A standard hyperlink that passes SEO authority (link equity) from the linking page to the linked page.
A dofollow link is a standard hyperlink that passes PageRank (link equity or 'link juice') from the linking page to the linked-to page. It is the default state for all hyperlinks — there is no 'dofollow' tag; a link is dofollow unless it's been explicitly marked otherwise.
When a high-authority site links to your page with a dofollow link, it passes a portion of its own authority to your page. This is the mechanism through which backlinks improve your site's ability to rank. The more high-quality dofollow links a page accumulates, the more competitive it becomes.
Dofollow links are what link building campaigns are primarily targeting. Guest posts, digital PR placements, resource page links, and editorial citations in news articles are all typically dofollow (unless the publication has a policy of nofollowing all external links).
Site owners should audit their outbound links periodically to ensure they're not inadvertently passing large amounts of link equity to competitors or low-quality sites through dofollow links.
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