In the world of SEO, it’s important to understand how DoFollow links differ from NoFollow links and how to use them well. DoFollow backlinks are like a thumbs up from one website to another.
They help the linked website gain trust and can improve its position in results pages. NoFollow backlinks tell search engines that even though there is a link, it shouldn’t affect the ranking of the site it’s pointing to.
Understanding when and how to use these two kinds of backlinks can improve your SEO strategy and create a strong and balanced link profile. In this post, we will see how to use DoFollow vs NoFollow backlinks to create a strong backlink profile.
What are DoFollow vs NoFollow Links?
DoFollow Links
A DoFollow link gives you some of the trust or power from the website it comes from. That transfer of power is called “link juice,” which helps improve your SEO and website authority.
When you add a link to a website, it is automatically a DoFollow link, so you don’t need to use any extra code. Google will automatically think you trust the site you’re linking to and will see it as a sign that the site is reliable.
Hiring an experienced link building service provider can secure high-quality links that enhance your site’s credibility, boost search engine rankings, and drive sustainable organic growth.
NoFollow Links
A NoFollow link doesn’t share power from the original site to yours, so you don’t benefit from it. Some marketers say that these links are still useful for improving search engine rankings.
Either way, they’re not helpful for a backlink campaign. You need to add “rel=”nofollow'” to the code when you want to create a NoFollow link to a website. Brands can also use mentions that aren’t linked, and they work the same way.
NoFollow links were created in 2005 to help stop spam in comments. People found out they could post a comment on a blog and include a link to a website to improve its search ranking, even if it was a bit sneaky.
Now, websites make comment sections NoFollow, so this way of getting links doesn’t work anymore. NoFollow links are often used for paid ads and affiliate posts.
When to Use Dofollow Links?
When you link to a reliable website that has good authority, you should use a DoFollow link. These links show you believe in the website you are linking to. You also need DoFollow links from articles to create a backlink campaign.
These links should come from important websites with a high Domain Authority to help improve your website’s SEO rankings. There are four main situations where DoFollow backlinks are used:
Editorial Backlinks
Dofollow links are important for editorial backlinks for a few reasons. First, they share “link juice,” which means they help move SEO value from one website to another. This helps make the linked site’s search engine rankings better.
It’s a good idea to use dofollow links in trustworthy and quality content to show search engines that it’s reliable and important. Next, they bring people directly to the site. When people see your link on trusted websites, they are more likely to click on it, which can raise the number of visitors to your site.
Links from trusted websites improve your site’s trustworthiness and reputation. Finally, use dofollow links carefully and wisely. Using them too much or putting them on bad websites can get you in trouble with search engines.
Also Read: The Insider’s Guide to Successful Blogger Outreach
Guest Posts
While writing guest posts for a website, you’ll usually get a DoFollow link to your site in the bio section for authors at the end of the article. These links aren’t as important as editorial backlinks, but they still help your Domain Authority and SEO.
They help your website’s SEO by sharing “link juice” from the guest post site to yours, which can boost your rankings. When writing a guest post, include dofollow links in good, relevant content to show bots that your post is trustworthy and related to the topic.
Also, dofollow links can bring specific visitors to your website. People who see your links in guest posts on well-known websites are more likely to click on them, which can bring more visitors to your site.
Citations
Getting DoFollow links by using citations is a great way to improve your website’s SEO and credibility. To do this, focus on making great content based on research that other websites will want to link to.
Make sure your content is thorough, helpful, and full of useful information that other writers can trust and use as references. Share your content using different ways, like social media, sending emails, and connecting with important people and bloggers in your field.
When other people mention your work in their articles, it usually gives you links to your website that can help it rank better. You can also contact authors who have mentioned your work before and ask them to use DoFollow links.
Collaborations
Getting DoFollow links by working with others can greatly improve your website’s SEO and reputation. Content co-creation is a good way to collaborate with influencers or experts in your field to make high-quality content like articles, videos, or infographics.
When they post this content on their sites, they can add DoFollow links to your website. Joining interviews or expert discussions can be helpful too. Ask for DoFollow links in the credits or author bio when your work is published on other websites.
Finally, being included on resource pages is helpful. Work with other websites to share helpful resources that link back to your site using DoFollow links. By using these methods, you can get good DoFollow links that improve your website’s SEO and credibility.
Also Read: New Study Reveals Websites Need 1000+ Backlinks to Succeed
When to Use Nofollow Links?
There are some situations where NoFollow links are a better choice. Links to bad websites can hurt your SEO and Domain Authority, so you should choose the sites you link to carefully. Here are three situations when you should make a link a NoFollow:
Sponsored Content
If you have paid partnerships, sponsored content, or ads, they must have NoFollow links. This makes sure your website follows Google’s rules and shows that you’re not trying to cheat to get higher rankings.
To get Nofollow links for paid content, you should begin by making good connections with important websites or influencers in your field. Building a strong relationship can make it more likely that they will agree to show your sponsored content with a Nofollow link.
