📍Dofollow Link is a hyperlink that passes SEO value and authority from one website to another, instructing search engines to follow the link and transfer ranking credit to the destination page.
Dofollow links are the default type of links that help build website authority and improve search rankings. When another website links to your content with a dofollow link, it acts like a vote of confidence that search engines consider when determining your page’s relevance and trustworthiness.
Why Are Dofollow Links Important?
Dofollow links form the foundation of off-page SEO and significantly impact your website’s search engine performance through authority transfer.
Benefits of Dofollow Links:
- 🚀 Improves search rankings — Search engines use dofollow links as ranking signals to determine page authority and relevance.
- 📈 Builds domain authority — Quality dofollow links from reputable websites increase your overall domain strength and credibility.
- 🔗 Passes link juice — SEO value flows from the linking page to your website, boosting your ranking potential for target keywords.
- 🎯 Drives referral traffic — Users can click dofollow links to visit your website, generating additional visitors beyond search traffic.
How Dofollow Links Work
The dofollow mechanism operates through search engine algorithms that evaluate link relationships between websites to determine authority and relevance.
The Process:
- Website A links to Website B using a standard hyperlink without restrictive attributes.
- Search engines discover the link during their crawling process and recognize it as a dofollow connection.
- Authority transfers from Website A to Website B based on the linking page’s strength and relevance.
- Rankings improve for Website B when it accumulates quality dofollow links from authoritative sources.
Dofollow vs Nofollow Links
Understanding the difference between dofollow and nofollow links helps optimize your link building strategy for maximum SEO impact.
Dofollow characteristics: Standard HTML links that pass authority, contribute to rankings, and help with SEO when obtained from quality sources.
Nofollow characteristics: Links with rel=”nofollow” attribute that don’t pass direct SEO value but can still drive traffic and provide exposure.
SEO impact: Dofollow links directly influence search rankings while nofollow links support brand awareness and referral traffic without transferring authority.
Types of Dofollow Links
Different categories of dofollow links provide varying levels of SEO value depending on their source and context within the linking website.
Editorial links: Natural mentions in content where other websites link to your pages because they find your information valuable or relevant to their audience.
Guest post links: Dofollow links included in articles you write for other websites, typically within the content or author bio sections.
Directory links: Submissions to quality web directories that provide dofollow links to boost local SEO and general authority.
Resource page links: Links from curated lists of helpful resources where your content provides genuine value to the linking site’s visitors.
Quality Factors for Dofollow Links
Not all dofollow links provide equal SEO value, and several factors determine their effectiveness for improving your search rankings.
Domain authority: Links from websites with high domain authority transfer more SEO value than those from low-authority sources.
Relevance: Dofollow links from websites in your industry or niche carry more weight than unrelated sites.
Anchor text: The clickable text of dofollow links helps search engines understand your page’s topic and relevant keywords.
Link placement: Dofollow links within main content areas typically provide more value than those in footers or sidebars.
Best Practices for Earning Dofollow Links
Building quality dofollow links requires strategic approaches that focus on creating value and establishing relationships within your industry.
Create linkable content: Develop comprehensive guides, original research, or unique resources that other websites naturally want to reference and link to.
Build relationships: Network with industry professionals, bloggers, and website owners who might link to your content in relevant contexts.
Monitor competitors: Analyze where your competitors earn dofollow links and explore similar opportunities for your own link building efforts.
Avoid link schemes: Focus on earning natural dofollow links rather than participating in manipulative practices that violate search engine guidelines.
Common Dofollow Link Mistakes
Avoiding these dofollow link errors helps maintain a healthy backlink profile and prevents potential search engine penalties.
Buying low-quality links: Purchasing dofollow links from link farms or irrelevant websites can harm your SEO rather than help it.
Over-optimized anchor text: Using exact-match keywords in too many dofollow links appears unnatural and may trigger algorithm penalties.
Ignoring link relevance: Accepting dofollow links from completely unrelated websites provides minimal SEO value and may seem suspicious.
Neglecting link diversity: Relying on only one type of dofollow link source limits your backlink profile’s natural appearance and effectiveness.
Measuring Dofollow Link Impact
Tracking the effectiveness of your dofollow links helps optimize your link building strategy and measure SEO progress over time.
Monitor referring domains: Track the number and quality of websites linking to you with dofollow links using tools like Google Search Console.
Analyze ranking improvements: Observe how new dofollow links correlate with improved search rankings for your target keywords.
Measure organic traffic: Monitor increases in organic search traffic that often result from earning quality dofollow links from authoritative sources.
Assess domain authority: Use SEO tools to track improvements in your overall domain authority as you build more quality dofollow links.