One of the most important factors for getting your site to rank on Google is links. These are references or connections from other websites to yours. Ideally, you want to earn these links naturally, not force them. There are many ways to get them, and linkbuilding takes care of that—here’s a guide.
To master SEO, you need to understand how linkbuilding works. You need to know how all the types of links work and how to build them. But not just to manage sponsored links—also the ones that “come on their own” and the ones you place on your site. That’s why I’m going to explain everything you need to know about dofollow, nofollow, and sponsored links.
DoFollow Links vs. NoFollow Links
Knowing how to distinguish between dofollow and nofollow links is one of the first things you learn in SEO. It’s basic, but you need to understand it well to execute a solid linkbuilding strategy.
At first, only dofollow or “normal” links existed. But shortly after launching its algorithm, the rel=”nofollow” tag was created. Do you know the difference?
What is a dofollow link?
A dofollow link is simply a normal or standard link. You don’t need to add any tag to the link because it’s dofollow by default.
This type of link allows search engines to follow the link from the site where the sponsored post was published all the way to the destination: the advertiser’s website. These are the links that transmit authority to the destination page.
When you use a link like this, the anchor text also has a big influence on ranking, but watch out!… don’t overuse anchor text or you could get penalized.
When should I use a dofollow link?
Whether you’re asking for one or someone wants to link to you, ask for it dofollow. These are the links that truly help you rank. Although you should have variety. You won’t always be able to have your entire link profile full of dofollows.
If you’re ordering a sponsored post or press release, most of the time you can choose how you want the link. It’s almost always advisable to request it as dofollow, but there are some exceptions that depend on each person’s linkbuilding strategy.
Un pequeño detalle técnico que conviene tener claro: "dofollow" no existe como atributo HTML. No hay ningún rel="dofollow" en la especificación oficial. Cuando hablamos de un enlace dofollow, en realidad nos referimos a un enlace que no lleva ningún valor en el atributo rel (ni nofollow, ni sponsored, ni ugc). Es decir, "dofollow" es simplemente la forma coloquial que ha adoptado el mundo SEO para referirse a un enlace estándar, sin restricciones.
What is a nofollow link?
Links with the rel=”nofollow” tag are also important for understanding how SEO works. They’ve been around since 2005 and were invented to fight spam. Google detected that links were being abused to manipulate PageRank and introduced nofollow links to prevent it.
Don Google suggests that this type of link doesn’t influence search rankings. That’s because nofollow links don’t pass PageRank to the linked pages. They’re supposedly not even crawled, although they’re necessary in any link strategy because they add naturalness. Still, don’t look at them negatively because, in certain situations, using nofollow links can benefit you.
When should I use a nofollow link?
A few years ago, Google started recommending the use of the nofollow attribute on purchased links. But why? Basically, links are like votes that help you rank well in the search engine, and if you pay for them, it’s as if you have an advantage over others. But here’s a question for you: where’s the problem if everyone competing for a search term buys links? We’d all be on equal footing, wouldn’t we?
The fact is that Google knows there’s a huge market in buying and selling links, but it sets this rule to “cover itself” when it comes time to penalize a site. That’s why it’s good for your link profile to have a percentage of nofollow links. Some will come to you naturally, but you can create others yourself.
When you place a link on social media, in a forum, or when commenting on most blogs, they’re usually nofollow.
But you can also choose to use this attribute when you buy a link on a blog or news site. Why? Because it adds naturalness and diversity to your strategy. Remember that if the article linking to you gets a lot of traffic, you can drive referral traffic to your site, and that helps a lot too.
When you place a link like this, you’re telling Google: “hey, there’s nothing here, move along.”
To convert a DoFollow link into a Nofollow link, you need to add the rel=”nofollow” attribute as shown in the following example:
<a href="http://www.publisuites.com/" rel="nofollow"> Publisuites</a>New Attributes: Sponsored and UGC Links
We already know that links are essential for ranking and are heavily weighted in Google’s algorithm, and that nofollow links have less value. But that changed recently (September 2019).
Google revised this attribute and launched two new attributes: sponsored and ugc.
What is a sponsored link?
Basically, the rel=”sponsored” attribute should be used to identify a purchased link.
And rel=”ugc” links mark links created by the user themselves (not the site owner), such as comments on blogs and forums.
Why did Google create this new attribute?
Now Google proposes these types of attributes as a suggestion rather than a rigid directive. In other words, Google may now treat these links differently. It doesn’t say when, but it’s possible that it will attribute more authority to some of these links than to others.
