A standard hyperlink does not need a relationship value. Dofollow is an industry term for that normal link; there is no rel="dofollow" attribute. Publishers can add nofollow, sponsored or ugc to qualify the relationship.
Google's Search Central guidance says nofollow, sponsored and ugc are treated as hints. That does not give an agency a way to calculate the ranking value of an individual link; it simply makes the old binary explanation too crude.
The four link attributes
Google's own Search Central documentation sets out how to qualify a link with rel values, and it is the authority worth anchoring to here. It defines sponsored for paid links, UGC for user-generated content and nofollow as a signal not to associate your site with the destination, and it notes that more than one value can be used together.
| Attribute | What it signals to Google | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|
| Standard link (“dofollow”) | No special relationship qualification | Ordinary editorial references |
| Nofollow | The site is not vouching for this link; treated as a hint, not a rule | Comments, forums, links a publisher will not fully endorse |
| Sponsored | The link was paid for or is part of an ad or partnership | Ads, paid placements, affiliate links |
| UGC | Content created by users rather than the publisher | Comment sections, user profiles, forum posts |
The practical point: sponsored is the correct tag for anything commercial, UGC for anything a user wrote, and nofollow is the general "we are not endorsing this" signal. A site can apply more than one if a link is, for example, both paid and user-submitted.
Why nofollow is not worthless
A nofollow link from a publication people read can send referral traffic and provide editorial exposure. Those outcomes are measurable without inventing a PageRank or AI-citation value. Compare the live page and audience with the campaign objective rather than rejecting the placement from the attribute alone.
Why dofollow is not automatically valuable
The reverse mistake is just as common. A standard link from a thin or irrelevant page is not automatically useful. The relationship value says little about the page's relevance, readership, ownership or editorial reason. The attribute is one input, not the whole verdict.
Common mistakes
- Paying a premium only for dofollow and ignoring whether the site is relevant or even real.
- Trusting a supplier who guarantees dofollow on publications that clearly mark commercial links nofollow.
- Judging a PR campaign a failure because a placement came back nofollow, when the coverage itself was strong and well read.
- Assuming there is a published ideal mix of standard, nofollow and sponsored links.
How to report attributes honestly
A good link report names the attribute for every placement: dofollow, nofollow, sponsored, UGC, or mention-only with no link at all. Presenting nofollow links as if they were dofollow, or quietly dropping mention-only coverage, makes a campaign impossible to judge over time. Pair each attribute with the publication, the anchor and the target page, and the profile becomes something you can actually review. This is one of the checks in the wider backlink quality checklist.
How SEO Backlinks approaches this
Our core service is digital PR backlinks: genuine editorial coverage on DA 40–95 publications. We report the link attribute exactly as published and will not promise dofollow on a title that controls its own policy. Read what makes a good backlink, or book a call.
Keep reading
- What makes a good backlink?, where the attribute fits
- Anchor text, the other half of how a link reads
- Editorial backlinks, why context beats the attribute
- Backlinks and AI search, what can and cannot be inferred
- Digital PR backlinks, our core service
FAQs
Do nofollow backlinks help SEO?
Google treats nofollow as a hint rather than a strict directive. Its exact effect on ranking is not exposed, but a relevant nofollow link can still send referral traffic and provide useful editorial exposure.
What is the difference between nofollow, sponsored and UGC?
They are three rel values that describe a link's nature. Sponsored marks a link that was paid for or part of an ad or partnership. UGC marks user-generated content such as comments and forum posts. Nofollow is the broader signal that a site is not vouching for the link. Google's own documentation lists all three and says they can be combined.
Are PR backlinks dofollow or nofollow?
It depends on the publication and article. Publishers set their own policies and can use a standard link, nofollow, sponsored or no link. We report the result exactly as published rather than promising an attribute we cannot control.
Should I only buy dofollow links?
No. A supplier guaranteeing standard followed links at scale is claiming control that independent publishers normally retain. Judge relevance, audience, context and commercial arrangement alongside the attribute.
Can Google crawl a nofollow link?
Nofollow does not make the destination invisible. Google treats the relationship values as hints, and the destination may also be discovered through sitemaps, internal links or other external links.