DoFollow and NoFollow are two types of backlinks that behave very differently for SEO purposes.
DoFollow links are standard hyperlinks that pass "link equity" (also called "link juice") to the linked page. When a high-authority website links to you with a DoFollow link, it is essentially vouching for your content, and search engines treat this as a positive ranking signal.
NoFollow links include a rel="nofollow" attribute that tells search engines not to pass ranking credit through the link. They were introduced by Google in 2005 to combat comment spam. Common sources of NoFollow links include social media profiles, blog comments, forum posts, and paid advertisements.
Which matters more? For ranking purposes, DoFollow links are more valuable because they directly influence your search position. However, NoFollow links still have value — they drive referral traffic, build brand awareness, and contribute to a natural-looking backlink profile.
In a backlink audit:
A healthy backlink profile has a mix of DoFollow and NoFollow links. If nearly 100% of your backlinks are DoFollow, or if you have a sudden spike of DoFollow links from low-quality sources, this can look manipulative to Google.
Toxic link context:
Spam links are often DoFollow (because the spammer wants to pass negative signals to your site). This is why our audit tool shows the link type alongside risk classification — a toxic DoFollow link is more damaging than a toxic NoFollow one. Learn more about identifying harmful links in our <a href="/blog/how-to-find-remove-toxic-backlinks" class="text-amber-400 hover:text-amber-300 underline">guide to finding and removing toxic backlinks</a>.