If you did any kind of link building in the past, you must've heard the terms DoFollow and NoFollow. These two are important to learn since it can affect the quality of the links going to your blog.
What is DoFollow?
There are many articles written on the topic, so I won't beat around the bush.
Here's a simple recap:
DoFollow is the absence of the NoFollow code in your links. The NoFollow is a special HTML code that you can add to links to prevent search engines from passing any page attributes, like Page Rank, perceived authority, etc.
The NoFollow code looks like this:
rel=”nofollow”
How Does NoFollow Affect Your Blog Traffic?
The original purpose of the NoFollow tag was to discourage spammers from littering our blogs with junk links.
Unfortunately, blog spamming is still on the rise. Even more unfortunately, blog commenting is on the decline.
Since blog commenting has always been a great way to build links back to your site and even bring some extra blog traffic, the implementation of the NoFollow tag resulted in blog commenters looking for other link-building venues.
All major sites use NoFollow tags in their outbound links. Most blogging platforms, including self-hosted WordPress, implement NoFollow tag by default.
By the way, my blog is a DoFollow blog. To be more precise, every link you get from my blog is a DoFollow link.
If you would like yours to be one of them as well, make sure you download and install a DoFollow plugin.
How Do You Know What Blogs Are DoFollow?
For Firefox users, a quick way to find DoFollow links is to spot the NoFollow ones!
A free add-on called SearchStatus does just that: it will highlight all “NoFollow” links on a page. Everything not highlighted is DoFollow.
It's a quick and easy way to do a background check on your backlinking resources to see if they've retained DoFollow status.
How Do You Find DoFollow Blogs?
Here's the fun part of the post - how do you find the best links possible that will boost your site authority and bring you extra blog traffic?
Look no further - you'll find a great Dofollow Blog Finder tool right here, at Traffic Generation Cafe.
All you do is add your keywords and voila - you get a list of DoFollow blogs related to your niche with no sweat and completely free.
For a much deeper look at ways to find DoFollow sites, check out this Squidoo lens (a DoFollow site, by the way) http://www.squidoo.com/dofollow.
Should You Bother With NoFollow Blogs?
Absolutely.
There is nothing wrong with getting NoFollow links. In fact, when ranking any given page for a keyword, Google always looks for diversity of links, and NoFollow links are a part of your diversification.
Also, there were many tests done to see if NoFollow tag really doesn't pass any link juice; I will let you know what the conclusions were in a future post - stay tuned!
Is your blog a DoFollow or NoFollow? Why? I want to hear what you think in the comments below!
PS My favorite link building tool:
Thanks Ana, you have been a great help to me, keep up the great work!!
Will do, Ian, and thank you!
Amy says
thanks for this - I am now a “DoFollow” blog.
That’s great, Amy. Welcome on board!
Keith Davis@Public Speaking and Presentations says
Hi Ana
My blog is a wordpress setup and it has the default settings i.e. nofollow.
Hate leaving comments on blogs that are dofollow when mine is nofollow.
My SEO reading is a little rusty now but all the talk back then was of preserving link juice.
Has that idea now changed.
I’ve been using Google Chrome as my default browser for about 6 months now, Ana. I used to use FireFox, but the constant updates were annoying me so I switched and have come to really like Chrome.
The one thing I miss about FireFox was all of the addons. Thankfully, Chrome is starting to catch up in that department. The extension I use for checking links is, aptly called, NoFollow. It puts a dotted red box around NoFollow links, and with the click of a button can hide the box permanently or temporarily for the site.
James says
Thanks Ana, I wish you will always provide us such kind of awareness..
I do try, James 🙂
I can’t remember which article I read here first but I’ve come back since to skim over posts as I try to learn more about dofollow and nofollow differences.
My concern is this - as I try to build out my SEO - they recommend nofollow links constantly. I have a small blog in a small niche and reach out to mostly parents of other special needs kids and the occasional researcher. Do I reammy need to be so concerned with the nofollow tag at all? Is it going to negatively impact my site (my sweet, small site) if I go to dofollow?
My site is all about building community and raising awareness for the special needs community. I’m beginning to think that offering the dofollow juice to this small community of other like-minded writers might be a better move. Tough decisions when I really just want to write!
Oh - and please forget the fact that I am an editor in real life since i obviously can’t spell to save my own skin! *head desk!*
I know how that feels, Katrina. 🙂
You hit the nail on the head, Katrina.
Dofollow is all about building your community, which should definitely be your goal. After all, search engines don’t pay the bills - your readers do.
That’s why I’d rather have a PR0, but a thriving readership who reads, shares, comments, and buys.
I believe I am going to start making the switch over to dofollow. Excellent posts for this newbie, Ana - and so appreciated!
You are so very welcome, Katrina - I think it’s a good move.
Adam Withrow says
This is the first time I’ve seen the noFollow/doFollow thing explained clearly. I’ve seen a thousand explanations that all just beat around the importance of dofollow without ever actually explaining what it is.
Thank you for clarifying this issue. I’m page 1 in every one of my target keywords, but I’m going for #1. I’ve been following advice from you and zamuraiblogger.com, and I have a feeling that the next time google makes its rounds, we’ll be #1.
(the sad thing is, all of my keywords are low to medium competition. ouch)
It’s always nice to start low, Adam - builds confidence and skills you need to compete with the big boys.
Yes, Joshua has a great blog as well.
Ray says
I like how the others here think of the traffic that they get from leaving links on nofollow blogs rather than the link juice. There are some that recommend posting on dofollow to get some link juice, but wouldn’t it be more “human” to work on building a relationship with the bloggers first than to think of those kinds of technicalities?
Good point, Ray.
The same things that get you better search engine rankings will get you better PR, Dustin.