Dofollow

In plain English

In the official World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) HTML specifications, there is technically no attribute named “dofollow.” A standard hyperlink is authored using plain HTML syntax: <a href="https://example.com">. Under default web standards, every ordinary hyperlink tells search engine crawlers: “This link represents an authentic editorial reference. Crawl this destination page, evaluate its context, and pass authority to it.”

The word “dofollow” was coined by digital marketers and webmasters to distinguish normal, unrestricted links from links containing a rel="nofollow" attribute. In 2005, major search engines introduced the nofollow attribute to give publishers a way to flag links that should not be treated as endorsements, such as links in blog comment sections, user-submitted forum posts, or paid commercial advertisements. A standard link that does not carry these restrictive tags is what the search engine industry describes as a dofollow link.

Understanding this distinction clarifies that you never need to add an explicit rel="dofollow" attribute to your links. In fact, writing rel="dofollow" is non-standard HTML; omitting the rel attribute entirely is the correct web standard.

An example

Consider two distinct hyperlinks published within the body of an online technology review:

1. A commercial affiliate link pointing to an external merchant:

<!-- Nofollow / Sponsored link: Passes zero editorial authority -->
<a href="https://merchant.example.com/item" rel="sponsored">Check price on merchant site</a>

Here, the publisher adds rel="sponsored", explicitly informing search engine crawlers that financial compensation was involved in the placement. The algorithm records the link but withholds ranking credit and PageRank equity.

2. An authentic editorial citation pointing to an open-source technical benchmark:

<!-- Standard / Dofollow link: Passes PageRank and topical context -->
<a href="https://example.com/benchmarks">Review the open-source performance benchmarks</a>

Because the second link lacks restrictive rel attributes, search engine crawlers treat it as an unreserved editorial recommendation. The ranking algorithm evaluates the authority of the referring publication, analyzes the descriptive anchor text “Review the open-source performance benchmarks,” and transfers calculated link equity directly to the target destination.

Why it matters

Dofollow backlinks are the primary currency of off-page search engine optimization and link analysis algorithms. While search engines can still discover new web pages through nofollow links, only dofollow links transfer measurable PageRank and topical authority to the destination document. Building an authentic profile of natural, editorially given dofollow links from authoritative domains remains one of the most powerful ranking drivers in organic search. Furthermore, your internal links should remain dofollow so that crawlers can freely distribute equity across your entire site structure.

Related terms

Read the full guide to ranking.