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Free DoFollow Link Checker

Find every dofollow link on one page, or check up to 10 URLs in bulk. Spot equity leaks, vet link-building prospects, and catch page-level robots nofollow that makes a "dofollow" backlink worthless. Built for SEOs and link builders.

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How to Find DoFollow Links in 3 Steps

Step 1: Enter the URL, DoFollow Link Checker screenshot
1

Enter the URL

Paste any URL, your own page for outbound equity audit, or a prospect site for link-building research.

Step 2: See dofollow in green, DoFollow Link Checker screenshot
2

See dofollow in green

Dofollow links highlighted in green. Compare against nofollow (red), sponsored (amber), ugc (purple), instant visual rel attribute breakdown.

Step 3: Export for outreach, DoFollow Link Checker screenshot
3

Export for outreach

Toggle to dofollow-only filter, export as CSV, ready for your link-building outreach spreadsheet or audit report.

What Is a DoFollow Link?

A dofollow link is the default state for every <a href> on the web. There is no actual rel="dofollow" attribute, "dofollow" just describes any link that does not have rel="nofollow", "sponsored", or "ugc" set. Dofollow links pass ranking signals (link equity, sometimes called PageRank) from the source page to the destination.

For SEO and link-building, dofollow status is the difference between a high-value backlink and a low-value one. A dofollow link from an authoritative site directly contributes to your ranking; a nofollow link contributes far less (though Google now treats both as "hints" rather than directives). For link-building outreach, identifying prospect sites that consistently link out dofollow is the foundation of every high-leverage outreach campaign, and this tool gives you that view in one click. One more equity leak worth closing on your own site: a dofollow internal link that points at a non-canonical URL. The free Canonical URL Checker verifies which address each page declares as canonical, so the equity your dofollow links pass lands where you intend.

Want the full picture? Our complete guide to nofollow vs dofollow links covers how link equity flows, every rel attribute, and when to use each, the ideal companion read to this checker.

Bulk Prospect Vetting and Page-Level NoFollow

Bulk mode checks up to 10 URLs in one pass. The highest-leverage use: before pitching a publication for a guest post, paste 10 of their recent articles and see at a glance whether they link out dofollow in editorial content. A site that nofollows everything still has referral value, but it will never pass ranking equity, and you should price your outreach effort accordingly. The Combined CSV (with a sourcePage column) drops straight into your prospect spreadsheet.

Page-level nofollow detection protects you from the sneakiest false positive in link building: a backlink whose <a> tag looks perfectly dofollow, sitting on a page whose meta robots tag or X-Robots-Tag header nofollows every link at once. Some publishers use exactly this trick on paid-placement pages. This tool reads both directives on every check and warns you, so you never pay guest-post rates for equity that never arrives. Fixing your own pages instead? Generate correct markup with the Rel Attribute Generator.

3 Ways to Use a DoFollow Checker

1. Verify a backlink is dofollow

Got a guest-post placement, press mention, or directory listing? Run the source page through this tool to confirm the backlink is actually dofollow (and therefore SEO-valuable), not nofollow.

2. Identify dofollow-friendly outreach prospects

Before reaching out to a publication for guest-posting, run a few of their articles through the tool. Sites that consistently link out dofollow in their content are the highest-leverage targets, your effort produces actual ranking equity.

3. Audit your own outbound equity flow

Are you accidentally passing equity to competitor sites or affiliate placements that should be sponsored? Run your own high-traffic pages through the checker to spot equity leaks and add proper rel attributes where needed.

DoFollow vs NoFollow vs Sponsored vs UGC

Attribute

Passes equity?

Use case

Color in tool

dofollow (default)

Yes, full

Editorial, citations, internal nav

Green

rel="nofollow"

No (hint)

Untrusted, comments, login pages

Red

rel="sponsored"

No (hint)

Paid, affiliate, ads

Amber

rel="ugc"

No (hint)

User comments, forum posts

Purple

DoFollow Audit + Branded Shortening: Better Together

Audit dofollow inbound and outbound links here, then use Flyn to count every click on your backlinks and outreach links, with country, device, and referrer breakdowns on Pro.

Backlink click tracking

Use a Flyn short link in every guest-post bio, track exactly how much traffic each backlink delivers.

Branded URLs

Pro adds custom domains for guest-post bio links, yourbrand.com/post-name beats flyn.to in author bios.

Editable destinations

Swap a backlink's landing page anytime, never lose an aging guest-post link to a 404.

