Dofollow Link

Definition

A dofollow link is a hyperlink with no rel attribute that restricts link equity flow — specifically, no rel="nofollow", rel="sponsored", or rel="ugc". The term "dofollow" is colloquial; HTML has no actual "dofollow" attribute. A dofollow link is simply a standard `<a href="...">` element. When Googlebot follows a dofollow link, it passes PageRank from the linking page to the destination page, contributes to the destination page\'s authority, and signals relevance through the anchor text. This is the default state of all links: every link is dofollow unless explicitly marked otherwise. The distinction matters because building backlinks is a core SEO objective — and only dofollow backlinks contribute to PageRank flow. Links marked rel="nofollow", rel="sponsored", or rel="ugc" are hints to Google not to credit the link. Since 2019, Google treats nofollow as a hint rather than a directive, but the practical effect is still reduced or eliminated PageRank passing.

Why it matters for SEO

Link building campaigns target dofollow placements because they are the links that move the needle on domain authority and page-level link equity. A guest post on a high-authority site with dofollow links has direct SEO value; the same post with nofollow links has indirect value (referral traffic, brand awareness) but no direct PageRank benefit. Internally, all site links should be dofollow unless there is a specific reason to restrict PageRank flow to a particular internal page.

How DeepSEOAnalysis checks this

DeepSEOAnalysis audits the rel attribute values of all internal and outbound links on crawled pages, flagging cases where internal links carry unintended nofollow attributes (which would prevent PageRank flow to important pages) and where outbound links that should be marked sponsored or ugc are missing those attributes.