Dofollow vs nofollow links: what each one tells Google, and why one of them doesn't exist

A backlink is a link from someone else's website to yours. That's the whole definition. What makes it matter is what Google does with it.

Google says it uses systems that read how pages link to each other, to work out what a page is about and which pages might help most for a search. The best known of those systems is PageRank, which Google calls "one of our core ranking systems used when Google first launched." Google adds that PageRank has "evolved a lot since then," and that it "continues to be part of our core ranking systems."

So links still count. When a respected site links to your page, it tells its readers, and Google, that your page is worth a visit. When a site nobody visits links to you from a page nobody reads, Google has much less to go on.

A dofollow link is a normal link with nothing added to it.

There's no rel="dofollow" to write. Google says a regular link it can fetch without any conditions needs nothing extra: "you don't need to add a rel attribute." Every link starts out "dofollow" by default. The word is a nickname people use for the opposite of nofollow.

If a developer ever tells you they've added dofollow to all your links, thank them for their time, then check what else they've added.

A nofollow link carries a small attribute in its code, rel="nofollow", which tells Google you aren't vouching for the page you're linking to.

It was invented for a very specific headache. In early 2005, blogs were drowning in comment spam: strangers leaving comments full of links, hoping to borrow some of the blog's standing with Google. Google's Matt Cutts and Blogger's Jason Shellen proposed nofollow to take the reward away. A comment could still carry a link. The link just wouldn't count as a vote.

Today Google says to use nofollow when its other labels don't fit and you'd rather it didn't connect your site with the page you're linking to.

In September 2019, Google added two more labels, so nofollow didn't have to do every job alone:

• rel="sponsored" is for "advertisements or paid placements (commonly called paid links)."
• rel="ugc" is for "user-generated content (UGC) links, such as comments and forum posts."
• rel="nofollow" covers the rest, when you don't want to vouch for a page.

You can put more than one value on the same link. A paid link that also sits in a comment can be both.

The bigger change came at the same time. Google said all three would be "treated as hints about which links to consider or exclude," and from March 1, 2020 nofollow became a hint for crawling and indexing too. Nofollow is now a strong suggestion. Google's current page says links marked this way "will generally not be followed," which is careful wording from a company that chooses its words for a living.

So the honest answer to dofollow vs nofollow: a normal link can count as a vote. A nofollow, sponsored or ugc link usually doesn't, and Google decides the edge cases.

Here Google is unusually direct, because it publishes a list of what it doesn't want. Its spam policies define link spam as links made mainly for "manipulating search rankings," and then give examples. A few of them:

• "Buying or selling links for ranking purposes," which includes paying with money, goods or services, or sending someone a product so they'll write about it with a link.
• "Excessive link exchanges," the "Link to me and I'll link to you" kind.
• "Using automated programs or services to create links to your site."
• "Low-quality directory or bookmark site links."
• "Widely distributed links in the footers or templates of various sites."
• "Forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature."

Read that list backward and you get a fair description of quality backlinks. They come from real sites, placed by real people, pointing at pages worth pointing at.

One detail surprises people. Google doesn't say paid links are forbidden. It calls buying and selling links "a normal part of the economy of the web" for advertising and sponsorship, and says that's fine when the link carries rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored". So a paid link with the right label is fine. What the policy targets is a paid link with no label, passed off as a normal one.

Before you accept, place or pay for a link, ask these five. The first four come from Google's spam policies and link guidance:

1. Would this link exist if search engines didn't? If ranking is the only reason for it, Google's definition of link spam covers it.
2. Did money, a product or a service change hands? Then the link should carry rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow".
3. Is it one of a thousand identical links in a footer or a template? Google names that pattern directly.
4. Is it a comment or a forum post? Then rel="ugc" is the label the site owner should be using.
5. Would you be happy if a reader clicked it? A real link sends real people somewhere useful.

If you're wondering how to get backlinks to your website without tripping any of this, Google's list answers it in reverse: publish something other sites would want to send their readers to, and let them link to it in their own way.

A backlink is one site recommending another. A dofollow link is just a normal link; the name is a nickname, not a tag. A nofollow link tells Google you aren't vouching for the page, and since 2019 Google treats that as a hint. Sponsored and ugc exist so paid links and comment links can say what they are.

None of this is secret, which is the funny part. Google's rules are written down on its own site, and people have spent two decades guessing anyway.