What is: DoFollow Link

Definition of DoFollow

DoFollow is a tag for a backlink, to specify that you want it to pass SEO value to your site. When trying to build links for your blog, DoFollow directly benefits the blog’s ranking on the SERP.

In the world of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), the use of linking both your site to other sites and vice versa are important things – and the way your website treats its links has a considerable bearing on how search engines treat their links, too.

This brings DoFollow and NoFollow links into action. DoFollow and NoFollow are implemented as HTML coded instructions for search engines looking to promote a site.

Typically, all links are DoFollow links, unless they’re modified to be NoFollow – this modification could either be implemented by the user or the host website, so it’s worth keeping track of.

There are plenty of ways to see if your links are enabled as DoFollow or NoFollow. Mozilla Firefox browsers even have a dedicated plugin called ‘NoDoFollow’ which works by highlighting all the links on a page in either blue or red (for DoFollow or NoFollow respectively). For Chrome users (or Internet Explorer…it’s okay, don’t worry – we’re not judgemental here), there’s an excellent toolbar on offer from Moz.com, Called MozBar. This offering works similarly to the NoDoFollow Firefox extension, highlighting the links according to their status. If you’d rather not download an extension or plugin, then you’re able to decipher your links by looking at your source coding.

Some webmasters prefer their links to be NoFollow, and this can be modified in your HTML coding too. NoFollow helps prevent spammy content being picked up by search engines as well as comment backlink spammers. Bloggers sometimes like keeping their back pages off of search engines too, and can implement it like this:

The above illustration, courtesy of Dummies.com, shows us how to simply add a NoFollow link to our HTML.

Tip: Make sure all of your relevant links are DoFollow enabled because this is how you become visible to search engines online! Additionally, you can follow the instructions above to remove certain pages from search results if you wish. Effective use of DoFollow and NoFollows makes for great control of your social media presence.

Further Reading:

1. What is: Backlink (Inbound Link)

2. The List of 23 Best, Powerful and Essential SEO Tools

3. What is: Comment (Blog Comments)