Make sure your content is good and helpful, and that it matches the interests of the people who visit the website you are aiming for. Also, it’s important to clearly say that the content is paid for. Being open and honest helps people trust each other and follow good rules.
User-Generated Content
To get Nofollow links for content made by users, start by encouraging them to create good content on your site, such as in forums, blogs, or comments. Get your community involved by encouraging conversations, organizing contests, and working together on projects.
When users add content, make sure that all links in their posts automatically have the rel=”nofollow” tag in the HTML code. This setting tells search engines not to share the value of these links.
You can do this using your CMS or by using plugins that add the Nofollow tag to links made by users. By creating an active community with valuable content and using the Nofollow attribute, you can better control how user-generated links affect your website’s ranking.
Unreliable Sources
If you can’t completely trust a website but want to use a quote or information from it, use a NoFollow link (or mention it without linking if you prefer not to include a link). You may come across a cool article or fact you want to share, but don’t take the chance of hurting your website’s SEO if the source isn’t trustworthy.
Once you find sources that aren’t trustworthy, make sure any links you share from those sources on your website automatically include the “nofollow” tag in the code. It’s also important to tell your users and content creators why using links responsibly matters.
By teaching them about the dangers of using unreliable sources, you can help them be more careful and smart about the links they share. Following these steps helps you be open about your actions, follow search engine rules, and protect your website’s SEO by stopping link strength from unreliable sources.
Do Dofollow vs Nofollow Links Help SEO?
DoFollow links are good for SEO if they come from trusted websites. If you get a lot of DoFollow links from poor-quality or spammy websites, Google may begin to think your website is similar to those.
NoFollow links are trickier. While DoFollow links are more powerful, there is still a connection between search rankings, domain authority, and all kinds of backlinks. A study by Ahrefs found some interesting things about this topic.
The results show that Google does pay attention to NoFollow backlinks from important websites, but their impact is not as strong as DoFollow links. When making a backlinking strategy, try to get DoFollow links from trustworthy websites for the best outcome.
Tips for Using DoFollow Links
Choose Quality Sources
Choosing good sources for your DoFollow links is an important way to improve your SEO. Good sources are usually websites that are well-respected, have reliable information, and are known for their expertise in a specific area.
When you connect to those sites, search engines see it as a sign of trust, which can help improve your website’s ranking. If your website is about health and wellness, linking to trusted medical journals or famous health organizations can increase your trustworthiness.
This practice shows bots that your content is trustworthy, and it also helps you earn the trust of your audience. Also, make sure that the stuff you are linking to is related to your topic. Unrelated links can confuse readers and lessen the quality of your content.
Make Your Link Profile Balanced
A good link profile has a balance of DoFollow and NoFollow links. Try to have about 60% DoFollow links and 40% NoFollow links on your website. This means you can concentrate on getting the best links for your SEO work.
Using too many DoFollow links, especially from bad or unrelated websites, can seem dishonest and might make your site rank lower or get punished by search engines. A balanced approach means using DoFollow links wisely for good and relevant websites.
It also uses NoFollow links for paid content, content made by users, and less trustworthy sources. This balance shows search engines that you are not trying to unfairly change your ranking. This helps keep your link profile healthy and varied.
Place DoFollow Links Strategically
It’s important to add DoFollow links in the right spots in your content to make them work better. Think about putting these links in important content, like key articles, guest posts, and links from other sites.
These placements help share more valuable links to important pages on your website. If you have an important article about “Good Digital Marketing Strategies,” adding DoFollow links to trusted sources that explain certain marketing methods can make the article better.
Also, make sure the links blend well with the text and are helpful for the reader. A good DoFollow link can improve the user experience by providing helpful information. This can make users more interested and build trust.
Ensure Contextual Integrity and Relevance
The relevance of DoFollow links is very important for your content because they help users find what they need and improve your ranking. Unrelated links can confuse readers and hurt your website’s ranking on results pages.
Search engines prefer content that gives a smooth and useful experience for users. Make sure the DoFollow links you use are connected to your content and help the reader. If you’re talking about digital marketing, include links to information on social media tips, SEO methods, and good content marketing.
Contextual integrity means putting links in a way that feels normal and helps tell the story of your content. Don’t try to add links where they don’t fit or use too many links in your writing. This can look like spam and make your article seem less good.
Monitor DoFollow links
It’s important to keep an eye on your DoFollow links to make sure they work well and don’t hurt your SEO. Use tools like Ahrefs, Moz, or Google Search Console to monitor your backlinks.
Monitoring means looking for links that don’t work, links that go to unrelated websites, and making sure all DoFollow links are still active and useful. Broken links can hurt your website’s search rankings because they make it hard for users to find what they need.
Also, linking to bad-quality websites can make your own site look less trustworthy. Keeping these links updated and fixing any mistakes helps keep a good link profile. Also, keeping an eye on competitor backlinks can help you find new chances for links.
Tips for Using NoFollow Links
Implement in Affiliate Links
Using NoFollow links for affiliate links is important to follow search engine rules and keep a natural link profile. Affiliate links are used in promotional content, where you advertise products and earn money when people make a purchase.
