Dofollow vs nofollow links: what the attribute actually does

This topic generates a disproportionate amount of confusion for something that comes down to one HTML attribute. Part of the problem is terminology: "dofollow" is not a real value and never was. A normal link is followed by default, and rel="nofollow" is the exception you add when you do not want to vouch for the destination.

The other part is that the guidance changed. nofollow was originally a hard directive; it is now described as a hint that search engines may take into account alongside other signals. That change quietly invalidated a lot of confident advice that is still circulating.

The attributes, precisely

The last two have nothing to do with ranking and are frequently confused with the first three because they appear in the same attribute. noopener is a security measure for links opening in a new tab; noreferrer affects analytics attribution on the receiving end.

<!-- Internal link (followed by default, no rel needed) -->
<a href="/blog/seo-vs-geo">SEO vs GEO</a>

<!-- External source you are citing but not vouching for -->
<a href="https://example.com/pricing"
   rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"
   target="_blank">Example pricing</a>

<!-- Paid or affiliate link -->
<a href="https://example.com/offer"
   rel="sponsored noopener noreferrer"
   target="_blank">Example offer</a>

Why nofollow links are still worth having

• Referral traffic. A nofollow link from a site with real readers sends real people. That value is unaffected by any attribute.
• Brand mentions. The mention itself is a signal that you exist and are described in a particular way: increasingly relevant to how AI systems characterise you.
• Profile naturalness. Real sites accumulate a mix. A profile of exclusively followed links from unrelated domains is a pattern, and patterns get examined.
• Secondary discovery. People who see a nofollow mention link to you from their own sites without the attribute.

The practical implication is that refusing coverage because the link will be nofollowed is usually a mistake. A mention in a publication your customers actually read is worth having regardless of the attribute. See brand mentions vs backlinks.

What to do on your own site

1. Internal links: never nofollow. You are vouching for your own pages; that is the entire point of internal linking.
2. Paid or affiliate links: use sponsored. Google prefers it; nofollow is also acceptable under the guidance↗.
3. User-generated links: ugc, ideally with nofollow as well on untrusted submissions.
4. Editorial citations: your call. Many publishers nofollow all outbound links as policy; others follow sources they genuinely endorse.
5. Use noopener for new-tab links. Modern browsers imply it for target="_blank"; explicit markup documents the protection. Add noreferrer when you also want to suppress referral information, not as a universal SEO requirement.

A practical note on implementation: set these attributes at the component level rather than per link. A single link component that takes a destination and applies the correct rel automatically (internal links plain, external links nofollowed, paid links sponsored) turns the policy into something that cannot be forgotten. Doing it by hand across hundreds of articles means it will be correct at first and drift within a year.