Dofollow vs nofollow backlinks: why most directory submissions are a waste of time

If you've submitted your product to a launch board recently and felt like nothing happened SEO-wise, there's a good chance the link they gave you wasn't passing any juice. The attribute is rel="nofollow", and it's the single most important thing to check before paying — or even spending an hour — on any directory submission.

This is the short, useful version of what dofollow vs. nofollow actually means, why directories use nofollow, and how to tell whether a board is worth your time.

What "dofollow" and "nofollow" actually mean

When a search engine crawls a page and finds a link, it has to decide whether that link counts as a vote of confidence for the destination. By default it does — that's the original PageRank model. But links can be tagged with attributes that tell the crawler "don't count this":

• rel="nofollow" — added in 2005, originally to combat blog-comment spam. Google treats it as a hint that the link shouldn't pass SEO value.
• rel="ugc" — user-generated content. Same effect, slightly different signal.
• rel="sponsored" — paid placement. Same effect.

A dofollow link is just the absence of these attributes. There's no rel="dofollow" you need to add — a plain <a href="..."> is dofollow by default.

If a directory links to your site with rel="nofollow", Google still sees the link, still might crawl it, but treats it like a side-channel mention rather than an endorsement. For your domain authority, it does roughly nothing.

Why so many directories nofollow their submissions

Three reasons, in order of how honest each one is:

1. They're worried about spam. A directory full of low-quality submissions that passes link juice will eventually get penalized by Google. Nofollowing every link is the lazy defense. It also punishes the legitimate makers in the same pool.
2. They want to sell a "premium dofollow" upgrade. Free tier nofollows. $99 tier dofollows. This is the most common pattern in 2026 and it's why the model exists. You're paying for an attribute that costs the platform nothing to remove.
3. They don't know any better. Some platforms inherited nofollow from a 2015 template and never thought about it. These are usually older, smaller, and worth submitting to anyway because they at least don't pretend.

Either way, the result for you is the same: a link that doesn't compound.

How to check whether a directory's link is dofollow

You don't have to trust anyone's marketing copy. Check it yourself:

1. Find a sample listing on the directory. Pick any approved product.
2. Open the page source (Cmd+U / Ctrl+U).
3. Search for the destination URL of that product.
4. Look at the surrounding <a> tag. If you see rel="nofollow", rel="ugc", or rel="sponsored", the link doesn't pass juice. If you see no rel attribute, or only rel="noopener" (which is unrelated — it's a security flag), the link is dofollow.

That's it. Five-minute audit. Do it before you pay anything.

You can also use the Ahrefs or Semrush free chrome extensions, both of which highlight nofollowed links on any page you visit. Useful for a directory you're considering submitting to repeatedly.

What dofollow links are actually worth

A single dofollow link from a moderately-trusted domain (DR 30+) is more valuable to your SEO than ten nofollow links from a high-traffic site. The math isn't subtle:

• Nofollow link: 0 contribution to your domain authority. Some traffic, maybe.
• Dofollow link from DR 25 site: small but real contribution. Compounds across hundreds of indexed pages.
• Dofollow link from DR 60+: measurable boost. The reason guest posting on legitimate publications still works.

The way to think about it: a dofollow link is a vote that gets counted. A nofollow link is a vote that gets visibly mailed but never opened. Both feel like activity. Only one moves the needle.

What FireLaunch does

Every listing on FireLaunch gets a dofollow link, on every tier including the free Kindling tier. We don't sell a "premium dofollow" upgrade because we think that pattern is gross and because the dofollow link is the point of being on a launch board. If we nofollowed your link, you'd be paying us for nothing.

We can do this because we have a real human reviewing every submission — which is how a directory can keep its quality high without resorting to a blanket nofollow defense. The moderation queue catches the spam and the legitimate makers get the link they came for.

(Want to verify? Pick any approved product on FireLaunch, view source, find its outbound destination URL — no rel="nofollow".)

The pattern to look for

When you're evaluating any launch board or directory in 2026, run through this list:

• Is the outbound link dofollow on the free tier? (If only paid: assume the marketing copy lies about the free tier's value.)
• Is there human review? (If automated: low-quality stuff gets in, Google may eventually devalue the whole domain.)
• Does the platform have indexed traffic of its own? (If not: even a dofollow link from a fresh ghost-town site is close to worthless.)
• Are old listings still up and indexed? (If they 404: the link is permanent in theory, gone in practice.)

If you can answer yes to all four, the submission is worth doing — even on the free tier. If not, skip it.

The shortcut

A dofollow link from a legitimately trafficked, human-reviewed launch board takes 10 minutes to submit and pays for itself in three months of organic traffic. A nofollow link from a $99 "premium" upgrade pays for itself never.

The single boring check — open the source, search for nofollow — is the difference between a launch strategy that compounds and one that evaporates 48 hours after launch day.

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Verifying ours: every link on FireLaunch is dofollow, every tier. Submit on the free Kindling tier to test it yourself — 10 minutes, no card required.