Starting March 1, 2020, Google began following these links and indexing the linked pages.
When should I use a sponsored link?
It seems Google is coming to understand that buying links is normalized and that most people do it. And on the other hand, there are influential sites that link to relevant pages with the nofollow attribute and don’t want those signals to be lost.
For users, these changes aren’t expected to have much impact. That said, the question arises: when to use a sponsored link and when not to.
The answer would be very similar to when to use nofollow links. It depends on your linkbuilding strategy, but let’s take an example. If you already have a large proportion of nofollow links, both natural and sponsored, you can choose whichever you want. But if almost all your links are dofollow, it’s a good idea to consider choosing the new sponsored attribute for your next link.
Example:
<a href="http://www.publisuites.com/" rel="sponsored">Publisuites</a>What is a UGC link?
The rel=”ugc” (User Generated Content) attribute was created to mark links that aren’t placed by the website owner, but by its users. That is, links in blog comments, forum posts, user reviews, or any content generated by third parties within your page.
With this attribute, you’re telling Google: “I didn’t place this link as an editor; a user added it, so don’t consider it as my editorial endorsement.”
When should I use a UGC link?
Whenever you have an open comments section, a forum, or any space where users can freely insert links. In fact, many popular CMS platforms like WordPress already apply this attribute by default in comments, so you won’t always have to add it yourself.
Warning: the UGC attribute should never be used to mark a paid link. If a sponsored post is tagged as UGC instead of sponsored or nofollow, Google may interpret it as an attempt to hide a commercial link, and that can lead to a penalty.
Example:
<a href="http://www.publisuites.com/" rel="ugc">Publisuites</a>
También puedes combinar varios atributos en el mismo enlace si el caso lo requiere. Por ejemplo, un comentario de blog que además incluye un enlace patrocinado se marcaría así:
<a href="http://www.publisuites.com/" rel="nofollow sponsored ugc">Publisuites</a>
Esto es útil cuando un enlace cumple varias condiciones a la vez y quieres dar a Google toda la información posible sobre su naturaleza.Do UGC links transmit authority?
No, just like nofollow and sponsored, UGC links don’t pass PageRank directly. However, as with the other “hint” attributes introduced in 2019, Google reserves the right to take them into account as one more signal within its algorithm, especially if it detects that the user-generated content is high-quality and relevant.
How do nofollow and sponsored links affect SEO?
One good thing is that even if you get a sponsored link, Google will still index the linked page and follow the link. Plus, it will be very difficult for you to get penalized for that link because you’re already indicating that you paid for it.
What type of link should I use in a sponsored post?
Some will decide to mark all the links they buy as sponsored, but that’s a personal decision, or one for whoever manages the linkbuilding.
Information from Google:
In its official announcement from September 2019, Google Search Central explained it this way: “link attributes are now treated as hints that we use to better understand how to handle links within Search” (source: Google Search Central Blog).
This means that, unlike before (when nofollow was a strict directive that Google always respected), none of these attributes is now a mandatory instruction. They’re “hints” (in Google’s terminology) that the search engine may or may not take into account, combining them with other signals of quality, context, and link relevance.
In practice, this has opened the door for a nofollow or sponsored link, if surrounded by high-quality content and coming from a site with real authority, to provide some indirect SEO value, although Google has never confirmed exactly how much or under what circumstances.
Where can I find sites with dofollow, nofollow, and sponsored links?
On Publisuites you can find over 18,000 sites to get dofollow, nofollow, and sponsored links. With the first, you’ll gain more authority and improve your website’s ranking, and the second will help you achieve that naturalness we talked about.
You choose which link you prefer! Simply register as an advertiser, choose a blog with authority, the type of link you want, and the anchor text. All set to succeed!
TL;DR. Summary
- Dofollow: standard link, no rel attribute. Transmits 100% authority. It’s the most valuable type of link for SEO.
- Nofollow: rel=”nofollow”. Doesn’t transmit authority directly, although since 2019 Google may take it into account as a hint. Used on social media, forums, and low-trust links.
- Sponsored: rel=”sponsored”. Marks paid or advertising links (sponsored posts, affiliates). Google indexes and follows them as of March 2020.
- UGC: rel=”ugc”. Marks links created by users, not by the website owner (comments, forums, reviews).
- Golden rule: every paid link “should” carry sponsored or nofollow according to Google, never ugc or be left unmarked.
