--- title: "How to Get Dofollow Backlinks for a Startup" description: "Earn normal links by being worth citing: a clear page, a useful listing, and mentions you did not pay to disguise. Buying links is the approach to skip." canonical_url: "https://www.foundrlist.com/blog/how-to-get-dofollow-backlinks" content_type: "article" category: "SEO & Backlinks" author: "FoundrList Team" date_published: "2026-11-02T00:00:00.000Z" topics: ["how to get dofollow backlinks", "get dofollow backlinks", "how to find dofollow backlinks", "dofollow backlinks list", "startup backlinks"] source: FoundrList --- # How to Get Dofollow Backlinks for a Startup Earn normal links by being worth citing: a clear page, a useful listing, and mentions you did not pay to disguise. Buying links is the approach to skip. Published: November 2, 2026 · 1,300 words · 7 minute read You get a dofollow backlink when another site links to you and does not mark the link nofollow, sponsored, or ugc. The reliable way is to publish something specific and then show it to people who already write about that topic. Paying someone to place an unmarked link is link spam under Google's policies, even if the seller calls the list “high PR dofollow.” ## A sequence that does not depend on a broker 1. Give people a URL worth citing. A product page with a real description, or a guide that answers one question and names its sources. 2. Make the link obvious. Your “about” and docs pages should point at the canonical product URL so you do not split mentions across five addresses. 3. List the product where your buyers already look. A directory run for readers, not for link buyers, is a normal citation. Check the rel attribute after you go live. 4. Tell communities you are actually in. Indie Hackers, a relevant subreddit that allows launches, and a Show HN post are mentions you earn by showing up, not by invoicing a link vendor. 5. Ask for a correction or a mention only when you have a fact they got wrong or a resource their article is missing. One relevant sentence beats a template “please link to me.” ## How to find candidates Search the query your page answers and open the pages that already rank. Those authors are the people for whom a link might help their reader. In a keyword tool, look at who links to the current top result, then ask whether your page adds something theirs does not. “Dofollow backlinks list” posts that sell spreadsheets of blogs are the wrong list: the sites on them are often paid placements. ## What we will not tell you to buy Skip offers for cheap dofollow packages, private blog networks, and “high PR” lists with no page you can read. Google's spam policies name buying or selling links for ranking purposes, and low-quality directory links, as examples. If you pay for a placement, the honest markup is rel="sponsored". A paid FoundrList launch is a placement on our site. The terms currently publish that link as dofollow, and free listings as nofollow. Google still says paid placements should use rel="sponsored" or nofollow, so do not treat the attribute as a ranking result. If you want submissions done for you, the [directory submission guide](https://www.foundrlist.com/blog/directory-submission-sites) explains the separate service and its limits. ## Why the high-volume variants are a trap How to get dofollow backlinks has a large traffic potential because the pages that rank also catch buy dofollow backlinks, free dofollow backlinks, and high PR lists. Those are not the same intent. This page is for earning a normal link. It is not a catalog of sites that will publish anything. Google's spam policies name buying or selling links for ranking purposes, and low-quality directory links, as examples of link spam. ## A page worth citing - A product URL that states what the product does in the first screen. - A guide that answers one query and names its sources, like this one. - A number you measured, with the method in the same paragraph. - A correction of a fact a popular article got wrong, which gives you a reason to write to the author. Then show that URL to people who already write about the topic. Search the query, open the pages that rank, and see whether your page adds something theirs does not. One relevant sentence in an article a buyer reads is worth more than a row in a dofollow backlinks list. If the offer is a package of cheap links, skip it. The [free dofollow backlinks](https://www.foundrlist.com/blog/free-dofollow-backlinks) page explains why those lists disappoint. ## Directories, without pretending they are a link scheme A directory your buyers browse can be a normal citation. Check the live rel attribute after you are listed. Start with a short list. The [directory submission guide](https://www.foundrlist.com/blog/directory-submission-sites) compares how submission works, and the [startup directory list](https://www.foundrlist.com/blog/complete-startup-directory-list-2026) is the longer catalogue. Paying FoundrList for a launch buys a placement on our site. It does not buy a bundle of third-party dofollow links, and it does not buy a ranking. ## Questions people ask ### How many dofollow backlinks does a new site need? There is no number that flips a ranking on. A few relevant links to a page that deserves to rank beat a pile of unrelated ones. ### Can I get dofollow links for free? Yes, when someone cites you without being paid. Profiles and comment sections are usually ugc or nofollow, and they are a weak plan. See the free-links guide for the distinction. ### Should I disavow nofollow links? No. Nofollow is already a hint. Disavow is for links you believe are harmful and that you cannot get removed. ### How fast do dofollow backlinks start working? A crawler has to fetch the page that links to you, then fetch your URL. That can be days or weeks. There is no switch that flips on the day the link goes live. ### Should I disavow links that are nofollow? No. Nofollow is already a hint. Disavow is for links you believe are harmful and that you cannot get removed. ## Keep reading - [What are dofollow backlinks?](https://www.foundrlist.com/blog/what-are-dofollow-backlinks) - [Free dofollow backlinks](https://www.foundrlist.com/blog/free-dofollow-backlinks) - [Directory submission sites](https://www.foundrlist.com/blog/directory-submission-sites) - [Backlinks, directories and discovery](https://www.foundrlist.com/blog/backlink-strategy-startups-directories-dr-discovery) ## Sources - [Google Search spam policies](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies) - [Google: Qualify your outbound links](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/qualify-outbound-links) ## Related guides - [What Is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?](https://www.foundrlist.com/blog/what-is-generative-engine-optimization) — Generative engine optimization is writing pages so AI answers can find, quote and link them. Google still treats that work as SEO. Here is what to do. - [What Is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?](https://www.foundrlist.com/blog/what-is-answer-engine-optimization) — Answer engine optimization means structuring a page so the answer is quotable. It is still SEO. Here is the version that helps a startup get cited. - [AEO vs SEO vs GEO: What Founders Should Actually Do](https://www.foundrlist.com/blog/aeo-vs-seo-vs-geo) — SEO gets you retrieved. AEO makes the answer quotable. GEO is the research name for citations in generated answers. One page plan covers all three. - [Programmatic SEO for Startups: When a Template Is Worth Publishing](https://www.foundrlist.com/blog/programmatic-seo-for-startups) — Programmatic SEO is many pages from one template and a dataset. It works when every URL is genuinely different. Here is the test before you generate them. - [What Are Dofollow Backlinks?](https://www.foundrlist.com/blog/what-are-dofollow-backlinks) — A dofollow backlink is a link that does not tell Google to ignore it. It is not a ranking switch. Here is how rel attributes actually work. ## Source and citation - [Canonical FoundrList article](https://www.foundrlist.com/blog/how-to-get-dofollow-backlinks) - Cite the canonical HTML URL above. This Markdown file is an alternate representation of the same editorial article.