Three claims about backlinks keep turning up in advice about search. On September 30, 2026, we checked each one against Google’s own documentation.
Myth 1: you need to add a “dofollow” tag
There’s no such tag. Google’s guidance on link labels lists three: rel=”sponsored”, rel=”ugc” and rel=”nofollow”. For a regular link it wants to follow, Google says “you don’t need to add a rel attribute.”
“Dofollow” is a nickname for a link with no label. It still draws about 880 searches a month in the US for the phrase “dofollow link,” according to Semrush, which is a lot of looking for a tag Google’s own page doesn’t list.
Myth 2: nofollow links are worthless
This one was closer to true before 2019. Nofollow started in 2005 as a fix for blog comment spam, proposed by Google’s Matt Cutts and Blogger’s Jason Shellen, and for years it worked like a rule: a nofollow link didn’t count.
In September 2019, Google changed that. It added rel=”sponsored” and rel=”ugc”, and said all three would be “treated as hints about which links to consider or exclude.” From March 1, 2020, nofollow became a hint for crawling and indexing as well. Google’s current page says links with these labels “will generally not be followed.” That leaves room for exceptions.
Ranking isn’t the only thing a link does, either. A nofollow link on a busy site can still send readers who click it.
Myth 3: paying for a link is always against the rules
Google’s spam policies do list “Buying or selling links for ranking purposes” as link spam. The same section also calls buying and selling links “a normal part of the economy of the web” for advertising and sponsorship.
The difference is the label. A paid link is allowed when it carries rel=”sponsored” or rel=”nofollow”. The spam policies are aimed at paid links that pass ranking value while looking like ordinary recommendations, along with things like “Excessive link exchanges” and “Using automated programs or services to create links to your site.”
Google also says what happens to sites that break those rules: they may “rank lower” in results, or “not appear in results at all.”
Why the myths last
Links still matter, which keeps people talking about them. Google describes PageRank, the link analysis system it launched with, as something that “continues to be part of our core ranking systems.” Anything that affects rankings attracts a lot of advice, and some of it is copied from other advice instead of from Google.
The source is short. Google’s pages on link labels, link spam and ranking systems each run a few screens, and each carries a last-updated date. They’re all linked below, so you can check this piece the same way we checked the myths.
Jessica Wells is co-founder of Mining Wells Marketing Agency (miningwells.com), a boutique digital marketing agency specializing in paid ads, messaging strategy and SEO.
Sources
Google Search Central, “Qualify your outbound links to Google” (last updated Dec 10, 2025): https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/qualify-outbound-links
Google Search Central, “Spam policies for Google web search,” Link spam and the consequences section (last updated Aug 28, 2026): https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies
Google Search Central, “A guide to Google Search ranking systems,” PageRank (last updated Dec 10, 2025): https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ranking-systems-guide
Google Search Central Blog, “Evolving ‘nofollow’: new ways to identify the nature of links” (Sep 10, 2019): https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2019/09/evolving-nofollow-new-ways-to-identify
Wikipedia, “Nofollow” (the 2005 origin with Matt Cutts and Jason Shellen, and the March 1, 2020 hint change): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nofollow
Semrush, US monthly search volume for “dofollow link,” checked Sep 30, 2026