As you probably know, links are a key ranking factor in Google’s algorithm.
Did you know that there are two types of links? Nofollow and dofollow links.
They both have unique benefits, so you need to understand their difference.
Both types of links are important, but they serve different purposes.
This article will explain the difference between the two and how they can affect your website’s SEO.
What is a Dofollow Link?
Dofollow links are the most common links you typically see on websites’ pages and are essential in building a natural link profile.
Dofollow links don’t require special coding. All the outbound links are dofollow by default unless declared as nofollow.
Dofollow links are outbound links that pass “link juice” from one website to its relevant websites, which helps improve your website’s SEO.
When the link pointing to your site is a dofollow backlink, it’s like getting a vote of confidence from the linking site. It can help increase your visibility and referral traffic.
If you’re looking for inbound links to improve your backlink profile, like dofollow backlink to your site, there are some ways to go about it.
One way is to find websites that offer dofollow backlinks and either leave a comment on their site or contact the webmaster directly.
Some guest post on a blog allows dofollow links in the author byline, giving you dofollow backlinks. Guest posts are a significant way to get exposure for your site and backlinks to it.
If you have good content, you can contact other web admins and ask them for backlinks. It is called link baiting, a great way to get dofollow backlinks.
There are also a few directory websites that offer dofollow backlinks. These can be a great way to start link building, but you’ll want to ensure that the directories have high quality and relevance to your site.
If you’re trying link building with a natural backlink profile, you’ll want to focus on getting dofollow backlinks.
Does it affect the site rankings?
When it comes to SEO, link juice is essential.
A dofollow link is a link that passes on “link juice” to the website it’s linking to. If you have a dofollow link to another site, you’re referring to that site and help improve its search engine rankings.
Link juice describes the power or value a link passes on to a website. It is vital for search engine optimization (SEO) because the more links pointing to a website, the higher its rank in search engine results pages (SERPs).
However, it’s important to note that not all links are equal. A link from a high-quality website is worth more than a link from a low-quality website.
How do you make a dofollow link?
Depending on your website platform and coding abilities, there are various ways that you can create a dofollow link.
However, some easy methods require no coding skills if you’re unsure how to code or don’t have the time to learn.
One way is to create a hyperlink using the tag. The tag is the HTML code for creating a link, and the href link attribute specifies the URL of the link-to web pages. For example:
<a href=”http://example.com” rel=”dofollow”>Sample Link</a>
When a search engine sees this code, it will follow the link, and the linked page will be indexed. If you’re not explicitly trying to create a nofollow link, there’s no need to add any unique attributes as it is a dofollow link already.
You can also add the rel=”dofollow” attribute to links already on your website by editing the HTML code. Locate the code for the link you want to edit, and add the rel=”dofollow” attribute.
When you add the rel=”dofollow” attribute to a link, it tells search engines that dofollow links pointing to the site count as a vote of confidence for the linked-to website.
If you’re using WordPress, some plugins can automatically add the rel=”dofollow” attribute to all links on your website. These plugins are a good choice if you don’t want to edit the HTML code for each link individually.
When to use the dofollow link?
Generally speaking, you should use a dofollow link any time you are linking to a website that you want to vouch for.
It could be a relevant website you have worked with in the past, or simply a website that you think is high-quality and trustworthy.
Using dofollow links tells search engines that you believe this site is worth linking to, which can help improve your website’s ranking.
It’s a good idea to use dofollow links whenever possible. These links are more valuable for you and the linking page, so it’s usually worth the effort to use them whenever possible.
What is a Nofollow Link?
Nofollow links are outbound links that do not pass link juice to the web page they are referring to. These links are usual when linking to untrusted sites or when a webmaster does not want to vouch for a particular site.
Nofollow links command search engines not to follow the link, meaning no passing link juice to the pages. Nofollow links hurt websites can still be valuable, as they can help improve your website’s click-through rate ( CTR ).
You can also use nofollow links for sponsored links or paid advertisements. If a website has external links by paid links, they will usually use nofollow links pointing to the site so that they don’t pass any of their link power to the website they’re linking to.
So why would you want to include nofollow links on your website? There are a few reasons:
– To avoid giving link juice to low-quality websites: If you’re linking to a site that you don’t want to vouch for, or that you think is of low quality, adding the nofollow tag ensures that you’re not inadvertently helping that site’s SEO.
– To keep your link profile clean: If you have a lot of nofollow links, it looks like you’re not linking out to many sites. It can be a good thing to give your site authority.
– To avoid penalties from Google: If you’re linking to too many low-quality sites or participating in link schemes, Google may penalize your site. Adding nofollow tags to your links can help you avoid these penalties.
Does it hold any value?
While they may not directly influence the rankings of the linked-to pages, nofollow links impact SEO.
