You may be approached by marketing agencies or individuals wanting to place a “do follow” link in your existing content, or offering a guest post in exchange for including a “do follow” link in it. Should you agree?
Absolutely NOT!
These “marketers” are trying to build “backlinks”. That’s because search engines often consider the number of links to a website (backlinks) to be an indication of a higher quality website. If they believe your website is of high quality, your ranking in search results improves.
When this algorithm became known, marketers began to focus on increasing the number of sites that link to their website. Some build links naturally and responsibly, while others buy links on websites in an attempt to manipulate the algorithm.
When search engines (namely Google) realized the algorithm was being exploited this way, they took steps to curb the practice. Consequently, any link you receive compensation for must be HTML tagged rel=”nofollow” and/or rel=”sponsored” to let Google know they should not count the link as natural (uncompensated). The “sponsored” tag was added to alert search engines specifically that the link is sponsored, while the “nofollow” tag may be phased out eventually or be applied to another specific situation.
Why Not?
[DISCLOSURE: We may receive compensation for links to products on this website.]
We all like to generate more revenue from our websites and this seems like an easy way to do that. However, search engines may identify links without the “nofollow” or “sponsored” tag as attempts to exploit their link popularity/authority algorithms. When that happens, both your site and the site you’re linking to can be penalized with removal from search results. That’s going to cost you a lot more than you’ll ever make from facilitating these “black hat” marketing methods.
You can access the HTML (or text) of your content through most of today’s platforms. Add the link as you normally would, then switch to HTML/text to add the “rel=” tags to the link. It will look something like this:
…consider a Canadian registrar such as [a title=”HostPapaDomains” href=”https://canadiansinternet.com/get/hostpapadomains/” rel=”nofollow sponsored” target=”_blank”]HostPapa[/a]
[…]=<…>If you use a plugin like PrettyLinks, your links will automatically be tagged “nofollow” and you can adjust the settings to have the “sponsored” tag automatically included as well.
Sponsorship Disclosure
The same “marketers” will often ask that you not identify the post as sponsored in any way. Your response to that should also be an emphatic “no”, because this is where actual Canadian marketing laws and policies come into play.
The Competition Bureau of Canada has strict requirements for posting reviews and opinions online. In the U.S., the Competition Bureau’s counterpart is the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). If your readers are in the US, you must comply with FTC guidelines. If your readers are outside of North America, you’ll have to research each country’s laws to ensure you’re in compliance.
Please post your questions in the comments below, or discuss this and other online business topics in the Online Business Canada Facebook group.
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Last Updated on May 31, 2026 by Melody McKinnon, Online Business & Marketing Manager
And the garbage writing that usually comes with the demand for dofollow links is appalling. I don’t even open their emails anymore.
I sure wish they’d stop trying! Every day I get “pitches” for guest posts with do follow links. Sure I’ll take 20 bucks to tank my SEO just for you…NOT!