How to Find Nofollow and Dofollow Links on a Website

Creating connections by including links from your content to other websites and vice versa is a great way to foster relationships. It’s crucial to remember that not every link is made equally from the start.

Learning how to link can be difficult when you’re just getting started with SEO, especially if you’re trying to get links from domain authority websites. The return on investment from backlinks is substantial, as they influence your position in Google’s search results. For this reason, it is essential to comprehend their operation.

We’ll make the ideas behind DoFollow and NoFollow Links more understandable in this post, so you won’t be bogged down in technical terms. You’ll be well-versed in their benefits, drawbacks, and—most importantly—the fundamentals if you do this.

Now let’s delve into what Dofollow links are

Dofollow links are essentially regular links; the only distinction is that Googlebot will follow them, and they will pass PageRank. These dofollow links don’t possess any real properties beyond having the real property defined as “dofollow.” When it comes to building links for SEO purposes, the links that hold importance are the ones with the dofollow attribute.

So, what’s the difference between Nofollow and Dofollow links?

Dofollow links are the ones that pass on PageRank, while nofollow links do not. This is essentially the distinction between them. This is all we can deduce from their names.

Now let’s talk about how nofollow links impact SEO

As we mentioned earlier, nofollow links don’t have any effect on PageRank since they don’t pass it along. Due to this reason, when conducting backlink audits or running link-building campaigns, these types of links are usually not taken into consideration.

However, contrary to what some SEO experts and beginners believe, nofollow links aren’t entirely useless.

To begin with, Google has clearly stated that all properties of nofollow links, including sponsored and UGC, should be seen as hints rather than instructions. Their purpose is to help Google “better understand how to analyze and use” these types of links. As a result of this approach, it’s impossible to know for certain how Google will react to marked nofollow links.

Firstly, it’s worth noting that a backlink from a source, such as Wikipedia, can indeed enhance the strength of the page it points to, even if it has the nofollow attribute. However, the exact mechanism behind this boost remains uncertain. It could be due to increased brand visibility, traffic signals related to expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E A T) or other factors. It’s likely that each of these factors plays some role in this enhancement.

Additionally, even though nofollow backlinks don’t pass on link juice directly, they still contribute to your backlink count. Help increase brand mentions. The more times your name or website is mentioned (in contexts), the greater the chance that people will visit your website. While this may not directly impact SEO rankings, it can be a way to draw attention to your business and achieve your company’s goals.

Understanding the distinction between nofollow and dofollow links is essential for several reasons when managing your website’s links. For instance, utilizing nofollow links internally within a website can result in a loss of authority for the site.

This occurs because pages that contain nofollow links take away some of the authority from the pages they link to. They don’t transfer that authority to the linked pages. It means that some of the link power is wasted.

Regarding receiving links from websites, it’s essential to consider whether the pages you are linking to have dofollow or nofollow attributes. The issue arises when using links because you might inadvertently strengthen a page that you don’t want to associate with or share PageRank with due to reputation concerns or competition. This becomes an aspect when you need to link to a site for user experience purposes but still want to maintain your authority.

Establishing backlinks is where you must keep track of your dofollow and nofollow links. Only dofollow backlinks contribute link juice or power to your page. However, it’s worth noting that nofollow backlinks are not entirely useless, which is why maintaining a well-maintained backlink profile is crucial.

So, what exactly are nofollow links?

A nofollow link refers to a link that includes the rel=”nofollow” attribute.

To prevent Google from following the link and passing any PageRank value to the page, a notification is sent. The concept of the “nofollow” attribute was introduced in 2005 as a measure against spam and attempts to manipulate PageRank flow. Initially, when Googlebot encountered a link with the “nofollow” attribute, it disregarded it and did not transfer any link influence. PageRank sculpting refers to a practice where SEOs use nofollows in a manner to control the flow of PageRank for their desired pages. This was Google’s way of addressing spam issues.

There are types of nofollow attributes available today that offer specificity:

1. The “rel=sponsored” tag: Google recommends using this tag to mark sponsored affiliates and paid links.
2. The “rel=ugc” tag; This tag is used to identify user-generated content.

