Percentage of DoFollow Links is the share of a page’s recognized anchor links whose rel value does not contain nofollow, reported on a 0–100 scale. It counts internal and external links together and says nothing about where those links point — and when a page has no recognized anchors at all, the calculation is undefined rather than zero.
| Factor ID | RG-LNK-021 |
|---|---|
| Family | Links on the page |
| Measurement | Percentage |
| Measured zone | Anchor links in the rendered page body |
What it measures
Percentage of DoFollow Links reports the share of all recognized anchors whose rel value does not contain nofollow. “DoFollow” is a reporting label, not a literal HTML attribute: a link qualifies simply by lacking a nofollow token in its rel, including links that carry no rel at all. The measurement treats internal and external links as one pool, so the figure describes the markup of the page’s links as a whole rather than any single destination.
How RankGear measures it
RankGear divides the count of links without nofollow by the total recognized anchor count and multiplies by 100. Internal and external links are both included in that total. If no anchors are recognized on the page, the calculation has a zero denominator and produces an undefined numeric result rather than a meaningful percentage.
What RankGear looks for
<a href="/pricing">…</a> dofollow (no rel)
<a href="https://ref.example" rel="noopener">…</a> dofollow (rel has no "nofollow")
<a href="https://ad.example" rel="nofollow">…</a> not dofollow
<a href="https://ugc.example" rel="ugc nofollow">…</a> not dofollowdofollow % = ( anchors without nofollow / total recognized anchors ) × 100
= undefined when total recognized anchors = 0How to optimize it
Assign relationship directives according to why each link exists, not to reach a target ratio. Ordinary editorial and navigational links generally need no nofollow; paid, sponsored, affiliate, or user-generated links may call for more specific handling. Review links individually rather than tuning the percentage — treat this figure as an observation about your link markup, not a number to move.
Important considerations
- DoFollow is the absence of
nofollow, not a literal attribute a link must set. - The percentage does not evaluate the quality or relevance of any link’s destination.
- Site type and user-generated functionality (comments, profiles, forums) strongly affect the ratio, so a healthy value differs by page type.
- An undefined result usually means no anchors were parsed, not a page that genuinely has zero dofollow links.
- This is a descriptive percentage that relates to position within a measured result set; it does not by itself cause or guarantee a ranking.
Related factors
Part of the Factors reference · how RankGear measures · glossary.