Which Publications Give Do-Follow Links (And Why the Biggest Ones Usually Do Not)
Across 1,612 publications we can place in, 1,120 pass a do-follow link and 492 do not. The split is not random. The larger and more authoritative the publication, the less likely it is to give you a link that counts.
This is the opposite of what most people assume, and it is the single most useful thing to understand before choosing where to be featured.
The numbers
Every publication below is one we can actually place in, and the figures come from our own catalogue rather than an estimate.
| Publication size | Pass a do-follow link |
|---|---|
| Above 10M monthly visits | 25% (10 of 40) |
| 1M to 10M | 42% (79 of 184) |
| 200,000 to 1M | 60% (152 of 250) |
| Under 200,000 | 77% (879 of 1,138) |
By domain rating, the same pattern:
| Domain rating | Pass a do-follow link |
|---|---|
| DR 90+ | 41% |
| DR 80 to 89 | 50% |
| DR 70 to 79 | 67% |
| DR 50 to 69 | 64% |
| Under DR 50 | 83% |
The median do-follow publication has a domain rating of 59 and about 48,000 monthly visits. The median no-follow publication has a domain rating of 68 and about 198,000. The titles that would pass the most authority are the ones least willing to pass any.
Why it works this way
A do-follow link passes authority from the publication's domain to yours. That authority is the publication's most valuable asset and the one thing it cannot manufacture more of.
Small publications trade it because a link costs them little and the relationship is worth more. Large publications have spent decades accumulating it, are targeted constantly by people who want it, and have usually made a blanket policy decision: every external link in anything that is not hard news gets rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored". Nobody has to decide case by case.
So the link and the name pull in opposite directions. The more recognisable the masthead, the less likely you are getting SEO value out of it.
What that looks like in practice
Among publications already listed on our publications page:
Pass a do-follow link: MSN, USA Today, Digital Trends, Bustle, Elite Daily, Inverse, Paste Magazine, The AV Club, Flaunt.
Do not: Medium, Business Insider, The Hollywood Reporter, Ars Technica, Pitchfork, Allure, WWD, The Sun.
Medium is the clearest case. It has a domain rating of 94, one of the highest on the open internet, and about 58 million monthly visits. It passes nothing. Every outbound link on the platform is nofollow and has been for years.
The mistake this causes
People buy a big name expecting both things at once: the recognition and the SEO. Then they check the link months later and find it was never going to count.
The feature was not worthless. It just did a different job than the one they were told it would do, and nobody separated the two before the money moved.
The two jobs, kept separate
A link is an SEO asset. It helps your own domain rank. For that you want do-follow, and the data says you are far more likely to get it from a mid-sized title than from a household name.
A name is a credibility asset. It works on people, not on search engines. A nofollow feature in a title your buyer recognises still does everything a feature is supposed to do: it appears when someone searches you, it can be cited in a bio, it signals that an outside publication wrote about you.
Both are real. They are simply not the same purchase, and a feature that is excellent at one may be useless at the other.
What a nofollow link still does
It is worth being precise, because "nofollow means worthless" is repeated constantly and it is wrong.
A nofollow link still sends you referral traffic when a reader clicks it. It still makes the page discoverable, so your name surfaces when someone searches it. It is still read by AI engines, which cite sources by content and context rather than by link attribute, and 1,400 of the 1,612 publications in our catalogue are indexed by them. And Google has said since 2019 that it treats nofollow as a hint rather than a directive, so the link is not necessarily ignored, it is simply not guaranteed.
What it does not do is reliably pass ranking authority. That is the whole difference.
How to actually decide
Ask what the feature is for before you ask where it should be.
If the goal is ranking your own site, prioritise do-follow, and accept that this usually means titles below the top tier. A relevant DR 70 publication that links to you is worth more for that purpose than a DR 92 one that does not.
If the goal is credibility, the link attribute is close to irrelevant. Pick the title your specific audience recognises and stop worrying about the rel tag.
If the goal is both, do not expect one feature to deliver them. Use a recognised name for the credibility and a do-follow title for the link. That is two placements, deliberately chosen, rather than one that quietly fails at half the job.
How to check for yourself
On any published article, right-click the link to your site and choose Inspect. Look at the anchor tag. If it contains rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored", it is not passing authority. If it has no rel attribute at all, it is do-follow.
Do this before you buy, on a recent article from the same publication, not after.
The short version
Do-follow links are common at the bottom of the market and rare at the top. 77% of publications under 200,000 monthly visits pass one; only 25% above 10 million do.
That is not a scandal, it is a straightforward trade. The publications with the most authority are the least willing to lend it.
Decide which of the two things you are buying, then choose the publication for that.
Related reading: do press feature backlinks help SEO, tier 1 vs tier 2 publications, and how to choose the right publication.
We write and place features in the publications our clients choose. About us
Frequently asked questions
01Do press features give do-follow links?
Some do. Across 1,612 publications we can place in, 1,120 pass a do-follow link and 492 do not. The pattern is strongly tied to size: 77% of publications under 200,000 monthly visits pass one, against only 25% of those above 10 million.
02Why do big publications use nofollow links?
A do-follow link passes domain authority, which is a large publication's most valuable asset and the thing it is constantly asked for. Most have made a blanket policy decision to mark every external link in non-news content as nofollow or sponsored, so nobody has to decide case by case.
03Is a nofollow link from a press feature worthless?
No. It still sends referral traffic, still makes the page discoverable when someone searches your name, and is still read by AI engines, which cite by content rather than link attribute. Google has also treated nofollow as a hint rather than a directive since 2019. What it does not do is reliably pass ranking authority.
04How can I tell if a link is do-follow?
Open a recent published article from that publication, right-click the outbound link and choose Inspect. If the anchor tag contains rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored" it is not passing authority. If there is no rel attribute, it is do-follow. Check before you buy, not after.
