Links are the bridge that connects websites and allows Google to understand their relationship. The quality of external links plays a crucial role in improving your website’s ranking and traffic. Do-follow and no-follow links are the two types of links you need to consider to establish a connection between websites.
In this article, you’ll learn about do-follow and no-follow links, including how to get high-quality external links to boost your website’s traffic.
What are Do-Follow Links?
Do-follow links are regular links that directly affect your website’s search engine rankings. Whenever a recognized website adds a link to your website’s content, you will get a better ranking and more visitors from the source your link was added to in the content. Do-follow backlinks help improve your website’s authority and ranking because many authority websites have linked to you.
How to Identify Do Follow Links?
Whenever you create a new link on your website, it becomes a Do-Follow link by default. You can share this link with other websites or add it to your content. However, you must know the difference between Do Follow and No Follow links.
How Do Do-Follow Links Impact Your Website Ranking?
Google recognizes do-follow links, and therefore Google ranks other authority websites. When the search engine bots find the link to your website in other website content, your website is ranked as an authority, and you get a better ranking. The more quality and reputable websites give you do-follow links, the more authority your website gets.
Do-follow links affect your website’s ranking depending on its quality, and Google takes into account some important factors like:
- Organic link building: Google considers websites with organic Do-Follow links instead of buying them. If you have so many organic do-follow links, your website will get recommendations from Google.
- Authority of External Source: Authority is important, and if you have do-follow links from authority or big websites, you will get high traffic and a better ranking.
- Relevance: Do-follow links should be relevant to the domain. This will build authority in the market.
- Freshness: You need to constantly build new do-follow links to consider your website high-quality.
What are No-Follow Links?
No-follow links are the links that Google should not follow. No-follow links have no impact on search engine rankings because Google ignores these links. A no-follow link is created with a no-follow link HTML tag.
How to create a No-Follow Link?
It is quite easy to create a no-follow link. If you have sponsored posts on your blog and want to add their link, then follow the process given below:
Step #1: Go to your blog editor and switch to HTML view to edit your code.
Step #2: Select the link you want to mark as ” no-follow.”
Step #3: Now it’s time to make the link no-follow, and for that, you need to add no-follow attributes:
<a href=”http://www.example.com/” rel=”nofollow”>Example anchor text</a>
The Best Ratio of Do-Follow to No-Follow Links
You do not need to have a specific ratio between do-follow and no-follow links, but if you are interested in statistics, a good ratio is about 75/25, according to Alexa Rank. This means more do-Follow and fewer no-follow links can help you grow your website.
How to Identify No-Follow Links?
To find out if a link is a no-follow link, you can use one of the following methods:
Method #1: View the code in the Chrome Browser
Open the content page, right-click on it and select “Inspect.” Once you select “Inspect,” you will see a window with many codes. This is the “Developer Tools” window.
Now find the link you want to inspect and right-click on it. From the options that appear, select the “Inspect Element” option.
You will see a highlighted code that contains the link you want to inspect. If it is a no-follow link, you will see the rel=”no-follow” attribute in the code.
Method #2: Use Chrome Extension
Another way to check if a link is a do-follow or no-follow link is to use a Chrome extension called No-follow. Here’s how to use it:
Step 1: Go to the Chrome Web Store and search for the extension “Nofollow.”
Step 2: Install the extension on your Chrome browser.
Step 3: Once the extension is installed, you can check whether a link is a do-follow or no-follow link. When you hover over a link on a web page, the extension will show you whether it is a do-follow or no-follow link.
Method #3: Use an SEO Tool
If you are a blogger or website owner, you can use an SEO tool to check if a link is a do-follow or no-follow link. SEO tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz have features that allow you to check your website’s backlink profile or your competitors’ websites.
Is It Wrong to Have No-Follow Links?
No-follow links are okay for your website. No-follow links can add value to your website by generating referral traffic or building brand awareness.
However, it’s important to note that no-follow links do not pass on any SEO value to your website, which means they do not contribute to your website’s search engine rankings.
How to Find Competitive Backlinks
You can use Alexa’s Competitive Analysis Tool to analyze your competitors’ backlinks. This tool will help you identify powerful competitors, analyze where your competitors are getting backlinks, find highly authoritative sites, and determine the best Do-Follow and No-Follow links ratio.
When Should You Use No-Follow Links?
There are four main areas where you should use no-follow links:
1. Pages you do not want to endorse: If you have pages on your site that you do not want to endorse, you can use no-follow links to prevent them from passing on SEO value.
2. Sponsored links: If your site has sponsored content, you should use no-follow links to comply with Google’s guidelines.
3. Affiliate links: If you have affiliate links on your website, you should use no-follow links to avoid being penalized by Google.
4. User-generated content: If your site has user-generated content like comments or forum posts, you should use no-follow links to prevent spammy links from passing on SEO value.
Final Verdict
Do-follow links are important for building your website’s authority and search engine rankings. However, no-follow links can add value to your site by generating referral traffic or building brand awareness.
When building links on your website, knowing the difference between do-follow and no-follow links and when to use them is important. By strategically using both types of links, you can improve your website’s overall search engine optimization and drive more traffic.