Dofollow vs nofollow links: what is the difference?

Every link on the web carries an instruction for search engines, whether or not the person who placed it realised it. That instruction lives in the link’s rel attribute, and it decides whether the link counts towards how Google ranks the page it points to. For years the conversation was simple: a link was either “dofollow” and passed value, or “nofollow” and did not. The reality in 2026 is more nuanced. Google now recognizes three qualifying attributes (nofollow, sponsored and ugc) and, since March 2020, treats all of them as hints rather than strict rules. This guide explains what each link type actually does, where the SEO value sits, and how to apply the right attribute to your own outbound links without second-guessing yourself.

What a dofollow link actually is

A dofollow link is the default. It is an ordinary HTML link with no qualifying attribute attached, and it is what you create every time you link to a source without thinking about it. Google confirms this directly: for regular links that you expect it to fetch and parse without any qualifications, you do not need to add a rel attribute (Google Search Central).

It is worth clearing up a common misconception. There is no such thing as a rel=dofollow attribute. “Dofollow” is industry shorthand for a normal link, coined to contrast with nofollow. You never need to add anything to make a link followable, because following is the default behavior.

When Google crawls a dofollow link, it can follow it to discover the destination page and pass ranking signals (historically described as PageRank) from the linking page to the linked one. This is the mechanism that sits underneath most off-page SEO. It is why earning links from relevant, trusted sites is one of the most reliable ways to improve rankings. If you are new to the topic, our guide to backlinks covers the fundamentals, and the role of backlinks explains the ranking connection in more depth.

Not every dofollow link carries the same weight. A link from a high-authority, topically relevant page counts for far more than one from an obscure or unrelated site. The attribute determines whether a link can pass value; the quality of the source determines how much. We unpack the difference in what separates good links.

What a nofollow link is and why it exists

A nofollow link is an ordinary link with one addition: the rel=nofollow attribute. That single attribute tells Google you would rather it did not associate your site with the linked page, or crawl through to it from yours (Google Search Central). In practice that means a nofollow link generally will not pass ranking value to its destination.

Google introduced nofollow in 2005, working with other search engines, for a specific reason: comment spam. At the time, automated bots flooded blog comments and forums with links, trying to manufacture ranking signals at scale. Nofollow gave site owners a way to publish a link without vouching for it, which removed the incentive to spam open content areas. Over time its use widened to cover any link an owner did not want to endorse, from advertisements to links inside untrusted user submissions.

The important nuance is what nofollow is not. It is not a penalty, and a nofollow link pointing to your site does no harm. It simply means that particular link is unlikely to contribute to your rankings on its own. Nor does nofollow guarantee a page stays out of Google’s index. As the documentation notes, a linked page may be found through other means, such as sitemaps or links from other sites, so it can still be crawled and indexed regardless of how any single link to it is marked. To keep a page out of the index you need the noindex rule, not a nofollow link.

The rel=sponsored and rel=ugc attributes

In September 2019 Google introduced two new attributes to sit alongside nofollow, giving site owners a more precise vocabulary for describing their links (Google Search Central). Rather than lumping every non-endorsed link under one catch-all attribute, you can now tell Google why a link should not be treated as a plain editorial vote.

• rel=sponsored marks links that are advertisements or paid placements, commonly called paid links. Google now states that sponsored is the preferred attribute for these, although nofollow remains an acceptable fallback. This covers display ads, paid partnerships, affiliate links and anything where money or value changed hands for the placement. Marking paid links correctly matters: Google’s spam policies ask that links which pass ranking signals in exchange for payment carry a sponsored or nofollow tag, so the attribute is how you stay compliant when you do accept paid placements.
• rel=ugc is recommended for links inside user-generated content, such as blog comments and forum posts. It signals that the link was placed by a visitor rather than by your editorial team, which helps Google distinguish genuine editorial links from the open content areas that attract spam. Google adds a useful refinement: if you want to recognize trusted contributors, you can remove the attribute from links posted by members who have consistently produced high-quality contributions over time.

You can also combine attributes, so a link that is both user-submitted and paid can carry both values together. For a working publisher, the practical upshot is that you have a clear attribute for almost every situation. If you accept sponsored placements or link insertions as part of a campaign, our view on doing it cleanly sits in earning editorial links and digital PR for SEO.

The 2020 change: nofollow became a hint

This is the part most older articles get wrong. When nofollow was launched in 2005, Google ignored the marked links entirely for ranking purposes. From 1 March 2020, that changed. Google announced that all three attributes (nofollow, sponsored and ugc) would be treated as hints rather than strict directives, meaning Google may choose to consider them as a signal but is no longer obliged to discard the link completely (Google Search Central).

Two dates matter. For ranking purposes the hint model took effect on 1 March 2020. For crawling and indexing it also moved to a hint on that date, so Google may now crawl through a nofollow link if it judges that useful, where before it generally would not. The shift for advertised and user-generated links came alongside the new attributes in 2019.

It is easy to over-read this. Treating nofollow as a hint does not mean nofollow links now pass full ranking value, and it does not mean you should chase them as if they were dofollow links. Google’s own framing is that the change lets it use these links as one input to better understand linking patterns rather than throwing away the data outright. The practical reality for most businesses is unchanged: a nofollow link is still far weaker than a clean editorial dofollow link, and you should still plan your link building around earning the latter. What the hint model does change is the old assumption that a nofollow link is worth precisely nothing.

