Terminology
Dofollow vs Nofollow Links
Dofollow links pass authority and move your Domain Rating. Nofollow links carry rel="nofollow" and mostly do not. Here is how to tell them apart.
Updated 2026-08-03 1 min read
Every link on the web is dofollow by default: search engines follow it and let it pass authority from the linking page to the target. A site can opt out by adding rel="nofollow" to the link, which tells Google "do not treat this as an endorsement".
The difference
- Dofollow (the default). No special attribute. Passes authority, moves Domain Rating, helps rankings. This is the kind of backlink you want.
- Nofollow. Marked with
rel="nofollow". Google treats it as a hint and usually ignores it for ranking. Common on forums, comments, and paid placements. - Sponsored and UGC.
rel="sponsored"(paid links) andrel="ugc"(user-generated content) are nofollow variants and behave the same way for authority.
How to check a link
- In the browser: right-click the link, choose Inspect, and look at the
<a>tag. Norel="nofollow"means it is dofollow. - In bulk: Ahrefs, Semrush, and most backlink checkers label each backlink dofollow or nofollow.
- On LaunchIt: our backlink verifier reports whether the link it finds on your site is nofollow, so you know before review does.
Do nofollow links matter?
Yes, just not for authority. Nofollow links still:
- Send real traffic. A visitor does not care about the rel attribute.
- Help discovery. Google still crawls many nofollow links, which gets new pages indexed.
- Make your profile look natural. A backlink profile that is 100% dofollow looks manufactured. Some nofollow is healthy.
For growing DR, though, prioritize dofollow: that is where the authority flows.
What LaunchIt gives you
The "Open Website" link on your LaunchIt tool page is dofollow. We do not add rel="nofollow" to listed products, so a launch here contributes real authority to your domain, not just a listing.