Also known as: Follow Link, Standard Backlink
A DoFollow link is an ordinary hyperlink that search engines are free to crawl and count as an endorsement, passing ranking signals (often called "link equity" or "link juice") from the linking page to the destination. It is the default state of any HTML link.
The contrast is a NoFollow link, which carries the attribute rel="nofollow" (or the newer rel="sponsored" / rel="ugc") telling Google not to pass full authority. Every link is DoFollow unless one of those attributes is present — you do not add anything to make a link DoFollow; you add an attribute to make it NoFollow. For a Forex affiliate whose rankings depend on backlinks, DoFollow links from relevant, authoritative finance sites are the ones that meaningfully move a page up the results.
A concrete case: a broker-review site earns a DoFollow link inside a trading-tools roundup on a domain with high authority. Because the link is followed, some of that domain's ranking power flows to the review page, and over subsequent crawls the page can climb several positions for a target term like "low-spread MT4 brokers." Fifty NoFollow mentions from thin blogs would not produce the same movement.
Since Google's 2019 update, NoFollow, sponsored, and UGC attributes became "hints" rather than strict directives, and paid or affiliate links must be marked sponsored to stay within Google's guidelines. That makes the honest goal for a partner clear: earn genuinely editorial DoFollow links through useful content and outreach, not by buying followed links, which risks a manual penalty.
When a crawler reaches a page, it reads each anchor tag. If the link has no nofollow/sponsored/ugc attribute, the crawler follows it and treats it as a vote of confidence, factoring the source's authority and topical relevance into the destination's ranking. Links from finance-relevant, high-authority domains count for far more than links from unrelated or low-quality sites.
You earn DoFollow links through digital PR, expert commentary, original data studies, guest articles, and genuinely link-worthy tools like calculators. What you cannot do safely is buy followed links or trade them in schemes — Google's link-spam systems and manual actions specifically target that, and a penalty can erase the rankings you built.
Publish something worth citing — an original data study, a free margin/pip calculator, or a definitive guide.
Build a list of finance blogs, news outlets, and resource pages whose audience overlaps yours.
Offer value — a quote, data, or guest article — and confirm the link will be editorial DoFollow, not a paid nofollow.
Inspect the published anchor to confirm no rel="nofollow"/"sponsored" attribute was added.
Track the target page's rankings and referring domains over the following weeks as Google re-crawls.
Why it matters for partnership: Organic search is free, high-intent traffic — and DoFollow backlinks from authoritative finance sites are the single biggest lever for ranking review and comparison pages that convert traders into funded accounts. More earned DoFollow links, higher rankings, more commission at zero media cost.
An affiliate publishes a free position-size calculator and pitches it to a well-known trading education blog. The blog links to it with a DoFollow anchor inside a "best free Forex tools" list. Over the next two months the affiliate's review page rises from position 14 to position 6 for "MT4 brokers," roughly tripling its organic clicks and the downstream broker sign-ups it drives.
| Attribute | Passes ranking signal? | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| DoFollow (default) | Yes | Editorial links you earn |
| rel="nofollow" | Treated as a hint, usually no | Untrusted or unvetted links |
| rel="sponsored" | No | Paid and affiliate links (required) |
| rel="ugc" | Hint, usually no | User comments, forum posts |
When arranging a guest post or PR placement, confirm in writing that your backlink will be editorial DoFollow — and remember your own money-earning affiliate links out to the broker should be marked rel="sponsored".
Chasing only DoFollow links and buying them at scale creates an unnatural profile that Google's link-spam systems flag, risking a manual penalty that can wipe out your rankings overnight.
No. Every standard HTML hyperlink is DoFollow by default. A link only becomes NoFollow when someone adds a rel="nofollow", "sponsored", or "ugc" attribute.
No. Since 2019 Google treats NoFollow as a hint and may still use it, and such links can drive real referral traffic and brand awareness. A natural profile contains both followed and nofollow links.
No. Affiliate and paid links should carry rel="sponsored" so you comply with Google's guidelines. DoFollow is for the editorial inbound links you earn to your own pages.
There is no fixed number — relevance and authority matter more than volume. A handful of followed links from strong, topically relevant finance sites can outperform hundreds of weak ones.
It is against Google's link-spam policies and risks a manual penalty. Earn links through useful content, data, and outreach instead of buying them.
Use an SEO toolbar like Ahrefs or MozBar, or inspect the anchor tag's HTML: if there is no rel="nofollow"/"sponsored"/"ugc" attribute, the link is DoFollow.