A dofollow link passes authority from the linking page to yours. A nofollow link tells search engines not to vouch for the destination. Both look identical on the page, which is why so many link-building wins turn out to be worth nothing when someone finally reads the HTML.
The mechanics in one minute
- Default links are dofollow. There is no dofollow attribute, only the absence of rel values that neutralize it.
- rel="nofollow" asks engines not to pass authority.
- rel="ugc" and rel="sponsored" are treated similarly for authority purposes: user content and paid placements.
- Engines treat these as hints now, not laws, but planning around the hint is the only sane strategy.
How to check any link in ten seconds
- Open the page that links to you. Right click the link, inspect.
- Read the anchor's rel attribute. No rel or rel without nofollow/ugc/sponsored: dofollow.
- Check the live page, not the submission confirmation. Plenty of sites show you a preview with a clean link and publish with nofollow attached.
Where this bites founders
Directory and launch-platform links. Some of the biggest names in startup launching hand out nofollow links, valuable for traffic and worthless for authority, while smaller directories pass real dofollow authority. Counting them as equivalent inflates your link profile on paper and changes nothing in ranking. Our free directory list labels the link type on all 112 rows and the launch guide sequences platforms with exactly this distinction in mind.
The habit: never record a link as won until you have read its rel attribute off the live page. Submitted is a hope. Live and dofollow is a link.
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