Interestingly, Google mentioned the option to remove this tag as a way to reward content, which shows their concern for user satisfaction. In reality, you can still use the directive for both user-generated content and affiliate links because they essentially function in the same manner. Google recommends using these features for creating links. Still, even if some of your older affiliate or user-generated content connections use the nofollow tag, the search engine won’t penalize your website.

Now that you understand how less favorable a NoFollow link is compared to one, you must wonder how to identify them. This is where code snippets illustrating NoFollow and DoFollow links can come in handy. By following the steps outlined below, you’ll be able to verify whether any link on any website is genuine.

Here are three methods to check if a link is DoFollow:

Inspecting the HTML code

Examining the HTML code is, by far, the most common method used to determine if a link is dofollow.

By default, any link you create is considered a link. This means that the code for a dofollow link would typically appear as follows;

<a href=”https;//domain.com”>anchor text</a>

For example;

<a href=”https;//backlinkseo.com”>What’s a Dofollow Link</a>

On the other hand, a link that does not adhere to any rules has a rel attribute. In theory, a nofollow link would be structured as shown below;

<a href=”https;//domain.com” rel=”nofollow”>anchor text</a>

For example;

<a href=”https;//backlinkseo.com” rel=”nofollow”>What’s a Nofollow Link</a>

When using Chrome on a website, you can utilize this method to determine whether a link is dofollow or nofollow. To verify the code, follow these steps;

1. Right-click within the anchor text.
2. From the context menu that appears, select “Inspect.”
3. Search for the rel attribute in the HTML code.

If you can see it, then it indicates that it’s a nofollow link. Otherwise, it would be considered a dofollow link.

The “rel” attribute is not present anywhere in the code snippet provided. Therefore, we can conclude that it’s a link.

On the side, I noticed that there’s a “rel” attribute included in the code. This indicates that the link here is set as a nofollow link. It’s pretty straightforward, isn’t it?

Utilizing Tools for Monitoring Backlinks

As your website grows, managing all the links can become quite challenging. Luckily, there are programs for tracking backlinks nowadays. Since you’re already here, I recommend giving BacklinkSEO a try. This tool can simplify the process of establishing links for you and even differentiate between dofollow and nofollow links.

When you view the BacklinkSEO dashboard this way, it appears like this. As you can see, it provides an overview of your backlink profile from your perspective. The options to set whether a link is dofollow or nofollow can be found on the left-hand panel of the dashboard. Additionally, it showcases statistics related to your domain, link status, and website analytics.

Now, all that remains is for you to navigate the system. It will automatically display whether each link on your website has a dofollow or nofollow status.

The page that shows all the backlinks for a website is known as the dofollow link overview page. Once you access this page, you can click on links to gather information about each one. Moreover, the subsequent window will enable you to verify the status of any nofollow links.

Utilize Chrome Extensions

Chrome extensions offer another easy way to determine if a link is dofollow or not. You can try MozBar without any cost by following the instructions after adding the extension.

Now click on the pen icon located in the corner. You’ll notice that all dofollow links within the article have been underlined. If you select the nofollow option now, all links that don’t adhere to a protocol will be highlighted in pink. You can also identify whether a link leads to an external page.

WebSite Auditor

Launch WebSite Auditor and select your project for analysis; if you haven’t used this tool before, you’ll need to create a project. WebSite Auditor provides a list of all the pages on your website, including information about the links on each page. This information includes the number of links and the proportion of nofollow links.

From this page, you can access details about outgoing links. You can also distinguish between dofollow and nofollow links.

Methods to identify nofollow and dofollow backlinks

There are ways to find your backlinks as well as those of your competitors, determining whether they are dofollow or nofollow.

Free backlink checker

SEO PowerSuite offers a free backlink checker tool that allows you to identify up to 10,000 backlinks quickly and gather statistics for each one. To initiate the search, simply enter the domain you wish to investigate.

SEO SpyGlass

SEO SpyGlass is a tool for analyzing backlinks. It provides information about your backlink profile, tracks its evolution over time, and assists with audits. Additionally, this tool allows you to explore your competitor’s backlinks, discover prospects for building your website’s backlinks, and evaluate their potential value and relevance.

In conclusion, when it comes to search engine optimization, there aren’t any aspects that can be considered irrelevant. When conducting site audits, it’s crucial to consider both the dofollow and nofollow links on your website. Now you know how to find all the dofollow and nofollow links and what actions should be taken in relation to them.