A dofollow link passes ranking signals, a nofollow link asks Google not to. Here is what each one does now that Google treats nofollow as a hint, and why chasing only dofollow is a mistake.
A dofollow link is a normal link that can pass ranking signals to the page it points at. A nofollow link carries a rel=nofollow attribute asking search engines not to pass those signals. Since 2019 Google treats nofollow as a hint rather than a rule, so it may still use those links. Both send real visitors, and a natural link profile contains plenty of each.
Every link on the web is one or the other, and a surprising amount of bad SEO advice is built on misunderstanding the difference.
A dofollow link is just a normal link. There is no dofollow attribute; the name only exists to describe the absence of nofollow.
A nofollow link carries rel=nofollow in its HTML. It was introduced in 2005 to fight comment spam, as a way for site owners to link to something without vouching for it.
Google later added two more: rel=sponsored for paid or affiliate links, and rel=ugc for user-generated content such as comments and forum posts.
Google stopped treating nofollow as a strict instruction and started treating it as a hint. It can now choose to use a nofollow link as a signal.
The practical effect: a nofollow link from a site that matters is worth more than a dofollow link from a site that does not. The attribute is less important than the source.
Usually nofollow or ugc: social media profiles, most forum and comment links, Wikipedia, many large user-generated sites.
Usually dofollow: editorial links in articles, most industry directories, partner and supplier pages, many niche listings.
Should be sponsored: paid placements and affiliate links. Marking them correctly is what Google asks for, and failing to mark paid links is a policy violation regardless of the attribute used.
Three reasons. First, nofollow links still send real people, and visitors are the point. Second, a profile made only of dofollow links looks unnatural, because real sites accumulate both. Third, nofollow mentions in visible places often lead to editorial dofollow links later, when someone finds you through them.
The useful question is not what attribute a link carries. It is whether a real person might click it.
Right-click the link, choose inspect, and look at the anchor tag. If you see rel=nofollow, rel=ugc or rel=sponsored, it is not passing full signals. If there is no rel attribute, it is a standard dofollow link.
Relevance first: a link from a site about your subject beats a generic one. Permanence second: a link that disappears when a subscription lapses was rented, not earned. Traffic third: links people click are the ones that pay for themselves either way.
For the practical side of getting them, see how to get backlinks for free and what a backlink actually costs.
They can. Since 2019 Google treats nofollow as a hint rather than a directive, so it may use them. They also send real visitors, which has value regardless of ranking signals.
There is no target ratio to engineer. Natural profiles contain plenty of both, and a profile that is almost entirely dofollow looks more suspicious than one with a normal mix.
It varies. Many niche and industry directories use standard dofollow links; large open ones often apply nofollow to discourage spam. Check before assuming, but pick directories for relevance rather than attribute.
Paid and affiliate links should be marked rel=sponsored, which is what Google asks for. Leaving paid links unmarked violates its policies.
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