What is a Do-Follow Backlink?

A do-follow backlink is a standard hyperlink that instructs search engine crawlers to follow the link and pass link equity (commonly called "link juice" or PageRank) from the linking page to the destination page. Do-follow is the default link state - all links are do-follow unless explicitly marked otherwise with the rel="nofollow", rel="sponsored", or rel="ugc" attributes. Earning do-follow backlinks from authoritative websites is one of the most impactful factors in improving search rankings.

Do-Follow vs. No-Follow Links

The distinction between do-follow and no-follow links is critical in link building. A do-follow link passes PageRank and tells search engines to count the link as a vote of confidence for the linked page. A no-follow link includes rel="nofollow" in its HTML, signaling to search engines not to follow the link for ranking purposes. While Google now treats no-follow as a "hint" rather than an absolute directive, do-follow links are still significantly more valuable for SEO. Most editorial links - those earned naturally through quality content - are do-follow by default.

Key point: The term "do-follow" is slightly informal - there is no actual rel="dofollow" HTML attribute. A do-follow link is simply a link that lacks any rel attribute instructing crawlers to ignore it.

How to Identify Do-Follow Links

You can identify whether a link is do-follow or no-follow by inspecting the link's HTML:

A do-follow link looks like: <a href="https://example.com">Anchor Text</a>
A no-follow link looks like: <a href="https://example.com" rel="nofollow">Anchor Text</a>
SEO tools like Ahrefs and Semrush label links as "dofollow" or "nofollow" in their backlink reports
Browser extensions like MozBar can highlight link types as you browse

Why It Matters for SEO

Do-follow backlinks are the primary currency of off-page SEO. Each do-follow link from an authoritative, relevant website passes PageRank to the linked page, strengthening its authority and improving its likelihood of ranking well. A targeted link building strategy focused on earning high-quality do-follow links from topically relevant websites consistently produces some of the strongest ranking improvements available to SEOs. Link quality - the authority and relevance of the linking domain - matters far more than sheer link quantity.