofollow links keep arriving on their own, via social media and mentions, and the proportion stays plausible without any special effort. The challenge becomes the quality of each backlink obtained: one relevant site is worth more than ten all-purpose sites.
A local business or a brand
For a local business, directories, the local press and business listings bring plenty of nofollow links, useful for visibility and for consistent contact details across the web. A few followed links from sites in the same area or sector are then enough to improve search engine optimisation on geographical queries.
How can you tell if a link is dofollow or nofollow?
Checking whether a link is dofollow takes a few seconds in a browser. Right-clicking the link, then "Inspect", opens the HTML code of the page: the a tag appears with its href and any rel attribute it carries. Without nofollow, sponsored or ugc, the robot can follow it. The Ctrl+U shortcut displays the full source code, where a search for "nofollow" lists every occurrence. Several browser extensions highlight the nofollow links of an entire page, which is handy for auditing a site before proposing a collaboration.
Two pitfalls escape a quick inspection and also need checking:
- a robots meta tag set to nofollow in the header, which applies to every link on the page;
- a URL that goes through a redirect or a JavaScript script, which the robot does not always follow.
A backlink obtained should be checked on the day it goes live, then a few weeks later: a redesign or a change in editorial policy is enough to switch it. The steps to check a backlink after buying it go through these controls one by one, Google Search Console included.
Dofollow and nofollow in a link building campaign
A link building campaign run by an SEO agency starts with research: which queries to target, which pages to push, which websites to select. Defining the target then guides the type of link to obtain. A commercial page targeting a competitive query needs dofollow links; a brand in its launch phase first benefits from appearing in the media, on social media and in directories, where nofollow dominates.
Managing a campaign relies on three resources: a master spreadsheet in which each URL obtained keeps its date, anchor and rel attribute, a lasting relationship with publishers, and a check of results in Search Console. This simple setup is enough to spot a link that changes its nature.
Digital marketing and content marketing teams also use nofollow mentions as a brand awareness lever, for example when launching a product, a service or a training course: the goal then becomes traffic and what visitors get from the page, not ranking. For a client, the right model combines a majority of followed editorial links and a pool of qualified mentions, each tied to the subject of the destination page.
The limits of each option
A dofollow link has its pitfalls. A followed link to a poor-quality site can harm the publisher hosting it, and an undeclared purchase breaches the Google spam policies, which explicitly list buying links intended to manipulate rankings. An exact-match anchor repeated across many sites is another classic artificial signal.
A nofollow link has its blind spots. It does not replace a genuine editorial backlink for getting off the second page, and relying solely on the hint Google might take from it amounts to betting on a black box. Nofollow links obtained en masse in comments bring neither traffic nor image: they merely signal lazy outreach. Internal linking should never be set to nofollow either, because the attribute stops popularity from flowing between the pages of the same site.
Six edge cases around rel values, redesigns and redirects
Is a nofollow link useless for SEO?
A nofollow link is not useless: it brings visits and visibility, and makes the backlink profile credible. It simply carries much less weight than a followed link in rankings, and its direct effect remains uncertain.
Can a publisher switch my link to nofollow afterwards?
A publisher can change the rel attribute of a link at any time, during a redesign, a change of CMS or a new editorial policy. Regular checks after the link goes live make it possible to spot the change.
Should you turn down a link declared as rel sponsored?
A link marked rel="sponsored" remains a correctly declared purchase, in line with the Google guidelines. It serves brand awareness and traffic; for ranking, it weighs like a nofollow link.
Does a dofollow link in a blog comment have any value?
A dofollow link in a blog comment has very little value: Google recognises comment sections, and most CMSs set these URLs to nofollow or ugc by default.
Does a redirecting link pass on its popularity?
A URL redirected with a 301 in principle passes its popularity on to the final page, according to Google. A chain of redirects or a detour through a click-tracking tool, on the other hand, weakens the signal.
Should you add rel="dofollow" to your links?
Adding rel="dofollow" serves no purpose: the value does not exist in the HTML standard and search engines ignore it. A link without any rel attribute is already followed.
Other link building questions, from choosing a publishing site to reading authority indicators, fill the Link Hunter SEO blog.