Dofollow and nofollow links: A beginners guide

This week, we welcome Kevin Dam to Sitebulb, who shares with us his beginners guide to dofollow and nofollow links. 

Today, I will explore what distinguishes dofollow from nofollow links and how it can impact your search engine optimisation strategy. From a detailed explanation of each type to their various advantages and disadvantages, I will cover everything you need to know about utilising dofollow and nofollow links in your digital marketing campaigns.

Contents:

• What are dofollow links?
• What are nofollow links?
• Dofollow vs Nofollow
• When should you use which link type, and why is it important
• How to find dofollow link opportunities
• Final thoughts

What are dofollow links?

Dofollow links (or followed links) are HTML tags that allow search engines to index and follow the linked page. It's a type of link that passes link equity (or "link juice") and PageRank from one website to another. It helps in terms of SEO by passing the authority and trustworthiness of the origin site to the destination site. These links are also used to direct readers to different sources of information on the Web.

Dofollow links usually happen by default and don't need extra coding. When someone links to your website, it will automatically be a "dofollow."

By default, links that don't have a "rel" attribute means it is dofollow, but you can also manually add a dofollow attribute, such as rel= "dofollow", and it looks like this:

Dofollow links, particularly internal links, encourage the flow of link juice between the pages of your site and can help improve your website's ranking on the SERPs. To maximise the effect of link building, you need to strategically place dofollow links on high-quality websites. 

Because of the nature of dofollow links, it's important to ensure that all your outgoing links are relevant and contextual to your content. Otherwise, you risk being penalised by search engines for engaging in link spamming activities.

Additionally, receiving dofollow backlinks will help improve a website's domain authority or domain rating, which will aid in keyword ranking.

Common types of dofollow links

Among the most typical ones are:

• Testimonial links
• Resource links
• Review links
• Startup directories
• Local listings
• Profile pages
• Product pages or marketplaces
• Image galleries

Benefits of dofollow links

Dofollow links are a valuable SEO asset. Some benefits of dofollow links include:

1. Increase the domain authority of a website

Dofollow links are a great way to increase a website's domain authority. Getting other websites to link back to your website can improve your site's ranking in search engine results pages and ultimately increase its visibility.

Please note: simply looking at metrics like Moz's Domain Authority metric, Ahrefs' Domain Rating or Semrush Authority Score can be misleading, as these are metrics created by the respective tools and not an accurate representation of how Google rates authority.  

2. Improve rankings on search engine results pages

Besides having a well-designed website that offers value to your audience, having dofollow links can boost your rankings on search engine results pages. The more authoritative links you get, the better chance your website has of appearing higher up in SERPs. 

You need to ensure that links are pointing to the pages that are meant to rank for the specific phrases you're targeting, and using a shotgun approach isn't going to be an effective strategy. 

I've personally outranked many larger sites that have higher Domain Authority scores by laser-pointing links to specific pages.

3. Boost organic traffic

When you receive a link from another website, it helps build a connection and relevancy between the two websites, and now you're seen as a recommended resource. If the website you receive links from is in the same niche or topic, this can boost your engagement since the target audience is similar.

4. Help establish credibility

For many businesses, having dofollow links from credible websites can help establish their credibility in the eyes of potential customers. It gives them an advantage over competitors who don't have any links pointing towards their site. If other reliable sites link to a website, it can give the impression that they are trustworthy and reliable.

What are nofollow links?

Nofollow links are hyperlinks that instruct search engine crawlers to ignore them. This type of link is typical when linking to external websites, as it can help protect your site from any potential penalties or rankings drops due to being associated with low-quality content on those sites.

Nofollow links can also be within internal content if the link is not relevant to your main topic and should be ignored by crawlers. These links can still send visitors to other pages, but they will have a less positive impact on search engine rankings or affect any of your own website's crawlability.

Below is an example of a nofollow tag:

When the internet moved towards Web 2.0, essentially allowing two-way communication, people would often comment on blog content with a link to their website to raise their website's ranking. 

That's when Google introduced the attribute "rel=nofollow" on hyperlinks in 2005 to prevent comment spam. It prevents abuse of the public site and does not give any credit to the spammers when the website ranks in search results. Since 2019, however, Google treats nofollows as "hints".

Common types of nofollow links

Because it's easy for users to manipulate links in User Generated Content (UGC), any links are typically created as nofollow by default to discourage spam behaviour. 

The most common types of nofollow links include:

• Forum Posts, such as from Quora or Reddit
• Blog comments on websites
• Posts shared on platforms like Facebook or Instagram
• Descriptions in videos uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo
• Syndicated press releases

Large publications such as Huffington Post, New York Times, and even Medium.com typically provide nofollow links within their content.

The new link attributes released by Google

In 2019, Google released two new link attributes: UGC and Sponsored. 

Here's how they look:

User Generated Content (UGC) attribute identifies links created by users, such as links within comments or forum threads. 

The Sponsored attribute can highlight links created as part of an advertisement, sponsorship or other monetary arrangements. Both link attributes will give publishers greater control over their outbound links and indicate possible reasons for placing the link.

Google has stated that it may use the UGC and Sponsored attributes as a ranking signal for organic search results in the future. Any links marked with these attributes could potentially impact the ranking of a website, so publishers need to understand and utilise them properly to process links better.

It's also important to remember that these two link attributes are not replacements for nofollow tags. The nofollow tag is still used to identify links that search engines should not follow, and it's still a recommendation for cases where paid links or other deceptive practices are involved. 

