Dofollow vs Nofollow Backlinks: What Business Owners Should Know

Two Types of Links, Two Very Different Effects

Every link on the internet is either dofollow or nofollow. The distinction is invisible to regular users — both types look and function identically when clicked. A visitor clicking a dofollow link and a visitor clicking a nofollow link have exactly the same experience. The difference matters only to search engines, and it matters significantly.

A dofollow link tells search engines: "I endorse this website. Follow this link and pass authority to the destination." A nofollow link tells search engines: "This link exists, but do not pass authority through it." The HTML difference is a single attribute. A dofollow link contains no special attributes — it is the default state. A nofollow link includes rel="nofollow" in the anchor tag.

Why the Distinction Exists

Google introduced the nofollow attribute in 2005 to combat comment spam. Before nofollow existed, spammers would post thousands of comments on blogs with links to their websites, artificially inflating their backlink counts and rankings. The nofollow attribute gave website owners a way to allow links in comments and user-generated content without endorsing the linked sites or passing SEO authority.

Today, nofollow is used broadly: social media platforms apply it to all outbound links, Wikipedia uses it on all external references, many blog comment systems apply it automatically, and some business directories use it on listing links. In 2019, Google introduced two additional link attributes — rel="sponsored" for paid links and rel="ugc" for user-generated content — though nofollow remains the most widely used.

Dofollow Links Build Your Rankings

Dofollow backlinks directly contribute to your search engine rankings by passing authority from the linking site to yours. The amount of authority passed depends on the linking site's own domain authority, the relevance of the linking page to your content, the anchor text used in the link, and the position of the link on the page. A dofollow link from a high-authority, topically relevant website in the main content area is the gold standard of backlinks.

For a small business building its SEO foundation, dofollow backlinks from quality business directories provide an accessible and reliable source of ranking authority. Each directory listing with a dofollow link adds a unique referring domain to your backlink profile, which is one of the strongest signals search engines use to assess your website's credibility.

Nofollow Links Still Have Value

Nofollow links do not directly pass ranking authority, but that does not mean they are worthless. A nofollow link from a high-traffic website drives referral traffic — real visitors who click through to your site. A nofollow link from a recognized brand builds trust and credibility. Google treats nofollow as a "hint" rather than a directive, meaning it may choose to pass some authority through nofollow links in certain circumstances.

A natural backlink profile contains a mix of dofollow and nofollow links. An all-dofollow profile actually looks unnatural because most websites accumulate nofollow links from social shares, blog mentions, and user-generated content over time. The ideal ratio is roughly 60-70% dofollow and 30-40% nofollow, though this varies by industry.

How to Identify Which Type You Have

To check any individual link, right-click it in your browser and select "Inspect" or "Inspect Element." Look at the HTML anchor tag. If you see rel="nofollow", rel="sponsored", or rel="ugc", the link does not pass full authority. If the rel attribute is absent or contains only values like rel="noopener noreferrer", the link is dofollow.

For a comprehensive view, Google Search Console's Links report shows your top linking sites and pages but does not distinguish between dofollow and nofollow. Tools like Ahrefs, Moz, and SEMrush provide this breakdown and let you filter your backlink profile by link type.

Prioritize Dofollow, but Do Not Ignore Nofollow

When building your backlink strategy, prioritize sources that provide dofollow links for their direct ranking impact. Business directories that offer dofollow links, like Prime Business Index, provide more measurable SEO value than those using nofollow. Guest posts on quality blogs typically provide dofollow links. Local partnership and sponsorship links are usually dofollow.

At the same time, claim your business on nofollow platforms like Yelp and major social media for their traffic, visibility, and trust-building benefits. A complete online presence includes both types of links working together.