Editorial Staff
In 2005, Google introduced the “No Follow” tag as reaction to comment spam that has been practiced by black hat SEO.
Simply just by adding the rel=”nofollow” to the HTML hyperlink, it will turn the hyperlink to “No follow”.
So, what is actually this No Follow link? and what is the different from the normal link?
What is No Follow Link?
In the previous lesson, you have learnt that a backlink is considered a vote from another website.
However, when you convert a backlink in your website into no follow, it’s like telling Google that your site don’t endorse that link.
Hence, Google will not consider it as a vote from your site.
No-follow links won’t get any credit when we rank websites in our search results. -Google
What is Do Follow Link?
Do-follow link is the type of backlink that is considered as a vote in front of Google’s eye.
If you place a do-follow link in your website to website B, it basically tells the search engine that your website is endorsing website B.
With that to say, it is clear that do-follow link will get a juice of SEO benefit.
To check whether a link is “do-follow”, you can do it easily by right click and inspect the element.
If you don’t see any rel=”nofollow” in the URL HTML, it means the link is do-follow.
In other words, if the link isn’t nofollowed, it will automatically followed.
No Follow vs Do Follow Link
No follow and do follow link are to ways of identifying a link and tells search engine whether to pass the SEO benefits or not.
Do follow link works to pass on authority from a website to another website, while no-follow link does not have any impact in passing the authority.
Is that means no follow link is bad?
No, it isn’t.
Although the rel=”nofollow” will eliminate the SEO benefit, it works to diversify your backlink portfolio.
And the way Google see this, is a natural link building.
No follow link is also passing the traffic from another website.
When to Use No Follow and Do Follow Link?
Both type of links are completely useful and common to use in the SEO world.
However, you need to know when to use no follow and when to use do follow.
1. Use No Follow Link When it Comes to User Generated Content
User generated content is any content that your reader could submit on your website.
For example, if your website open for a comment section, forum, or community section.
User generated contents are actually the favorite place for black hat SEO practitioner to do the spam link building method.
Therefore, you should set a rule in your website to make all the user generated content’s link into a no-follow link.
This way, your site is protected from the black hat SEO practitioner that could harm your site SEO performance.
2. Use No-Follow for Sponsored Content
If your site received a sponsored content to promote another business, using no follow tag is a good idea.
The no follow attribute is recommended by Google for these type of links, though rel=sponsored is preferred.
3. Use Do Follow Link When You Want to Cite a Great Resource
You are giving someone a vote because you wanted to.
This is how the search engine expect a link building to be: natural link building.
For example, when you found a great infographic content that you’re going to cite into your content, it is time to use do follow link.
This way, you’ll also giving a signal to search engine that you’re citing from a related source and boost credibility of your content.
4. Use Do Follow Link For Internal Linking
You have learnt the benefits of internal linking on the previous lesson in which it will give the link juice and signals for the search engine.
It is not necessarily that you need to trust or endorse your own page, but it just doesn’t make sense if you’re not.
So, the best practice is to ensure all your internal linking is followed.
Check How Many No Follow Link Your Site Have
Earlier, you have learnt on the best practice when to use no follow and do follow link when linking to other website.
Now, you’re going to view from how other sites are linking to you.
There isn’t any perfect ratio for how many no follow against do follow that you should implement in your site.
However, the do follow link should dominate your backlink profile.
Based on our study, the top rank websites have a mixed close to 25% no follow link and 75% do follow link.
But still, you can’t control how people are linking to you, unless you disavow the link which you will learn this on the next module.
You can check your backlink profile from tools such as Ahrefs and Semrush, where you can view exactly how many no follow and do follow that your site has.
