You first hear the term dofollow backlink. So, you scroll through multiple sites. But you do not find the right answer. Instead, you come across paragraphs riddled with jargon. You get all the more confused. We feel you if this has ever happened to you. So, this is where we come in your quest to find the answer to “what is a dofollow backlink”.
Dofollow backlinks are one of the most important terms in the SEO directory. It is a crucial part of the link-building process. If you are a beginner, worry not! We are here to clear your confusion. Keep scrolling to know more about dofollow backlinks and how to use them.
Before we dive into the topic, you need to understand some terms first that are absolutely critical to understanding dofollow backlinks. If you already know them, feel free to jump ahead.
Link building is the process by which we can get hyperlinks from other websites. Simply put, when other websites refer to yours, we say that a link is built. Search engines use these links to crawl between different pages of your website.
We do not build links to help the visitors navigate the website easily. Rather, marketers use it to drive referral traffic. Because more traffic translates to more authority and eventually, better page ranking.
Link equity, commonly known as "link juice," is the power of the link, if you will. Think of links as compliments from other websites. Not every compliment matters the same. It depends on from whom it came.
Likewise, not every link carries the same weight. The more authoritative the other website is, the more link juice the link carries. However, there are also other factors that determine link equity. Some of them are mentioned below.
Now that we know about link juice, it’s easier to understand dofollow backlinks. A dofollow backlink allows the link juice to flow from the referring site to the linked site. Therefore, dofollow backlinks directly influence your page rankings.
Do follow backlinks can be seen as a signal of trust from the referring website. Receiving a dofollow link means several things. Firstly, the referring site trusts your site. Secondly, they instruct the crawlers to crawl your website as well. Finally, the crawlers find your website and crawl it.
So, if the dofollow backlink is coming from an extremely authoritative site, your website is going get a good amount of link juice. Hence, it is going to be ranked significantly higher.
Well, if we are talking about dofollow backlinks, it would be a sin to NOT talk about nofollow link, right?
Nofollow links are just the opposite of dofollow backlinks. A nofollow backlink does not allow the link juice to flow from the referring site to the linked site. Therefore, nofollow backlinks hold little importance to your page rankings.
So why would someone provide your website nofollow links? Because the referring website is not sure about the credibility of your website. It is a signal to the search engine to not crawl your website.
The bottom line is that dofollow backlinks are the original heroes responsible for driving the credibility and authoritativeness of your website. Well, we sense a question coming. Is having nofollow links bad for your website?
No, it’s not. While we suggest building enough dofollow backlinks, we do not discourage nofollow links. The decision to build either of these links actually depends on your link building agenda.
What do you want to achieve for your website? Consider the following options.
If you tick the first option, we suggest you concentrate on earning dofollow backlinks. Otherwise, you don't need to care much about the dofollow links.
There are multiple ways to find out whether a backlink is dofollow or nofollow. You can try these following options.
You don't have to a coder to understand spot a dofollow backlink (or a nofollow link). Every link is by default a dofollow backlink. In contrast, here is what a nofollow backlink looks like:
<a href=”https://websitename.com” rel=”nofollow”>anchor text</a>
Here if xyz.com were to insert a nofollow backlink in the phrase “Great SEO Tools”, the nofollow link would be:
<a href=”https://xyz.com” rel=”nofollow”>Great SEO Tools</a>
So, for the dofollow backlink, there is no rel attribute in the HTML code.
<a href=”https://xyz.com”>Great SEO Tools</a>
Now to check for the code,
Another way of checking whether it’s a dofollow backlink or a nofollow link is to use SEO extensions. There are many such extensions available depending on your browser. If you use Google Chrome, you can try the Moz SEO extension. You can find it here: http://moz.com/tools/seo-toolbar.
After you run the toolbar, it will automatically identify the type of link. Then it will even highlight the dofollow backlinks with green color. The rest of the nofollow backlinks are highlighted with pink.
If your website has been around for a while, there is a chance that some sites have been linked to you. Fortunately, there are a couple of backlink analysis tools out there. You can try out BacklinkSEO of course. These tools will help you in a couple of ways. For example:
What have you learned until now? Dofollow backlinks are absolutely necessary for your page. Now, it is time to discuss how to earn them. Here are some tried-and-tested ways to earn credible backlinks and create a robust backlink profile.
We can’t stress this enough. Sure content is the king. However, without relevant keywords, your great content will be lost in a sea of other generic blogs. So, do your keyword research again and again. Make it a continuous approach.
We have said this once. We will say this again. Content is the king. Great content makes you stand out. It makes readers crave for more. By delivering useful and relevant content, you can drive your website traffic.
Well, why are we talking about keyword and content again? Because these are the baby steps in earning backlinks.
If you are a newcomer, you might be at sea while building links. Where and how do you start your link building campaign? The easiest way to do so is by checking your competitors’ backlink profiles. From where are your competitors earning their share of dofollow backlink? You also start there.
As we discussed, there are several backlink tools that can help you unearth those valuable links. So, make those domains your priority. Now all you have to do is to build a campaign around those names.
Now you have great content at your disposal. How to let people know? Well, there are several ways to run a PR campaign. The first one is email outreach. If your blogs are really useful and relevant, then email marketing works just fine.
Another way is to comment on similar relevant posts. Here is a quick tip: Comment, don’t spam. Don’t comment just for the sake of it. Rather, provide some value to the discussion. Share your insights. Show genuine interest in the writeup. The bottom line is to build meaningful relationships with bloggers.
The last step is to connect with the already linked blogs in the writeup. Do not go hunt for blogs outside your domain. Instead, look in your niche. Let them know about your content. It is likely that you will end up with a dofollow backlink(s).
One of the most overlooked ways of earning dofollow backlink is by using multichannel promotion. Share your blog across multiple channels in the relevant communities. Harness the true power of social media, if you will.
Increasing your brand exposure in the right community will help you in the long-run. Therefore, we suggest that you try to engage people and try to generate genuine comments. These are the people who will give you the dofollow backlink you are searching for.
Guest blogging is another great way to earn dofollow backlink. As a guest blogger, you can add your information to the author section. You can also leave the link to your website. Moreover, some blogs even allow you to drop backlinks to your content as well.
The downside is that you might not get traction right away. However, with continuous and consistent effort, you will notice a change in your backlink profile.
Now here are some things you should avoid in your link-building process.
You will find tons of sites that ‘sell’ backlinks. Here is a lifesaving tip: Stay Away! Nothing good ever comes out of these paid backlinks. Exchanging or buying links in this manner makes you guilty in the eyes of the crawlers.
Often websites are flagged down as spams. Forever. So we suggest that you play clean. Focus on ‘earning’ quality backlinks that provide value to your website. We guarantee that dofollow backlink will come slow but sure.
Many blogs online tell you to go for article directories in your link building campaign. But we suggest you not to. Link building through articles directories worked well in the 2010s. Well, now it doesn't.
Google knows how easy it is to get dofollow backlink from such sources. Therefore, the crawlers put little value on the link obtained from such directories. Moreover, some are misled into thinking that article directories with greater domain authority might lead to valuable backlinks. We hate to break it to you but they don't.
Try to maintain a healthy combination of nofollow and dofollow backlink. Instead of buying meaningless links, concentrate on building links with the help of great content. Run accurate PR campaigns. Share your blog in the right communities. Provide value to other similar blogs. You will be rewarded accordingly.
And finally, have patience. Earning dofollow backlink is a rigorous process.
We hope by now you know clearly what is a dofollow backlink. Do follow us if you loved our discussion. Leave a comment if you have further questions. We wish you a successful link building process.
