The Easiest Nofollow vs Dofollow Explanation

This article has been updated from an older version. The original community comments are being preserved because they are part of the discussion and history of the post.

Bloggers often hear the terms nofollow and dofollow and wonder what they actually mean. The simplest explanation is that links can carry different rel attributes that give search engines more context about why a link exists.

A normal editorial link does not need a special "dofollow" tag. "Dofollow" is common blogger shorthand for a standard link that has not been marked with attributes such as nofollow, sponsored or ugc.

What Is a Normal or "Dofollow" Link?

A basic link might look like this:

<a href="https://example.com">Helpful resource</a>

If you are linking naturally to a useful article, source or website because it helps your reader, you generally do not need to add nofollow simply because the link goes to another site.

What Does Nofollow Mean?

A nofollow link includes this attribute:

rel="nofollow"

For example:

<a href="https://example.com" rel="nofollow">Example link</a>

The attribute gives search engines additional information about how the site owner wants the link treated. The link still works normally for the reader.

Paid and Affiliate Links: Use Sponsored

Modern search guidance provides a more specific attribute for advertising, sponsorships, affiliate links and other compensated placements:

rel="sponsored"

For example:

<a href="https://example.com" rel="sponsored">Affiliate product</a>

If a link exists because money, products, services or another form of compensation is involved, identifying the commercial relationship is important. This link attribute is separate from the disclosure your human readers need to see; bloggers should still clearly disclose sponsored and affiliate relationships in the content itself.

What Is UGC?

rel="ugc" stands for user-generated content. It can be used on links placed by users in areas such as comments or forums:

<a href="https://example.com" rel="ugc">User-added link</a>

Many modern publishing systems handle this kind of link automatically.

Can Attributes Be Combined?

Yes. A link can contain more than one value when appropriate. For example:

rel="nofollow sponsored"

You may encounter older websites that still use nofollow for paid links. The more specific sponsored value now makes the nature of the relationship clearer.

You Do Not Need a "Balance" of Follow and Nofollow Links

Older SEO advice sometimes told bloggers they needed to maintain a particular balance of followed and nofollowed links. That is not a useful target.

Instead, use link attributes according to why the link exists. Link naturally to helpful editorial resources. Identify paid or affiliate relationships appropriately. Treat user-generated links appropriately. Do not add or remove attributes merely to reach an artificial ratio.

What About Backlinks?

Links from other sites can help search engines discover pages and understand relationships across the web, but chasing links simply for ranking purposes can lead to poor decisions. A better long-term approach is to publish material worth citing, build legitimate relationships and earn mentions through useful work.

The Easy Version to Remember

• Normal editorial link: no special follow attribute is required.
• Paid, sponsored or affiliate link: use rel="sponsored" as appropriate.
• User-generated link: rel="ugc" may be appropriate.
• Nofollow: still available when you want to qualify a link and the other values do not fully describe the situation.

You do not need to become an HTML expert to blog successfully. Most modern WordPress tools can handle link attributes for you, but understanding what they mean makes it much easier to check that your site is doing what you expect.

For more beginner-friendly SEO help, see Easy SEO Tips for Beginners and 5 SEO Tips to Optimize Your Blog Posts.