The Difference Between DoFollow and NoFollow Links in SEO
If you’ve been reading about SEO, you’ve probably come across the terms DoFollow and NoFollow links. At first, they might sound confusing, but they’re actually pretty straightforward once you get the hang of them. Here's a simple explanation to help you understand the difference and why it matters.Let’s say you write a blog post and link to another website. That link can be either DoFollow or NoFollow. A DoFollow link tells search engines, “Hey, this link is worth checking out!” Search engines like Google then follow that link and might even pass some value, or what’s often called “link juice,” to the site being linked. This can help that site rank higher in search results.
A NoFollow link, on the other hand, has a tiny bit of extra code that says, “Don’t follow this link.” That means search engines won’t pass that valuable link juice on. These are often used in blog comments, forums, or for sponsored links, where the website owner doesn’t want to endorse the content of the link.
So, why does this matter? Well, if you're working on getting your website to rank better in search engines, getting DoFollow links from trustworthy places can help. But that doesn’t mean NoFollow links are useless. They can still bring in visitors and create awareness. In some cases, they might even help a page get noticed by search engines—especially if a site is getting mentioned a lot across the internet.
Curious about how your guest posts and links are being treated by Google? You might want to check out this helpful analysis: https://designsvalley.com/google-and-guest-posts-what-gets-indexed-and-what-doesn-t-2025-analysis/. It gives a clearer picture of how links are being handled today.
In the end, a healthy website has a mix of both types of links. Focusing only on DoFollow links can look suspicious and may even hurt your site. Natural growth usually includes a variety, just like how we talk about different kinds of content with friends, not just one topic all the time.
Keep your linking honest and balanced. Whether you’re blogging, doing a bit of guest posting, or just trying to grow your site slowly, knowing the difference between DoFollow and NoFollow links can help you make better choices.