Dofollow vs nofollow links — what they are and when to use them

Link attributes get more myth than they deserve. Some treat dofollow as the only thing that counts; others slap nofollow on everything outbound to "preserve juice". Both are wrong. Here's what each attribute actually does in 2026 and when to use it.

Table of contents

• What dofollow and nofollow actually are
• How they affect SEO
• When to use which — a practical checklist
• The other attributes: sponsored and ugc
• How to check a link's attribute
• Balance beats hoarding

What dofollow and nofollow actually are

A link is a signal. By default, every <a href> is a "follow" link — Google's crawler follows it and considers it a vote of confidence in the destination.

<a href="https://example.com">Standard link (dofollow by default)</a>

Adding rel="nofollow" tells Google: don't treat this link as an endorsement. Since 2019, Google explicitly calls this a hint, not a directive — they may still follow and weight the link if signals suggest it's relevant.

<a href="https://example.com" rel="nofollow">Non-endorsing link</a>

There's no rel="dofollow" — it's just the absence of nofollow/sponsored/ugc.

How they affect SEO

Dofollow links

These are the backbone of off-page SEO. When an authoritative site dofollows your URL, it passes ranking signals (the artist formerly known as PageRank). High-quality, topically relevant dofollows from real publications are still the most reliable lever for organic ranking.

Caveat: a sudden flood of dofollows from low-quality or unrelated sites looks like manipulation. Google's link spam systems (SpamBrain) ignore most of these automatically; the rest can earn a manual penalty.

Nofollow links

Nofollow links don't pass ranking signals as forcefully — but calling them worthless is a relic from the PageRank Sculpting era. Reasons they still matter:

• Traffic. A nofollow link in a high-traffic site (Wikipedia, YouTube descriptions, Reddit, large editorial outlets) sends real visitors. Google rankings aren't the only goal.
• Natural link profile. A backlink profile that's 100% dofollow looks artificial. Real sites get a mix.
• Brand mentions. Even non-passing links build brand awareness and lead to follow-up dofollow citations down the line.

Historically, Google's PageRank Sculpting trick (using nofollow internally to "concentrate" link equity) died around 2009 when Google changed how nofollow distributed remaining equity. It hasn't worked since. Don't try to game internal links with nofollow.

When to use which — a practical checklist

Use dofollow (i.e., do nothing) when:

• You're citing a trusted source — research, official stats, primary documentation.
• You're linking to your own pages (internal linking).
• You're recommending a real partner or vendor whose authority you're happy to back.

Use nofollow when:

• The link is paid or sponsored — but rel="sponsored" is the modern, more accurate attribute.
• The destination is user-submitted content — comments, forum posts — where rel="ugc" is preferred.
• You can't vouch for the destination (untrusted or unknown source).
• You're forced to link out by a publisher requirement but don't want to endorse the page.

The other attributes: sponsored and ugc

Since 2019 Google encourages two more specific attributes alongside nofollow:

• rel="sponsored" — paid placements: ads, sponsored posts, affiliate links. Tells Google the relationship is commercial. Required for compliance with Google's link spam policies.
• rel="ugc" — user-generated content: blog comments, forum threads, anything posted by visitors. Most CMSes (WordPress, Discourse) apply this automatically.

Real-world defaults:

• Wikipedia nofollows every external link, period.
• Reddit uses rel="ugc nofollow" on user submissions.
• WordPress comment systems auto-apply rel="nofollow ugc" to comment links.
• Affiliate networks require rel="sponsored" to comply with FTC and Google guidelines.

You can stack attributes: rel="sponsored nofollow" is valid and common.

How to check a link's attribute

No tool needed:

1. Right-click the link → Inspect (or press F12 in Chrome/Firefox).
2. The HTML for that <a> tag will be highlighted in DevTools.
3. Look at the rel attribute. If you see nofollow, sponsored, or ugc, it's not a plain follow link. No rel or rel="noopener noreferrer" only? Standard dofollow.

For bulk checking, browser extensions like NoFollow (Chrome) or paid tools like Ahrefs, Semrush and Screaming Frog will mark them on the page or in a crawl.

Balance beats hoarding

Link attributes are a tool, not a scoreboard. A natural backlink profile mixes dofollow, nofollow, sponsored and ugc — that's what unmanipulated growth looks like. Stop optimising for "all dofollow" and start optimising for relevance, traffic and brand reach. Google's algorithms have been past the link-attribute-counting phase for fifteen years.

Want a clear backlink strategy? Get my free SEO audit — I'll show you what links to chase and what to ignore.