Nofollow vs Dofollow Links

Every link on the web is either followed or nofollowed — and the difference matters enormously for SEO. Dofollow links pass PageRank and authority to the destination, helping it rank. Nofollow links tell search engines to treat the link as a hint rather than a vote. Understanding when to use each type, and how Google has evolved its handling of both, is foundational to any serious link strategy.

What Are Dofollow Links

A dofollow link is simply a standard HTML anchor tag with no special rel attribute. Every link you create with just an href is dofollow by default — search engines follow it, crawl the destination, and pass link equity (PageRank) from the linking page to the linked page. The term "dofollow" is not actually an HTML attribute; it is SEO jargon for the absence of rel="nofollow".

When a high-authority website links to your page with a dofollow link, some of that page's PageRank flows to you. Accumulate enough of these links from relevant, trustworthy sources and your pages gain ranking power. This is why link building is such a central activity in SEO — each dofollow link is a credibility signal that Google factors into its ranking algorithm.

What Is the Nofollow Attribute

Google introduced rel="nofollow" in 2005 as a way for webmasters to signal that a link should not pass PageRank. The original use case was combating comment spam — if blog comments could not pass authority, there would be less incentive to spam them with links. To add nofollow to a link, you include rel="nofollow" in the anchor tag. Search engines were originally expected to completely ignore nofollowed links for ranking purposes.

In September 2019, Google changed how it treats nofollow. Rather than a hard directive to ignore the link entirely, Google now treats nofollow as a hint. This means Google may choose to follow a nofollowed link and use it as a ranking signal if its algorithms deem it useful. The practical effect is subtle, but it matters: nofollow no longer guarantees PageRank isolation, and it may still allow crawling and indexing of the destination.

How Dofollow Links Pass PageRank

PageRank is Google's foundational measure of a page's importance, calculated based on the number and quality of links pointing to it. When a page links out to multiple destinations, it distributes its PageRank among them. A dofollow link from a page with high PageRank and few outbound links is more valuable than one from a low-authority page with hundreds of outbound links. This is why link quality matters as much as quantity.

Beyond raw PageRank, dofollow links also carry topical authority signals. A link from a relevant, niche-specific website tells Google that your page is a trusted resource within that topic area. This relevance component means that a dofollow link from a lower-DR site in your exact niche can sometimes outperform a dofollow link from a high-DR general news site. Anchor text on dofollow links also influences keyword relevance signals.

What Nofollow Links Actually Do

As of 2019, nofollow links are hints rather than directives for Google. In practice, Googlebot still crawls many nofollowed links and may index the destination pages. The PageRank transfer is not guaranteed to be blocked — Google may or may not pass some authority through a nofollow depending on its algorithms. Bing and other search engines have their own interpretations of nofollow, and most still treat it as a stronger signal to ignore the link.

Despite not guaranteeing PageRank flow, nofollow links are not worthless. They can drive referral traffic, increase brand visibility, and contribute to a natural-looking link profile. Studies consistently show that pages with a mix of dofollow and nofollow links have more natural-looking profiles than those with only dofollow links. Google's algorithms are sophisticated enough to recognize that real content earns both types.

When to Use Nofollow

Google's guidelines require nofollow (or the more specific rel="sponsored") on paid links, affiliate links, and any link that exists because of a commercial arrangement rather than editorial choice. Failing to nofollow paid links is a violation of Google's Webmaster Guidelines and can result in manual penalties. This applies to guest post links, sponsored content links, and links obtained through link schemes.

You should also nofollow links to untrusted content, user-generated links in forums or comments, and any outbound link to a site you cannot vouch for. If you run a platform where users can post links — a forum, a review site, or a directory — nofollowing those links by default protects you from being seen as complicit in link manipulation and keeps your site's link profile clean.

rel=sponsored and rel=ugc

In September 2019, alongside the nofollow hint change, Google introduced two new link attribute values: rel="sponsored" for paid and affiliate links, and rel="ugc" for user-generated content links. These give webmasters more granular control over how they label links. Google uses this additional context to better understand the nature of links, which helps it make better ranking decisions.

You can use these attributes on their own or combine them. For example, rel="sponsored nofollow" applies both signals, while rel="ugc" alone acts as a hint similar to nofollow. Google has stated it prefers the more specific attributes where applicable, but using nofollow on paid links is still compliant if you have not updated your implementation. The key rule: any compensated link must carry rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow" — using neither is a guidelines violation.

Internal Links: Should You Nofollow?

Do not nofollow your internal links. This was a debated tactic in the early 2000s called PageRank sculpting — the idea was that nofollowing links to low-priority pages like login pages would concentrate PageRank on the pages you wanted to rank. Google's Matt Cutts confirmed in 2009 that PageRank sculpting via internal nofollow does not work as intended and can actually waste PageRank rather than redistribute it.

If you want to prevent Googlebot from crawling certain pages, use your robots.txt or a noindex meta tag — not nofollow on internal links. Internal links should always be dofollow so that PageRank flows naturally throughout your site. The best way to shape internal link equity is through your site architecture and the volume of internal links pointing to your most important pages, not through blocking link flow.

Nofollow Links and Backlink Profiles

A healthy backlink profile contains a natural mix of dofollow and nofollow links. Sites that have only dofollow backlinks may look suspicious to Google's algorithms — legitimate content earns links from Wikipedia, social media, forums, and other platforms that automatically nofollow their outbound links. If your entire backlink profile is dofollow, it can suggest that links were built artificially.

When auditing your backlink profile, look at the dofollow-to-nofollow ratio as one indicator of naturalness. Tools like Ahrefs and Semrush filter links by follow status, which helps you understand where your authority is coming from and spot any unusual patterns. A sudden spike in dofollow links from low-quality domains is a red flag worth investigating, while gradual growth from diverse sources with a mix of both link types is a positive signal.

Common Mistakes with Nofollow

One of the most common mistakes is accidentally nofollowing important internal or external links. This can happen when a CMS applies nofollow to all outbound links by default, or when developers copy-paste link attributes without checking. Nofollowing links to your own important pages passes less equity than intended. Nofollowing editorial outbound links to authoritative sources makes your content look less trustworthy and is unnecessary.

Another common mistake is ignoring sponsored link requirements. Many site owners accept payment for links and then either forget to nofollow them or assume Google will not notice. Google's link spam systems, including Penguin and SpamBrain, have become highly effective at detecting paid links. Getting caught can result in a manual action that tanks your entire site's rankings. When in doubt, label the link — it costs you nothing and protects you from a potentially severe penalty.

How to Audit Your Link Attributes

Auditing your link attributes starts with your outbound links. In Chrome, right-click any link and choose Inspect to see whether it carries a rel attribute. For a site-wide audit, Screaming Frog or Ahrefs Site Audit can crawl your site and report on all outbound links with their rel attributes, making it easy to spot any paid links that are missing nofollow or any internal links that have been incorrectly nofollowed.

For your inbound link profile, Google Search Console shows your top linking domains but does not filter by follow status. Use Ahrefs or Semrush to see the full picture: both tools classify backlinks as dofollow or nofollow and let you filter accordingly. Review your dofollow links regularly to ensure they are from quality sources, and monitor for any sudden spikes that could indicate negative SEO attacks. A clean, well-labelled link profile is one of the strongest foundations you can build for long-term search visibility.