When reading your backlink audit report, the two most prominent badges you'll see are **DoFollow** and **NoFollow**. Many beginner webmasters mistakenly believe that only DoFollow links have value and that NoFollow links are a waste of time. In modern SEO, this is outdated thinking.
Let's break down the fundamental differences:
DoFollow Backlinks: Standard HTML links like <a href='site.com'>Anchor</a>. These links act as true votes of confidence, allowing search crawlers to follow the path and transfer link equity (PageRank) to your site. They are decisive for boosting domain authority and rankings.
NoFollow Backlinks: Links that carry the rel='nofollow' attribute. Originally introduced by Google to curb blog comment spam, it tells Googlebot: 'I am linking to this page but I do not vouch for it or pass PageRank.'
Even though NoFollow links don't pass direct authority, they are essential for your SEO success:
1. Rich and Natural Backlink Profile: Having 100% DoFollow links looks highly unnatural to Google's spam detection algorithms and signals link buying. A natural backlink profile naturally includes NoFollow links from social sharing and forums. A healthy balance is 60%-80% DoFollow and 20%-40% NoFollow.
2. Google Hints System: Google updated its guidelines to treat nofollow, sponsored, and ugc tags as 'hints' rather than strict blockades. If a NoFollow link is published on an authoritative, contextually relevant page, Google may still pass some trust signal.
Planning a natural, balanced attribute profile is key. For a systematic breakdown, check out our master pillar page: Ultimate Guide to Manual High-DR Link Building. In this encyclopedic guide, we explain how to construct profile links, Web 2.0s, and directories with balanced attributes to safely grow rankings.