What the rel values mean
| Link | Meaning |
|---|---|
| No rel value | Dofollow. A normal editorial link. |
rel="nofollow" | The site does not vouch for the link. |
rel="sponsored" | Paid placement, advertising, or affiliate links. |
rel="ugc" | User-generated content such as comments and forum posts. |
rel="noopener" or noreferrer | Security and privacy settings. They do not make a link nofollow. |
Google has treated nofollow, sponsored, and ugc as hints since 2019, so it may still count a link carrying them. Our explainer on dofollow and nofollow backlinks covers what changed and how much it matters.
When to check a link
- After a directory or launch listing goes live. Confirm the listing links to you and whether it is dofollow, as promised.
- Before paying for a placement. Paid links should be marked sponsored. If a seller promises a dofollow paid link, that breaks Google's spam policies.
- When a backlink disappears from your reports. Pages get redesigned and links get removed or changed to nofollow without notice.
- When you offer a badge. If you link back to a launch platform in exchange for a listing, check that your own badge code is not accidentally nofollow.
Page-level nofollow and noindex
A link can look dofollow and still pass nothing. If the linking page carries <meta name="robots" content="nofollow"> or sends an X-Robots-Tag: nofollow header, search engines are asked not to follow any of its links. A noindex page is not kept in the index at all, so its links count for little. The checker flags both.
What actually makes a backlink valuable
- Relevance. A link from a page about your topic beats one from an unrelated directory.
- Real visitors. If people click it, it is doing its job whatever the rel value says.
- A page that stays. Permanent listings and articles keep working. Launch-day feeds that scroll away matter less over time.
For a measured list of places to earn links as a new product, see the startup directories worth submitting to.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I check if a link is dofollow?
- Enter the page that links to you and your domain above. The checker finds every link to your site in the page HTML and reads its rel attribute. A link without nofollow, sponsored, or ugc is dofollow, unless the whole page is marked nofollow.
- What is the difference between dofollow and nofollow?
- A dofollow link is a normal link that can pass ranking signals. A nofollow link carries rel="nofollow", asking search engines not to count it. Since 2019 Google treats nofollow, sponsored, and ugc as hints rather than strict rules.
- Can a link be nofollow without a rel attribute?
- Yes. A robots meta tag or X-Robots-Tag header with nofollow on the linking page applies to every link on it. The checker looks for both.
- Why does the checker not find my link?
- It reads the HTML the server sends. Links added by JavaScript after the page loads, links behind a login, and links inside iframes will not appear, and some crawlers miss them for the same reason.
- Are nofollow links worthless?
- No. They can still send visitors, and Google may choose to count them. For a new product, a relevant nofollow link that sends real traffic often beats a dofollow link nobody clicks.