Check if a link is dofollow or nofollow

How it works

1. 1

   Paste the page where your link should be, such as your listing on a directory. Add your domain to see only links to your site, or leave it empty to see every external link.

2. 2

   We fetch the page's HTML without running JavaScript, and read each link's rel attribute, the robots meta tags and the X-Robots-Tag header.

3. 3

   You see each link's anchor text and verdict: dofollow, or nofollow, sponsored or ugc. Links a script adds after the page loads aren't in the HTML, so they don't show here.

Questions

What's the difference between dofollow and nofollow?

A nofollow link has rel="nofollow" in its HTML, which asks search engines not to pass ranking credit through it. A dofollow link is any link without nofollow, sponsored or ugc in its rel attribute. There is no rel="dofollow"; a plain link is dofollow.

What do ugc and sponsored mean?

Google added both in 2019. rel="sponsored" marks paid links, such as ads and sponsorships. rel="ugc" marks links in user content, such as comments and forum posts. Search engines treat both like nofollow, and one link can carry more than one value.

Do nofollow links still help?

They pass little or no ranking credit. Since 2020 Google treats nofollow, sponsored and ugc as hints, so it may still use a link to find and rank pages. A nofollow link on a page people read also sends you visitors.

Why is my directory link nofollow?

Many directories mark every outbound link nofollow, so they don't vouch for sites they haven't checked. Others make free listings nofollow and give a dofollow link only to paid or reviewed ones. Paid links should carry sponsored under Google's rules.

Why can't the checker see my link?

It reads the HTML the page's server sends and doesn't run JavaScript. Links a script adds after the page loads aren't in that HTML, so they don't show here, though Google may still see them. Some sites also block automated readers.

What do noindex and nofollow on the whole page do?

A robots meta tag or X-Robots-Tag header with nofollow tells search engines not to follow any link on the page, so even dofollow links pass no credit. Noindex keeps the page out of search results, and Google has said it stops following links on pages that stay noindexed.