Dofollow
Dofollow is the informal name for a normal link that passes ranking credit to its destination. There is no actual dofollow attribute in HTML; any link without a nofollow, sponsored, or ugc tag is dofollow by default.
Let me clear up a confusion I hear constantly, because it trips up even experienced marketers. There is no rel="dofollow" attribute. It does not exist in HTML and it never has. "Dofollow" is simply the word the SEO community invented to describe a regular, ordinary link, the kind that passes authority by default. Every link you create is a dofollow link unless you specifically add nofollow, sponsored, or ugc to it. So when a client or a junior on your team asks you to add a dofollow tag to a link, the correct and slightly funny answer is that you do not add anything at all, because a link with no rel tag is already exactly what they are asking for.
Why does anyone care about the distinction, then? Because dofollow links are the ones that actually build your rankings. When a trusted, relevant site links to you with a normal untagged link, it passes a portion of its hard-earned authority to your page. Accumulate enough of those from quality sites over time and you climb the rankings. That flow of credit through links has been one of the oldest ranking signals in search, and despite a thousand predictions of its death, it is still one of the most powerful levers you have. Treat it with respect.
Dofollow versus the rel tags at a glance
| Link type | How it works |
|---|---|
| Dofollow | Default link with no rel tag, passes ranking credit to the destination |
| Nofollow | rel="nofollow", signals not to pass credit, treated as a hint since 2020 |
| Sponsored | rel="sponsored", marks paid, compensated, or affiliate links |
| UGC | rel="ugc", marks user-generated content such as comments and forum posts |
Every link is dofollow until you tell it otherwise. The default is the powerful one.
Example
A respected industry blog publishes a guide and links to your original research as a cited source, using a plain text link with no special attributes. That is a dofollow link from an authoritative site, and it is exactly what you want. It passes real ranking credit, it sends you qualified referral traffic, and it signals to Google that someone trusted finds your work worth citing by name. One link like that, from the right source, can outweigh fifty low-quality links from places nobody respects.
lightbulbPRO TIP
Do not obsess over whether a link is dofollow or nofollow when you earn genuine coverage. A nofollow link from a major publication still drives real traffic, builds your brand, and very often leads to additional dofollow links down the road as more people discover you. Chase relevance and authority first; the tag is a detail, not the goal.
The default that matters
Dofollow links carry the authority that actually moves rankings. Your entire link-building effort is really about earning more of these from sites that genuinely count.
targetHow to earn them
You do not buy dofollow links; that is the fast road to a manual action and a recovery project you will regret. You earn them by publishing things genuinely worth citing, building real relationships with people in your space, getting featured as an expert source, and creating assets other sites actually want to reference. It is slower than buying, and it is the only version that survives the next algorithm update. The full method, step by step, is in my link building playbook.
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