Check how many nofollow and dofollow links your site has by following these steps.
Building quality backlinks is very important. This is something you can do yourself as part of your SEO strategy, and over time you will greatly benefit from this. There is a difference between nofollow and dofollow links, and knowing what they are and how to find them is equally as important.
If you need any help with your link-building strategy, then Link City LTD has the team for you - your backlink profile will be better than ever! Let's dive right into how to check dofollow and nofollow links. You may have been wondering how to do this, and we have all of the answers for you:
Nofollow Links And Dofollow Links
Nofollow and dofollow links are not the same. Here is the main difference between the two of them:
Dofollow Links/Follow Links
Dofollow links or follow links are links that count as points as they boost page rankings and push SEO link juice. Dofollow links help all of the linked-to sites rank higher in the SERPs.
NoFollow Links
Nofollow links are links that don't work in a page's favor, raise its PageRank, or help it rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). Unless the nofollow tag is actively set, either through code or by your CMS, a link is always dofollow.
This does not mean that nofollow links should be totally disregarded. A lot of nofollow links, especially the ones on high PR and high-traffic sites, can result in loads of referral traffic.
For instance, the follow link on your Pinterest profile is no longer active. Do you not, however, believe that people click on this to visit your website? They do, indeed. Therefore, it is still highly vital to develop and have that nofollow link.
Different Ways To Check Dofollow And Nofollow Links
Simply analyze the link in the browser and look at the HTML code to determine whether it is dofollow or nofollow. Right-click on the link in your browser and click "Inspect" to do this. This will display the link's accompanying HTML code.
If the link includes rel= "nofollow" it is a nofollow link. If rel= "nofollow" is not included in the link, then it is a dofollow link. You can also make use of a backlink analysis tool like Moz or Ahrefs along with the inspect tool.
There are various different ways in which you can check dofollow and nofollow links on various search engines. The following are some examples:
How To Check In Chrome
If you want to check nofollow links and dofollow links on Chrome, you will likely need to use the SEO Toolbar from Moz. Here is a great step-by-step way:
Step 1
You will first need to download the SEO Toolbar onto your computer or laptop before you can do anything else. The program will launch in your Google App store, and once it pops up, click on free so that you can begin with the installation process.
You may find that you need to create an account with Moz. This is completely free, and so is the extension.
Step 2
Once the download process is complete, another pop-up box will appear. Push the add button when the prompt appears on your screen. The whole process is very straightforward and quick.
Step 3
To launch the program, you can click on the M icon that appears in the top right corner of your browser and make use of the hotkey: CTRL + Shift + Alt + M.
Step 4
Finally, once you have launched the toolbar, another bar will appear, and you will need to click the highlight marker icon on it. This button will activate the next step and will result in all followed links and no-followed links being highlighted.
All of these links will be highlighted on your webpage, making them very easy to spot.
Chrome: Option 2
If you do not want to make use of an extension, you could take a peak at the source code on that page to tell if a link is nofollow or dofollow. Here is the step-by-step method to do so:
Step 1
Go on to Google Chrome, then right-click on the page you are on and click the view page source button. Then either click command + F if you are on a Mac computer or CTRL + F on Windows.
Step 2
Once you have clicked the button, you will be able to inspect the link code. If you see a "rel=" nofollow," then the link is a nofollow. If you do not see that, then you know that the link is a dofollow link.
It's also crucial to remember that certain links contain masking. For instance, because the nofollow occurs upon redirect, a nofollow link made with the WordPress lovely link plugin will seem like a dofollow link. So even though it is a nofollow link, you won't be able to see it in the code.
How To Check In Firefox
The way to check if a link is dofollow or nofollow is slightly different. You can choose from various add-ons and tools to use on Firefox. But one that comes highly recommended is the NoFollow Firefox plugin.
This plugin won't slow your browser down since it is very lightweight. Here is how you can go about installing and using the plugin to check links:
Step 1
The first thing you will need to do is go to the page where you can download the NoFollow Firefox plugin. Once on the page, you can click the continue download button to get started.
Step 2
You will then need to click on the add button to give Firefox permission to add the NoFollow extension to your computer or laptop.
Step 3
Once you have clicked the button, the extension will go ahead and highlight all of the nofollow links on the web page in a little red-dotted box. All of the links that have not been highlighted are dofollow links.
Examples of Nofollow links
All links that have the nofollow tag are clearly nofollow links. Here are some great examples of no follow links:
- Links coming from widgets
- Blog comments
- Links in press releases
- Social media (links in YouTube descriptions or Facebook posts)
- News sites and specific blogs
- Links in user-generated content or forum posts
Some websites also use the rel=" nofollow" tag for their outbound links, such as Youtube, Quora, Reddit, Wikipedia, Medium, and Twitch.
FAQ
Does Google Chrome count nofollow links?
Hyperlinks containing the rel= "nofollow" tag are known as nofollowed links. Because Google doesn't pass PageRank or anchor text via these links, they have no effect on how the destination URL ranks in search results. Google doesn't crawl URLs that are set to nofollow.
How do I find my dofollow backlinks?
To find out, simply right-click the link in Chrome and choose "Inspect." When you do that, a window with the highlighted HTML link will appear on the right. Then, just verify that the rel= "nofollow" element is present in the code.
Do outbound links improve SEO?
Although outbound links are not as crucial for the SEO of your website as backlinks are, they are crucial for blogging! When possible, try to add at least one or two outbound links in your blog posts.
What is the purpose of nofollow?
A basic HTML element is the nofollow tag. It can be appended to a hyperlink and gives webmasters control over whether or not search engines follow a link.
When should I use nofollow links?
It is best to use nofollow links in cases when you do not want to pass the ranking power on, i.e., link juice, to the site. Simply put, the nofollow tag prevents any credit from being passed along to other sites that have linked to your website.
How do I use no follow extension?
Once the extension is installed, simply view a webpage to see any nofollow links highlighted. If an extension is getting in the way on a particular page, simply choose "Temporary Disable" from the extension menu.
Final Thoughts
There are two ways to identify a link and instruct Google how to connect the website you are connecting to with your website: dofollow and nofollow backlinks. A website loses link juice from its nofollow links and can gain authority from its dofollow links.
Links are essential, and it is crucial to know what type of link each one is and what it does. If you need any help with building a solid quality link profile, then the team at Link City LTD has you covered. Your link-building strategy won't know what hit it!
