Dofollow vs. Nofollow Backlinks: What’s the Difference?
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Have you ever wondered why some backlinks boost your website’s SEO while others don’t seem to have any impact? The secret lies in understanding dofollow and nofollow backlinks.
What Are Dofollow Backlinks?
Dofollow backlinks are the standard type of link. When a website links to yours with a dofollow backlink, it’s essentially telling search engines, “Hey, check out this site too!” This instruction encourages search engines to follow and crawl the linked page, passing on valuable link juice that can help improve your site’s ranking.
Example:
<a href="https://www.example.com">Check out this awesome site!</a>In this example, the link to example.com is a dofollow link, and search engines will follow it.
What Are Nofollow Backlinks?
Nofollow backlinks, on the other hand, include a little piece of code that tells search engines, “Don’t follow this link.” Websites use the rel="nofollow" attribute to signal to search engines not to crawl the linked page. This means no link juice is passed, and the link doesn’t directly impact your SEO.
Example:
<a href="https://www.example.com" rel="nofollow">Check out this site, but don't follow it!</a>In this example, the link to example.com is a nofollow link, and search engines are instructed not to follow it.
Why Do Nofollow Links Exist?
Nofollow links were introduced to combat spam and ensure that not all links could be easily exploited for SEO benefits. They’re commonly used for:
- Sponsored Links: To comply with advertising guidelines.
- Comments: To prevent spammy links in blog comments.
- Untrusted Content: Links to sites that might not be trustworthy.
Do Nofollow Links Matter?
While nofollow links don’t pass link juice, they’re not entirely useless. They can still drive traffic to your site and increase brand exposure. Plus, a natural backlink profile includes a mix of both dofollow and nofollow links, which looks more organic to search engines.
How to Check if a Link is Dofollow or Nofollow
It’s simple to check whether a link is dofollow or nofollow. Just right-click on the link, select “Inspect” or “View Page Source,” and look for the rel="nofollow" attribute. If it’s not there, the link is dofollow.
What to do?
Think of your website as a house. Dofollow links are like strong support beams, giving you structural SEO strength. Nofollow links are like the decorative touches – they add value and make your house more inviting, even if they don’t directly hold up the roof.
The key takeaway? Both dofollow and nofollow links play a role in building a trustworthy, well-rounded website that Google respects. So, get out there, create kick-ass content, and build a diverse backlink profile that shows you’re a valuable player in your field.
Got questions or want to share your experience with dofollow and nofollow links? Drop a comment below!
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