Dofollow and nofollow links – what are they and what impact do they have on SEO?

What are dofollow links?

Dofollow links transfer the authority of the website where they are placed and thus increase the credibility of the website they redirect to. They are tracked and indexed by Google bots, allowing for improved search engine rankings.

How is the attribute “dofollow” saved in the website code?

In practice, however, it is not necessary to include it – a shortened version <a href=”http://www.website.com”?>Link</a> will suffice, therefore the Link will provide the same effects.

The dofollow attribute applies not only to external links but also to internal links, which redirect to other subpages within the same website. Thanks to them, on one hand, you will facilitate users’ access to specific information on the page, and on the other hand, you will improve the PageRank of the subpage (Google robots also follow internal links).

What are nofollow links?

Nofollow links not only do not transfer external website authority to the targeted page, but also inform Google bots not to index such links.

The attribute nofollow is most commonly used to mark sponsored links, placed for example in comments on blogs and social networking sites or in posts on internet forums. Although using them will not strengthen the website’s position in Google search results, it will help acquire more new users.

How is the nofollow attribute saved in the website code?

Attention! Nofollow links can sometimes be placed on a positioned website – for example, to avoid double indexing (in case of duplicated or similar subpages) or to block Google bots’ access to subpages with low SEO value (such as terms and conditions, privacy policy, login pages, etc.).

How to check the attribute assigned to a link?

To find out whether a given link has a dofollow or nofollow attribute, you need to check the HTML code of the page.

To do this, right-click on the selected page, and then select the option ‘View page source’.

The impact of dofollow and nofollow on SEO.

As mentioned earlier, the most valuable for website positioning are dofollow links, which:

• they transfer (partially) the power of the website to the positioned page;
• they redirect Google’s robots to a specific subpage and facilitate its indexing;
• they build a strong link profile;
• they help in building the authority of the page, provided they come from trusted websites;
• they favor the positioning of specific keywords that are used in anchor texts;
• they increase external traffic by attracting users from other websites.

Should all external links then have the dofollow attribute? Not necessarily. Although nofollow links do not affect the ranking of a page, they allow for a diversified link profile, which is well perceived by Google. Furthermore, they enable better indexing management (e.g. by using nofollow on pages that are less important for positioning) and prevent abuse or spam.

What is the appropriate ratio of nofollow to dofollow?

As we mentioned earlier, both dofollow and nofollow links are important in the context of link building. Using both allows for diversification of the link profile, making it appear natural to Google’s robots.

How to achieve proper proportions? There is no definitive answer to this – the key to success is the natural implementation of links with the nofollow and dofollow attributes, while avoiding artificial increases of the latter in order to quickly improve the position of the website in search engine results.

Remember! If you want to check links leading to a website, you can use the free tool called Google Search Console. Unfortunately, it does not indicate the attribute of a selected link, so for verifying nofollow and dofollow links, paid solutions like Ahrefs are recommended.