# Dofollow link

Category: [Link Building & Off-Page](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/link-building-off-page/) › [Link attributes](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/link-building-off-page/link-attributes/) · Also known as: follow link, followed link

A **dofollow link** is an ordinary link that carries no `rel` value such as `nofollow`, `sponsored` or `ugc`. The word comes from SEO practice. No HTML attribute `rel="dofollow"` exists in Google's documentation.

## What does dofollow mean?

A link without qualification is the default on the web. Calling it "dofollow" separates it from links that are marked. Google describes three values for marking links.

- `nofollow` when you prefer that Google does not associate your site with the linked page
- `sponsored` for ads and paid placements
- `ugc` for user-generated content such as comments and forum posts

In its announcement of September 10, 2019, Google said all three attributes are treated as hints for ranking, and that `nofollow` would become a hint for crawling and indexing as of March 1, 2020. Some third-party sources still claim that nofollow links keep pages out of crawling and indexing.

In marketing, "dofollow" often refers to a link that can pass ranking value from the linking site. Link sellers list it as a feature. Google's spam policies state that paid links must be qualified with `rel="sponsored"` or `rel="nofollow"`, so a paid link without a qualifier falls under link spam (see buying links).

## How can you tell if a link is dofollow?

Open the page source or inspect the element. If the `rel` attribute is missing or contains none of the three values, the link is a normal link. Browser extensions and crawlers show this in a table.

## Example

```html
<!-- Normal link, called "dofollow" in SEO practice -->
<a href="https://www.example.com/">Example</a>

<!-- Qualified link -->
<a href="https://www.example.com/" rel="nofollow">Example</a>
```

## FAQ

**Is dofollow an official HTML attribute?** No. A link without qualifying `rel` values is simply a link.

**Do nofollow links pass any value?** Google calls nofollow, sponsored and ugc hints. How it uses them is not published in detail.

## Link attributes compared

| Value | Purpose according to Google | Required? | How Google treats it |
|---|---|---|---|
| no rel value (often called "dofollow") | regular link that Google is expected to fetch and parse without qualification | –; Google has no dofollow value | Google can follow and parse the link |
| rel="sponsored" | advertisements and paid placements | for paid links, sponsored (preferred) or nofollow; otherwise link spam under the spam policies | hint; links with this value are generally not followed |
| rel="ugc" | links in user-generated content such as comments and forum posts | recommended; can be removed for members with a consistent record of high-quality contributions | hint; links with this value are generally not followed |
| rel="nofollow" | when no other value applies and you'd rather Google not associate your site with the target or crawl it from your site | no; still acceptable for paid links | hint, for ranking since 10 Sept 2019 and for crawling and indexing since 1 March 2020 |
| nofollow as a robots meta rule | don't follow the links on this page | no | applies to every link on the page |

Sources: [Google Search Central: Qualify your outbound links to Google (last updated 2025-12-10)](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/qualify-outbound-links); [Google Search Central: Spam policies for Google web search, link spam (last updated 2026-08-28)](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#link-spam); [Google Search Central Blog: Evolving "nofollow" – new ways to identify the nature of links (2019-09-10)](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2019/09/evolving-nofollow-new-ways-to-identify); [Google Search Central: Robots meta tag specifications, nofollow](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots-meta-tag). Last checked: October 8, 2026

## Related terms

- [Link building](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/link-building/index.md)
- [Link profile](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/link-profile/index.md)
- [Link attributes](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/link-attributes/index.md)
- [nofollow](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/nofollow/index.md)
- [rel="sponsored"](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/rel-sponsored/index.md)
- [rel="ugc"](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/rel-ugc/index.md)

## Sources

- [Qualify your outbound links to Google – Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/qualify-outbound-links)
- [Evolving nofollow – new ways to identify the nature of links – Google Search Central Blog, September 2019](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2019/09/evolving-nofollow-new-ways-to-identify)

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Last updated: October 8, 2026
URL: https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/dofollow-link/