According to many statistical researches, including our own in 2024 the majority of SEO specialists use paid backlinks to promote their website. Although Google explicitly states that paying for backlinks is considered a manipulative tactic, it also recognizes the fact that there’s often no way around it. For that reason, it introduced dofollow and nofollow links.
When you use a nofollow link attribute, you can let the search engine know that yes, you have honestly paid for the link, and no, Google shouldn’t consider it in its SERP calculations. While nofollow links can drive traffic and increase brand awareness, it’s dofollow links that form the nucleus of your backlink profile. In today’s article, let’s speak about how to acquire them.
What are Dofollow Links?
When a search engine analyzes a dofollow link it marks it as a valid link that leads to your site and can be added up to its ranking algorithm. In this case, all the evaluation processes apply to the link. The search engine checks its quality, its authenticity, the authority of the source site and other metrics.
Unlike nofollow links which specifically tell search engines to ignore them, dofollows count as certain votes of confidence.
From the technical point of view, there’s no specific attribute like rel=”nofollow” for nofollow links, that marks a dofollow link. It’s just a regular link.
Here’s a basic example:
<a href=”https://www.example.com” title=”Visit Example Website” target=”_blank”>Visit Example</a>
It includes the following elements:
- A URL that takes the user to your website.
- A Title attribute that adds a tooltip that appears when a user hovers over the link but also helps Google to evaluate the link relevance.
- A target=”_blank” attribute that opens the link in a new browser tab.
How Dofollow Links Affect SEO?
Essentially, what dofollow links do is they pass link equity or link juice from the source website to your website. The sum of all the dofollow links in your backlink profile directly affects your domain authority. Here’s a detailed breakdown of exactly what dofollow links do for your site.
- Directly affect search engine rankings
For Google, each dofollow backlink is a type of endorsement. The more you have and the more trustworthy they are, the better. A link from a high-authority website tells Google that your content is valuable and deserves a higher place in SERP.
2. Increase your website’s domain authority
Having a high domain authority has several important perks that can significantly boost your SEO.
Example: If you check Google’s SERP 1st page for a ‘difficult’ keyword, you’ll see that it’s occupied by brands that are already big, well-promoted and established in the field. It also means that all of them have a high domain authority score.
A domain authority score of 60+ allows you to rank for difficult keywords successfully. Difficult keywords have highest search volume and cover the majority of user search intents.
3. Enhanced referral traffic
Unlike organic traffic that you get from Google search, referral traffic comes to you from other websites. Dofollow links from sites with a large number of visitors can bring you an engaged warmed up audience that’s interested in your particular product.
4. Increase your credibility and trust
According to statistics, your brand name needs to be constantly in the spotlight. Your users need to come across it here and there, in various contexts, mainly positive, of course. So, each well-placed backlink from a reputable source adds to your brand awareness.
5. Long-term SEO benefits
The biggest impact dofollow links make is long-term. They pass link juice to your site as long as they remain active. As their source’s DA and trustworthiness increases with time, so does yours, with no additional effort increased from your site. Perks that you obtain from good dofollows, like increased DA start working for you for free.
Like we’ve already mentioned, increased DA makes it easier to rank for more difficult words. When you are an already reputable source, people are much more likely to link to you just because they like you.
How Many Dofollow Backlinks Should a Website Have To Rank?
There’s no exact recipe for a perfect number of dofollow backlinks that will take you to the SERP top. The reason for this is because the success of your link building campaign often hangs on very many factors, and all SEO activities you do are majorly co-dependent. The number of backlinks that is perfect for your particular site can also greatly vary from case to case.
However, there are several factors you can take into account to understand whether you need more links or fewer links.
- Keyword difficulty
If you’re trying to rank for difficult keywords, you will need more dofollows from reputable sites.
- Your website’s DA
If you already have a good DA, you need fewer new dofollow links to continue rank well for the same keywords as compared to sites with lower DA.
- Backlink quality
Links from high-authority sites have more impact, so you need fewer to have the same effect on your rankings as compared to lower DA link sources.
- Industry specifics
Some industries are more competitive and SEO is much more complicated for them. If your industry is heavily regulated, such as gambling, for instance, or very mainstream, such as e-commerce, you will need more backlinks to rank better.
- Competitor analysis
The best way to check how many dofollows you need is to analyze a backlink profile of a successful competitors. Your best bet would be to run a backlink profile analysis using various SEO tools for, say 5 competitors and identify the quantity of quality dofollow backlinks for each. Your average number would be an approximate figure you need to aim for.
How to Get Dofollow Links: Best Techniques
Getting quality backlinks deserves its own book or maybe two. Today, we will focus on a few less obvious but very effective link sources that generally provide very high-quality backlinks.
- Mass media backlinks
Reputable media sources, be it newspaper websites, media outlets for your domain or large mass media tend to provide the highest-quality backlinks. Instruments like HARO or PRJournoRequests can help you find journalists who write on your particular topic and offer your professional insight.
Major news outlets like BBC generally use nofollow backlinks, but they have plenty of high-authority affiliate websites that you can opt for.
Another great advantage of mass media backlinks is that more often than not, your backlink will be placed in a high-quality, exclusive long-read – all factoring for Google’s positive evaluation of the link.
- Scholarship and Educational link building
Another less obvious but still excellent source of dofollows are .edu domains. Many of them have excellent DA score, and their other metrics can also be pretty high. Providing freebies for students, participating in scholarships or sponsoring educational activities can get you very valuable backlinks and a very engaged younger audience as well.
- Resource link building
Many websites and bloggers keep a list of resources for their users, especially if they’re niche. It’s an excellent way to market your tutorials, how-tos and similar informational content.
- Wikipedia backlinks
Wikipedia has a DA score of 98-100, which is probably the ultimate DA on the internet. Naturally, a backlink from wikipedia is invaluable. Luckily, it’s not that complicated to get one.
Wikipedia’s rules state that all information in its article needs to be sourced. If you have any valuable content, especially scientifically obtained, an expert whose quotation has a lot of weight, or exclusive informational content that deserves its own Wiki article, you can use it. You can get cited as a source or even have your own Wiki page.
How Serpzilla Can Help with Dofollow Backlinks
Serpzilla has several features that can help you acquire high-quality dofollow backlinks.
One of the great means to get dofollows is Guest posting. Serpzilla offers a powerful platform to guest blogging:
- You can scout forGuest post opportunities using fine-tuned search.
- Sort and filter your guest post sources by DA, cost, niche, geolocation, language, many other metrics, opting for a balanced backlink profile.
- Automate outreach campaign for guest posting.
- Pay only for link placement – Serpzilla itself is free to use.
- Monitor your guest posts from a user friendly dashboard
- Set link placement conditions such as placement duration, anchor text, etc.
- Quickly get rid of guest post links you no longer want
- You can pay for your link placement on a monthly basis
Conclusion:
Dofollow links can by right be named one of the cornerstones of your SEO strategy. All other SEO activities are closely intertwined with acquiring dofollows. A solid backlink profile where dofollows from quality websites are a significant presence can help you climb the SERP rankings. Following the best practices described in this article and relying on advanced link building tools like Serpzilla can help you acquire quality dofollows and boost your SEO.
