Dofollow vs Nofollow Links: Which Ones Actually Move Rankings

A dofollow link passes ranking signals to the page it points at; a nofollow link carries a rel attribute that tells Google to treat the link as a hint rather than an endorsement. Dofollow links move rankings directly. Nofollow, sponsored and UGC links still deliver traffic, brand signals and a natural-looking profile.

What is a dofollow link?

"Dofollow" isn't real markup — it's what SEOs call an ordinary link with no rel restriction. It passes PageRank and anchor relevance to the destination, which is the mechanism behind every ranking gain backlinks still produce. When a publisher says a placement is "dofollow", they mean the editorial link in the body carries no attribute suppressing it.

What is a nofollow link — and its two newer cousins?

In 2019 Google split one attribute into three and changed how it treats all of them: they became hints, not directives, meaning Google may still use them for crawling and ranking at its discretion.

Attribute	Means	Typical use
(none)	Full editorial endorsement	In-content links a writer chose
rel="nofollow"	Not vouched for	Untrusted or unvetted destinations
rel="sponsored"	Paid or compensated	Ads, affiliate links, paid placements
rel="ugc"	User-generated	Comments, forum posts, profiles

Practically: a link you paid for should carry sponsored, which is exactly the line between a sponsored post and a guest post. Editorially earned placements — the kind you get by pitching genuinely useful writing — need no attribute at all.

How to check whether a link is dofollow

1. Open the live page and use Ctrl+F on the page source (Ctrl+U) for your URL.
2. Read the anchor tag: any rel="nofollow", rel="sponsored" or rel="ugc" means it isn't passing full equity.
3. Check the page-level <meta name="robots" content="nofollow"> — one tag can neutralise every link on the page.
4. Confirm the page itself is indexed. A dofollow link on a noindex, nofollow page is worth nothing.

Step 4 is the one buyers skip. Add it to your site vetting checklist before money changes hands, and re-verify 30 days after publication — attributes get added retroactively more often than publishers admit.

Do nofollow links have any value?

Yes, just not the value you're buying links for:

• Referral traffic — a nofollow link from a high-traffic publication can outperform ten dofollow links from quiet blogs on revenue.
• Discovery and brand mentions — Google crawls nofollow URLs and reads the surrounding text; this feeds entity understanding and AI-search citations, where citation frequency matters more than link attributes.
• Profile naturalness — a profile that is 100% dofollow is a statistical outlier. Real sites accumulate nofollow links from social, comments and news aggregators. A healthy mix is usually 20–40% nofollow.
• E-E-A-T signals — a nofollow citation from an authoritative outlet still supports the credibility case Google's systems evaluate.

What ratio should you aim for?

Don't engineer a ratio — engineer a sourcing mix and let the ratio fall out. Prioritise editorial dofollow placements on relevant sites for ranking work, take strong nofollow placements when the audience is right, and never pay a premium for "guaranteed dofollow" from a site whose authority metrics don't support the price. Listings on the marketplace state their link type upfront so you can price the two correctly rather than discovering the attribute after publication.

Frequently asked questions

Do nofollow links pass PageRank?

Officially no, though Google now treats the attribute as a hint and reserves the right to use such links for ranking. Plan as if they pass nothing, and count any effect as upside.

Is buying dofollow links against Google's guidelines?

Paying for links that pass ranking signals violates Google's spam policies — paid placements are supposed to carry sponsored. That's why sustainable programmes lean on editorially earned placements and treat contributor relationships, not attribute guarantees, as the asset.

Will a nofollow link hurt my site?

No. Nofollow links from low-quality sites are effectively neutral, which is why most of them never warrant a disavow.

Does anchor text matter on nofollow links?

Less, since the equity isn't passing — but it still shapes reader expectation and appears in your profile. Keep anchor distribution natural across both types.