Let’s say you have a blog post about fashion. You mention a designer in your post, but you don’t want to give them any link juice because you don’t think they deserve it. However, you still want to give your readers the option to visit their website if they’re interested. By adding a nofollow link, you’re essentially saying, “here’s this information, but I’m not vouching for it.”
If everything on the internet were a high-quality, authoritative website, there would be no need for search engines like Google. But because there’s a lot of junk out there, Google uses algorithms to try and surface the best results for a given query. Some see this as unfavourable, but it can help weed out low-quality information.
Including nofollow links as part of your content strategy can thus be seen as a way of helping Google (and other search engines) do their job. By pointing to other websites that may be useful for readers but that you don’t necessarily vouch for, you’re helping the search engine surface more relevant results.
A nofollow backlink is an inbound link on your website. It contains the nofollow attribute.
Nofollow backlinks do not have much SEO value but can still be valuable in other ways.
For one, a nofollow backlink can help you build relationships with other webmasters and influencers.
Additionally, nofollow backlinks can help increase the reach of your content by appearing on more sites.
So, while nofollow backlinks may not directly boost your SEO efforts, they can indirectly contribute to your success.
If you’re not too worried about your site’s backlink profile and want to get some links to your site, then nofollow backlinks will do the job just fine.
Just be sure to diversify your link-building strategy and focus on creating high-quality content to see the most success.
How to make a nofollow link?
There are three ways to make outgoing links with nofollow link attributes.
The first way is to add the rel=”nofollow” attribute to the HTML anchor tag.
<a href=”http://www.example.com/” rel=”nofollow”>Sample Link</a>
The second way is to add a nofollow attribute in the header of your website’s HTML code. It is done by adding the noindex tag and nofollow tag code to the head section of your website:
The third way is to use a robots.txt file to tell search engines not to follow the links on your website. It is by adding the following code to your website’s robots.txt file:
User-agent: *
Disallow:
Another way is to use the Nofollow Link Plugin for WordPress. This plugin will add the rel=”nofollow” attribute to all links in your blog comments, pages, and posts.
With any of these methods, the nofollow link will appear as regular links to users, but search engines will know to ignore it.
It can be helpful if you want to link to a website but don’t want to pass along your link juice or if you’re linking to spammy websites and don’t accidentally help it rank higher in Google search results.
When to use a nofollow link?
The most common reason to use a nofollow link is when you’re linking to a site you don’t entirely trust.
For example, the content could be spammy or inaccurate if you link to user-generated content or forum posts. Using a nofollow link tells search engines that you don’t vouch for the content on the other site.
Another reason to use a nofollow link is to reduce your risk of being penalized by search engines.
If Google believes you’re linking to spammy or low-quality content, they could penalize your site. By using a nofollow link, you’re telling Google that you’re not responsible for the content on the other site.
There may be an instance where you may want to use a nofollow tag even if the content is high-quality. For example, if you’re linking to a competitor’s website, you may not want to give them any link juice.
It’s a great idea to be cautious and use a nofollow link whenever you’re linking to something you’re not 100% confident about as you protect your site from potential penalties by search engines.
How to know if it is a dofollow or nofollow link?
There are a few critical differences between dofollow and nofollow links.
One difference is how they impact link juice. Dofollow links pass it on to the website they’re linking to, while nofollow links don’t. It means that dofollow links are generally seen as being more valuable by search engines and can help improve a website’s search engine ranking.
Nofollow links, on the other hand, are typically used when a website doesn’t want to vouch for the site they’re linking to. It could be because the linked-to site is of low quality or because the linking site doesn’t want to pass on link juice to it.
In general, it’s best to get as many high-quality dofollow links as possible. But there’s also value in nofollow links, especially if they come from reputable websites.
In general, dofollow links are more valuable than nofollow links because they help boost a site’s Google rankings.
What is the best ratio of dofollow and nofollow links?
There is no definite answer to this question, as the best ratio of dofollow and nofollow links depends on some factors.
However, a general guideline is to have more dofollow than nofollow links on your website.
It is because dofollow links are more valuable in search engine optimization (SEO) and can help your website’s rank.
A higher ratio of dofollow than nofollow links can also help build trust and credibility with users and search engines.
Ultimately, the best ratio of dofollow to nofollow links is the one that makes sense for your website and its specific needs.
Conclusion
Generally, it’s best to build quality links with a balance of dofollow and nofollow attributes.
However, if you’re looking to improve your search engine optimization (SEO), then you may want to focus on building more dofollow links.
While nofollow links can help keep your website clean and free of spam.
Remember, though, that the quality of your links is more important than the quantity or ratio of dofollow to nofollow links.
So, don’t build links solely for SEO; make them because they’re valuable and will help your audience.
So, which type of link is better for your website? That depends on your goals.
At the end of the day, both dofollow and nofollow links are essential.