Search engines need these links to not improve SEO rankings, so people can’t cheat the system. Using the NoFollow tag on affiliate links shows that these links are for business and should not affect how search engines rank your site.
This practice makes sure that search engine results are clear and honest. Even though NoFollow affiliate links don’t help with SEO, they can still bring in a lot of visitors and sales. People who are interested in the advertised products are more likely to click and buy.
Stop Link Spam in Comments
Comment sections on blogs and websites often attract unwanted links, which can lower the quality of comments and hurt your site’s ranking. Using NoFollow links in comments stops spammers from getting a boost in rankings from posting poor-quality or unrelated links.
This practice keeps your website’s links strong and safe from punishment due to bad links. NoFollow links in comments help make sure that only good, relevant links share any SEO benefits, if they have any.
This method promotes real user engagement while keeping your website’s SEO safe. Also, checking comments to make sure they add something useful to the conversation can improve the quality of the content created by users on your site.
Use in Press Releases
When sending out press releases, it’s a good idea to use NoFollow links for any links included in the content. Press releases are usually shared on many websites, and using NoFollow links helps stop any tricks to improve rankings from too many links.
People who want to see news or announcements can click to find out more, which can help more people notice your site and visit it. This method follows good SEO rules while taking advantage of the visibility and audience that press releases can bring.
It also makes sure that your press release is sent out following search engine rules, which helps you avoid any possible fines. Also, using NoFollow links in press releases helps keep a natural link profile.
Guard Against Negative SEO
Negative SEO attacks are when someone tries to hurt a website’s ranking by making fake or poor-quality links pointing to it. By using NoFollow links for any questionable or low-quality sites, you can help keep your website safe from possible harm to its SEO.
Regularly checking your backlinks with tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, or Moz can help you find any harmful links. Using the NoFollow tag on these links helps make sure they won’t affect your website’s ranking or reputation.
This helps keep a natural online presence, lowering the chance of harmful SEO attacks. Rejecting bad links using Google’s Disavow Tool can help keep your site safe from harmful SEO effects, making sure that your link profile stays strong and trustworthy.
Add in Widgets and Embedded Content
Widgets and embedded content like badges, or infographics often link back to where they came from. Using NoFollow links in these widgets follows search engine rules and helps avoid problems from having too many links.
Using NoFollow links in widgets helps keep a balanced link profile and makes sure your site stays in good shape with search engines. Also, offering useful and interesting tools can improve how users feel about your site and make them want to share it.
This can bring more visitors and interaction without hurting your search engine ranking. This method uses the advantages of embedded content while ensuring ethical linking and keeping your website’s SEO strong.
To Conclude
Learning how to use DoFollow and NoFollow backlinks well is important for a good backlink profile. DoFollow backlinks are important for SEO because they help improve a website’s authority and rankings by sharing value.
NoFollow backlinks don’t help your site’s link strength, but they are still useful because they can bring visitors to your site, create a mix of different links, and might lead to more DoFollow links later on.
Finding the right mix of these two kinds of backlinks helps create a more natural and complete way to build links. Knowing and using the advantages of these backlinks is an important step for long-term success in SEO and staying ahead in the online world.
FAQs
How can I find out if a backlink is DoFollow or NoFollow?
To find out what backlink it is, look at the HTML code for the link. DoFollow backlinks are regular links without any special features. NoFollow backlinks have a tag called rel=”nofollow”. You can use browser add-ons or SEO tools that show NoFollow links on web pages, which helps you find them more easily. Also, tools like Moz, and Semrush can help you look at your backlinks and sort them.
Should I try to get more DoFollow or NoFollow links?
It’s best to have a good combination of both DoFollow and NoFollow backlinks. DoFollow backlinks are important for boosting search engine rankings, while NoFollow backlinks help create a natural and varied link profile. A good backlink plan has quality DoFollow links and useful NoFollow links. Focus on getting DoFollow backlinks from trusted sources, but remember that NoFollow links can also be helpful for your overall SEO.
How can I get good DoFollow backlinks?
To get good DoFollow backlinks, make useful and interesting content that people want to share. Write articles for well-known websites, make connections with important people in your field, and join discussions in industry groups and online communities. Make sure your website is included in important online directories and work with trusted websites to get links to your site. Sharing expert advice, doing original research, and making interesting multimedia content can help you get valuable DoFollow backlinks.
Can I change a NoFollow link to a DoFollow link?
You can’t change a NoFollow link into a DoFollow link directly. You can connect with site owners and editors to possibly get DoFollow links later on. Sharing useful information and building trust can make people want to link to your site with DoFollow links. Also, writing guest blog posts, sharing expert opinions, and working together on projects can help you get DoFollow backlinks.
How do I keep track of my backlinks?
Use SEO tools like Moz, Ahrefs, or Semrush to keep an eye on your backlinks. These tools can help you check how good and how many links you have, keep track of your links, and find new chances to get more links. It’s important to check and update your backlinks often to succeed in SEO over time. Regularly checking your links can help you find and remove bad or spammy links that might hurt your site’s performance.
