Dofollow Link

A dofollow link is a link that search engines are free to follow and that passes authority from one page to the next. The label describes the default state: any link without the rel="nofollow", rel="sponsored" or rel="ugc" attribute is dofollow. No actual dofollow tag exists, despite the name. An ordinary link is dofollow from birth.

How the link works

When Google follows a dofollow link, value travels with it, what the industry calls link juice. The link reads as a recommendation, and the stronger and more topically related the linking page, the more that recommendation weighs. Editorial dofollow links from authoritative sites in the same subject area are the backbone of link building. The counterpart is the nofollow link, where the sender asks the search engine to disregard it. Google treats nofollow as a hint rather than an instruction today, though dofollow links are still what moves rankings.

Dofollow in a natural link profile

A natural backlink profile holds both types, because no website earns editorial links exclusively; comment fields, directories and social platforms apply nofollow automatically. A profile at 100% dofollow can look constructed for that very reason, and the balance between the two is one of the patterns Google's spam systems look for. Honest editorial coverage from relevant sites remains the safest currency in SEO, and the guide to link building covers how it is earned.