However, the UGC and Sponsored attributes can provide more visibility into the type of linked content, which may benefit both search engines and publishers. 

Benefits of nofollow links

Having nofollow links also offers numerous benefits as they are an important part of an effective SEO strategy. Some benefits of nofollow links include: 

1. Protect sites from spam and bad link practices

Nofollow links prevent spammers and bad actors from manipulating search engine rankings by providing a way to identify and stop the flow of link juice to inappropriate sites. Nofollow links also help protect web admins from liability for linking to potentially harmful websites or content found on them.

2. Logically separate paid links

Nofollow links provide a way to logically separate paid and promotional links from organic or editorial backlinks. It's generally accepted that sponsored, paid, or promotional content should be nofollow links.

3. Maintains editorial control

Nofollow links give website owners complete control over whom their pages are linking out to and why. Instead of having to actively monitor the links from their website, owners can set a blanket rule to nofollow all links from their website. It gives them total control over the outgoing links on their website.

4. Increases SEO website visibility

Although nofollow links don't directly help improve a website's SEO ranking, they indirectly discourage link spamming from user-generated content sites. Thus, nofollow links can keep websites from being penalised by search engine algorithms, which could ultimately lead to higher rankings.

Dofollow vs Nofollow

The biggest difference between dofollow and nofollow links is how they influence SEO rankings. Traditionally, search engines used dofollow links to discover new pages and build trust and credibility, boosting a page's ranking. Conversely, nofollow links don't carry any direct SEO value, as they only allow readers to follow.

Below is the comparison table to distinguish dofollow from nofollow links.

In an ideal world, having only dofollow links would boost your website credibility, trust and rankings more than if you had nofollow links; however, with the way the internet is used in 2023, it's very common to have nofollow links as part of your link profile. 

If you're sharing and creating content on social media, then there's a chance you'll have lots of nofollow links from these platforms. Of course, the credibility of the website you receive the link from matters.

For example, a website with no users, traffic and no credibility might link to your website with a dofollow link. However, the value of this link for SEO purposes is very low, almost negligible. Compare this to receiving a link from YouTube that has millions of users and visitors every day; even though the link from the video description is nofollow, it would have more SEO value.

When should you use which link type and why is it important

A website owner can provide a dofollow link when they find a valuable resource with lots of useful information or content, or if something can benefit their visitors. Consider this as 'giving credit when credit is due'.

That being said, the website owner can use dofollow whenever they want, as it's still completely their choice.

In some cases, you might want to use a nofollow link because you don't want to provide the SEO value to another website. However, you still want to provide the user with the choice of visiting the website in question.

It's advisable to always check what the actual ratio of dofollow to nofollow backlinks is for the top 10 websites ranking for your targeted phrase, as this will change from industry to industry as well as phrase to phrase. 

Nothing is written in stone.

The value you get by receiving a nofollow link from another website is lower. But you can still benefit from this link through increased brand awareness and user engagement with potential customers. The link could point to pages on your website containing helpful information that could lead to conversions or sales.

As previously stated, since 2019, Google has treated nofollow links as hints, so not all is lost.

How to find dofollow link opportunities

Once you have decided on your link-building strategy, the next step is to determine if targeted sites provide dofollow links. You can use various tools as simple as the Inspect Element in a browser or Ahrefs.

1. Use Sitebulb content search

The first thing you could do, once you have your list of target websites, is crawl their resources section for specific text that matches a resource or page you have to offer. 

Let’s say you create a valuable guide to duplicate content. You could input the primary and secondary search terms you want it to rank for into Sitebulb content search to find relevant target pages that your resource could add value to. Then all you have to do is reach out to the website owner with your resource.

2. Use the browser's "inspect" function

The "Inspect" function is a tool that allows you to view and edit various elements of websites in real-time. You can view the source code, including the links within a page. This tool can quickly help you identify which links are dofollow and which are nofollow on the pages you’ve found.

To use this function, open the target website in your browser. Simply right-click on any link and select "Inspect." It will open a panel with the HTML code for that particular element, including attributes such as href, rel, and class. If the rel attribute is "dofollow" (no attribute defaults to dofollow), then this link is a dofollow, and you can pursue it for your link-building campaign.

3. Highlight dofollow links using the Ahrefs SEO Toolbar

Ahrefs SEO Toolbar is a browser extension that helps you quickly identify link opportunities on a page. It adds several useful features to your browser, such as viewing a page's backlinks, followed links, and more. 

To use the Ahrefs SEO Toolbar, install it on your browser. Then, open the target website and click on the Ahrefs icon to activate the tool. Select which links you want to view (dofollow or nofollow) and analyse them for potential link opportunities. You can filter out all dofollow links from any page. You can also see each page's anchor text and backlink profile to understand better which links are more valuable.

Final thoughts

Dofollow and nofollow links are important for SEO as they provide different benefits. Dofollow links can help increase a website's visibility in SERPs, while nofollow links can still be beneficial in increasing brand awareness and user engagement. Understanding the differences between dofollow and nofollow links can help you maximise where you spend your link-building efforts.

It's important to ensure that any backlinks you do acquire are high-quality and relevant to your website's content. Doing so will help your website remain competitive on SERPs and continue receiving organic traffic.

Don't forget to try Sitebulb's website link crawler today! 

You might also like:

• Guide to Broken Links & How to Fix Them
• How to Do a Link Audit for SEO
• Can Google Crawl JavaScript Links?