Your site will generate more traffic (and sales) if potential customers can quickly locate it in search engine results. Therefore, website owners and administrators are seeking ways to improve search engine optimization (SEO) and stand out from the crowd.

We had moved past the wild, wild west days of the World Wide Web when keyword spamming and stuffing content were the norms driving search engine traffic. To boost their online appeal and reach the first page, first result pinnacle, brands now need to focus on more tightly-controlled metrics – like PageRank from Google.

Another part of this effort is writing relevant, accurate, and interesting content. Dofollow links are also important. These links can boost a website’s PageRank and allow better search results when used correctly. Here’s how it works.

Dofollow Links: What Does It Mean?

A PageRank score is a weighted score that uses links to assign points – the more points your site receives, the better it does on search engines. Due to their ability to “flow” through websites with the right linking structure, these points are often referred to as “link juice” by online marketing professionals.

What’s the problem? Unscrupulous marketers began to get points anytime they could, almost immediately after their introduction.

What is the easiest way to do this? Commenting on popular websites links back to client websites, thus boosting their profile. Think well-known retailers or news organizations when a linking site is reputable – think well-known retailers or news organizations – the link juice boost will be more significant.

Making a Dofollow Link

A dofollow link is usually created without any action being taken. Search engines will naturally find your page and increase your PageRank when another site links to your site without adding the nofollow tag.

If you’re linking to your own website, you need to follow the same rules. You might choose to include links to reputable sites and allow search engines to follow those links in your own content.

When adding links to your page or moderating blog comments, you might consider turning on automatic nofollow tags or ensuring that all links include the nofollow tag until you’re sure it makes sense to follow the link back.

What do you think? Dofollow is ideal when it comes to external links from reputable sites leading back to your page. The outgoing link site should be reputable and relevant if the link is linked from your post or attached to a comment on your content. This is especially important if other links lead to low-quality or keyword-stuffed content, as this can reflect poorly on your own site.

Are There Tools Available for Dofollow Links?

Want to know if a link is dofollow or nofollow? When it comes from an external site, you can check the HTML code from your CMS admin page to determine whether there is a nofollow tag present, but what if the link originates from your own site? It is impossible to know if links are dofollow or nofollow since you cannot see or edit the code. For this reason, it’s worth checking if links boost your PageRank using a dofollow link checker tool. Examples include:

  • Dofollow Link Checker
  • MozBar
  • SEOquake
  • Link Analyzer

One of the tools checks entire pages for dofollow and nofollow links using a web-based tool. Moz MozBar is offered only as a Chrome extension, while SEOquake is available for both Chrome and Firefox. Unlike the Link Analyzer, which requires a specific browser, Link Analyzer is a standalone tool. All of these tools are free, and follow any links to your website to determine if they are nofollow or dofollow, then report their findings.

Do I Have to Follow an External Link?

Here are two factors to consider: Where does the link lead, and what are the benefits of a dofollow link? In order to provide “link juice” to both your own and the external site, dofollow links should point search engines to current, relevant, and accurate content.

Dofollow reciprocal links can be useful in some cases, especially if you want to expand traffic to your site and the external site has a similar ranking. It’s ideal to have both nofollow and dofollow links on your page so search engines won’t simply see your content as a vehicle for PageRank points.