Crucially, Google also confirmed there is no need to change any nofollow links you already have in place. The update was about how Google interprets the attributes, not a demand for site owners to retrofit their markup.

Do nofollow links have SEO value?

The honest answer is: rarely in a direct ranking sense, but often in ways that matter to the same goals. Treat the direct and indirect value as two separate questions.

• Direct ranking value. By design, a nofollow link usually passes no ranking signal. Since the 2020 hint change, Google may use it as one input, but you cannot count on it, and it would be a mistake to build a strategy on the assumption that nofollow links will lift your rankings. If ranking is the objective, editorial dofollow links from relevant sites remain the lever that works. That is the case we make throughout our how link building works.
• Indirect value. This is where nofollow links earn their place. A nofollow link on a high-traffic page still sends real people to your site; major publishers such as Forbes and Wikipedia apply nofollow to many outbound links, yet a placement there can drive meaningful referral traffic and brand exposure. That exposure frequently leads to genuine editorial dofollow links from other people who discovered you through it. A nofollow mention can also help readers discover content that has not been linked elsewhere.
• Profile health. A backlink profile made up entirely of dofollow links looks engineered. Real websites accumulate a natural mix of followed and nofollowed links, because real mentions happen in comments, social posts, directories and press coverage that routinely apply these attributes. A balanced profile is a signal of organic growth, not manipulation. The context for this sits in the different backlinks and how many backlinks you actually need. Set against the wider web, the scarcity of links of any kind is stark: Ahrefs found that 66.31% of pages have no backlinks at all (Ahrefs), which is one reason every relevant mention, followed or not, is worth having.

When to use each attribute on your own outbound links

So far we have looked at links pointing to your site. The attributes matter just as much for links pointing out from your pages, because Google reads them as your statement about each link. Getting this right keeps you compliant and protects your own site’s standing.

• Leave it as a normal dofollow link when you are genuinely citing or recommending a source you trust. Editorial links to references, data and useful resources should pass value freely; that is how the web is supposed to work, and stripping every outbound link of its value can actually harm your site rather than help it.
• Use rel=sponsored for any link where money or value changed hands: advertisements, paid partnerships, sponsored posts and affiliate links. If you sell placements or run affiliate content, this attribute is not optional; it is how you avoid breaching Google’s link spam policies.
• Use rel=ugc for links your visitors create, primarily in comments and forum threads. It tells Google those links were not placed by your editorial team and helps protect your site from being judged on spam others post.
• Use rel=nofollow when none of the above fits but you still do not want to vouch for the destination, for example when you need to reference a site you would rather not endorse. Two habits to avoid: do not nofollow all your external links as a blanket policy, and do not nofollow your internal links. Neither helps, and the old practice of PageRank sculpting through nofollow stopped working years ago. When you are reviewing links you have earned rather than placed, anchor text choices and disavowing genuinely harmful links are the related decisions worth understanding.

The rule underneath all four is simple: pick the attribute that describes honestly how the link came about, then apply it consistently across the site. The common overcorrection is nofollowing every outbound link as a precaution, which gains you nothing and quietly makes your pages less useful to the readers and crawlers you want to serve.

How to check whether a link is dofollow or nofollow

You do not need a paid tool to check a single link. Right-click the link in your browser and choose Inspect (the wording varies by browser). That opens the page’s HTML and highlights the link’s code. If you see nofollow, sponsored or ugc inside the rel attribute, the link carries that qualification. If there is no rel attribute, or the rel contains only values like noopener, it is a normal dofollow link.

For checking many links at once, or for auditing the links pointing to your site or a competitor’s, a backlink tool is more practical. Reputable platforms such as Ahrefs and Semrush break down a domain’s backlink profile by attribute, so you can filter for followed links, nofollowed links or specifically sponsored ones. That breakdown is useful for two jobs: understanding how natural your own profile looks, and spotting whether competitors are relying heavily on cheap, low quality placements. If you are building links deliberately rather than auditing them, the methods in ways to get links, writing guest posts and broken link outreach are where to focus your effort, and the wider numbers in link building statistics put the work in context.

Common myths about dofollow and nofollow links

Few SEO topics attract as much outdated advice as this one. Here are the misconceptions worth retiring.

The dofollow attribute

There is a rel=dofollow attribute. There is not. A followable link simply has no qualifying attribute. Adding rel=dofollow does nothing.

Nofollow link value

Nofollow links are worthless. They rarely pass direct ranking value, but they drive traffic, aid discovery and keep your profile looking natural. Since 2020 Google may even use them as a hint. “No direct ranking power” is not the same as “no value”.

Harm from nofollow links

Nofollow links can harm your site. A nofollow link pointing to you is harmless. There is no mechanism by which receiving one damages your rankings, and Google has said there is no need to change nofollow links you already have.

PageRank sculpting

You should nofollow all outbound links to keep value in. This is the long-debunked idea of PageRank sculpting. It does not work, and blanket-nofollowing your external links can look unnatural. Link out to good sources normally.

Quantity over quality

More dofollow links is always better, regardless of source. A single editorial link from a relevant, trusted site can outweigh dozens of low-quality ones. Attribute is one factor; relevance and authority of the source matter more, which is the wider story behind the toxic links myth.