The term dofollow link was introduced in 2005 by Google, to reduce the search engine spam indexing and to improve the search engine results. Only Dofollow links pass link juice to the linked webpage and influence the target’s page rank.
How to identify dofollow link?
For identifying it, you don’t require any advanced coding knowledge. Simple basic HTML can help you regarding the same. Link ‘rel attribute‘ defines the type of link and by checking this attribute you can very well judge whether it’s a dofollow link or nofollow link.<a href="http://exampledemo.com" rel="dofollow">Example1</a>
OR
<a href="http://exampledemo.com">Example2</a>
OR
<a href="http://exampledemo.com" rel="external">Example3</a>
Rel Dofollow – All three above links are dofollow, which means if a link doesn’t have a rel attribute then it’s a dofollow link. On the other hand, a nofollow link must have been marked as REL No follow tag.
<a href="http://exampledemo.com" rel="nofollow">Example4</a>
OR
<a href="http://exampledemo.com" rel="external nofollow" >Example5</a>
Both the above links are nofollow. For them the Rel tag should be set as “nofollow”.
Benifits of Dofollow link
To improve Google page rank, you must get quality backlink. If you are a newbie you may wonder to know that a nofollow link doesn’t pass link juice thereby it doesn’t influence your Google page rank. So in order to get Good page rank you must build dofollow backlink (instructs spiders/bot to follow this link).
» Improves Page rank.
» Improves blog authority in Google eyes.
» Content ranks higher for multiple keywords.
» Higher page rank attracts advertisers.
Multiple Dofollow links from same webpage
If multiple links are pointing to the same webpage then Google bot considers the first link and ignore others. So if a webpage has two links pointing to same page of other website and out of 2 links, first is nofollow and 2nd one is dofollow then Google bot consider the first link and ignores second one, so in such scenario dofollow link gets ignored by bot and no link juice passed. The same rule applies for internal links too.
How rel attribute controls flow of page rank “PageRank sculpting”
Let me explain this with an example- Suppose one of my webpage has 10 links pointing to other websites and out of these 10 links, two links are nofollow (rel=”nofollow”). In this case 20% of link juice is of no use and remaining 80% link juice will get divided among 8 dofollow backlinks. Hope I made it clear :).
How website ranking can be improved by using dofollow internal link
As per Google webspam team head Matt Cutts, we should use rel=”dofollow” for internal page linking as it lets flow the page rank to other webpages and improves the overall website ranking. However post panda and penguin update varying anchor text are important while interlinking. Do not use the same anchor text while linking to your specific post.
How to build dofollow backlinks
After reading above points, you must be thinking to build dofollow backlinks. There are many ways to get such links. one of the way is commenting on comment luv enabled blogs. Comment Luv enabled blogs generally offer free do follow backlinks. Many such blogs still gives nofollow backlink, which is of no use. There is still a method by which you can identify whether the backlink is dofollow or nofollow. It is good if your site is getting a dofollow link from a high PR website as it will pass more link juice compared to low PR website.
Don’t buy and sell dofollow links
Many website offers paid dofollow links, however I would suggest you to keep away your hands from such websites as instead of improving your website’s page rank, it can hurt your reputation in Google bot eyes and can get you flagged as spam by Google bot. Build quality backlinks by commenting or by Guest posting, these are still most valuable and effective ways to improve site rank even after panda and penguin update.
Conclusion
Takeaway from above post. a) Have a healthy mixture of dofollow and nofollow with target keywords in anchor text. b) Don’t buy links c) build links from forums, commenting and guest posting. d) don’t use dofollow attribute while linking to untrusted source.
Let me know if you have any questions and comments regarding this. Also let us know whats your method to build backlinks.
Cris Monde says
If you want to know if the site is dofollow, just simply right click the link and choose “inspect element”.. If that link has no rel=”nofollow”, it means that is a dofollow. :D
Rana says
Dofollow backlink help us to Improves Page rank and Improves blog authority in Google eyes.
It also increase SERP’s in search result and help us to get better rank in search result.
So thanks to author for sharing SEO article.
Avinash Kumar says
Thank you for sharing this information. It helped clear my doubt against dofollow and nofollow links. :)
Gagan Deep says
Thanks for Sharing such a useful info, Looking forward for you next post of “best & fastest way to build dofollow backlinks”
Pete Nisbet says
If you must use ‘Nofollow’ to stop Google following the link or giving PageRank to the target link, it is logical that without that attribute Google would follow the link and provide so-called ‘link juice’
If Google’s default, therefore, is to ‘follow’, where is the need to use the ‘Dofollow’ attribute? Surely it’s reduntant and therefore has no use at all? There is nothing between ‘Nofollow’ and ‘Dofollow’ so one or the other is unnecessary! Comments?
Anonymous says
Actually the ability to identify whether a link is dofollow or nodofollow is somehow difficult for newbies and those with no knowledge of coding. one of the major confusion is that most people believe that any comment love enabled sites are dofollow. Like what Cris said, his method will only work on PC. So, what will mobile users do to identify it?
Amit Saini says
Thanks for clearing my confusion about dofollow and nofollow links ….really nice post
Paul Antony says
Yes, your website makes a good point! However, I would suggest carefully exploring the websites HTML code in depth. For instance, if your adding a link to a directory, you need to identify the link location area within the HTML code. Some links on website – appear as rel=”no follow” while others are “do follow”. There are add-ons for fire fox brower which identify no follow links – but again you need to explore the HTML code.
Jari Ullah says
I wonder why bloggers and site owners place a rel nofollow attribute for all external comments. I haven’t understood the reason of it yet. It seems like selfishness I think.
Miraj Khan says
Algorithms have changed the way that we think about building backlinks, it’s about content which people enjoy to read, rest is taken care by search engines to identify keywords to rank from our blog.
FRKS says
I use this website to learn about SEO.
Thank you.