Sub-50ms redirects

Flyn redirects globally in under 50ms, zero impact on UX or backlink equity flow.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a dofollow link?
A dofollow link is any hyperlink that does not have rel="nofollow", rel="sponsored", or rel="ugc" set. Dofollow is the implicit default, there is no actual "dofollow" attribute, it just describes a link that passes ranking signals (link equity, PageRank) from the source page to the destination. Search engines use these signals to decide which pages should rank higher in search results.
How do I find dofollow links on a page?
Paste any URL into this tool and click "Check DoFollow." The tool fetches the page, parses every <a href> tag, reads the rel attribute, and shows you which links are dofollow (no nofollow/sponsored/ugc), nofollow, sponsored, ugc, noopener, or noreferrer. The default filter shows only dofollow links, toggle to see other types. Supports up to 200 links per page with CSV export.
Why are dofollow links important for SEO?
Dofollow links pass ranking equity, which is one of the strongest signals search engines use to determine page authority. A page with many high-quality dofollow inbound links from authoritative sites will rank higher than a page with few or only-nofollow inbound links. Conversely, dofollow OUTBOUND links from your pages also signal what your content endorses, used responsibly, they can boost your topical relevance.
How is this different from a nofollow link checker?
Same underlying detection, different default focus. Both tools share the same API endpoint and detect all six rel-attribute types (nofollow, dofollow, sponsored, ugc, noopener, noreferrer). The DoFollow tool defaults to showing dofollow links highlighted in green, useful for link-building outreach (finding sites that link out dofollow) and equity-leak audits (finding your own outbound links you may want to nofollow). The NoFollow tool defaults to red-highlighted nofollow links.
How do I find websites that give dofollow backlinks?
Manually: search for sites in your niche, run them through this tool, and look for sites that consistently link out dofollow (not nofollow) in their content sections. Sites that contribute dofollow to non-affiliate, non-paid editorial links are the most valuable for link-building outreach. Tip: blogs, news sites, and resource hubs are usually dofollow; comment sections, forums, and Wikipedia are usually nofollow.
Should ALL my outbound links be dofollow?
No. Use dofollow for editorial citations to authoritative sources, sites you genuinely endorse, and internal navigation. Use sponsored/nofollow for affiliate, paid, or untrusted links, Google's policies require labeling paid placements with rel="sponsored". A natural link profile has both dofollow and nofollow outbound links; sites with 100% dofollow OR 100% nofollow look unnatural and may trigger algorithmic scrutiny.
Can I lose ranking equity from too many dofollow outbound links?
Mildly, yes. Each outbound dofollow link distributes a fraction of the source page's ranking equity. In practice, this matters far less than people assume, Google's algorithm has been heavily devalued for outbound link "PageRank sculpting" since 2009. But if a page links out to 200+ unrelated dofollow sites (a classic "link farm" pattern), Google may algorithmically demote that page. Most editorial sites with 5-30 outbound links don't need to worry.
What is a "dofollow backlink"?
A dofollow backlink is an inbound link TO your site from another domain, where that other domain has not added rel="nofollow" (or sponsored/ugc). Dofollow backlinks pass ranking equity to your site. They're among the most valuable SEO assets. Use this tool to check whether a backlink you got from a guest post, press mention, or directory listing is actually dofollow (and therefore SEO-valuable) or nofollow (less so).
Does Google still pass PageRank through dofollow links?
Yes, with significant evolution. Google's ranking algorithm still uses link-based signals (the original PageRank evolved into multiple link-equity systems), and dofollow links pass those signals. However, modern Google considers many factors beyond raw link equity: topical relevance, anchor text naturalness, source authority, and user-engagement signals. Building 100 spammy dofollow links won't help; building 5 dofollow links from topically-relevant authoritative sites can move rankings significantly.
How can I use this tool for link-building outreach?
Run target prospects through the tool to identify which sites link out dofollow vs nofollow. Sites that consistently link out dofollow in their content are much higher-value outreach targets, your guest post or content placement on a dofollow site delivers actual ranking equity. Build your outreach prospect list weighted toward dofollow-friendly sites. Pair this tool with our broken-link-checker to find dofollow link-building opportunities via broken-link replacement strategy.
Can I check dofollow links on multiple URLs at once?
Yes. Switch to Bulk mode and paste up to 10 URLs, one per line. You get a per-page card with dofollow/nofollow/sponsored/ugc counts and any page-level nofollow warning, plus a Combined CSV with a sourcePage column. Bulk mode is built for outreach vetting: run 10 articles from a prospect publication through it at once and see in seconds whether they consistently link out dofollow before you pitch a guest post.
Why does the tool warn about page-level nofollow on a page full of dofollow links?
Because a page can nofollow every link it contains in one stroke, using <meta name="robots" content="nofollow"> or an X-Robots-Tag HTTP header. The individual links carry no rel="nofollow" of their own, so a naive per-link audit calls them dofollow, but search engines treat all of them as nofollow. This matters enormously for backlink valuation: a "dofollow" placement on a page with a page-level nofollow directive passes no equity. This tool reads both signals on every check, which most dofollow checkers do not.
Can I export the dofollow audit as CSV?
Yes. After running the check, click the CSV button to download every link (or the filtered subset) as a CSV file with columns: URL, anchor text, link type, rel value, and boolean flags for each rel attribute. Open it in Excel, Google Sheets, or any spreadsheet for further analysis, perfect for SEO audit reports and link-building prospect spreadsheets.
Does this work on JavaScript-rendered pages?
No. This tool reads the raw HTML response, the same view Googlebot uses in its first crawl. Links injected by client-side JavaScript (React, Vue, Angular SPAs) won't appear unless they're also in the server-rendered HTML. If your site is JS-heavy, run the check against the server-rendered or pre-rendered output to see what crawlers actually index.

More Free SEO Tools

Continue your link audit with these complementary free tools.

NoFollow Link Checker

Audit nofollow, sponsored, and UGC attributes for SEO compliance.

Link Extractor

Pull every link from any page with internal/external classification.

Outbound Link Checker

Audit external links, tabnabbing detection, unique-domain count, anchor diversity.

Rel Attribute Generator

Generate the correct rel="nofollow sponsored ugc" tags for the links you find.

Find your next link-building opportunity

Audit dofollow attributes for free, then use Flyn to track clicks on every guest-post, outreach, and backlink (Pro adds country, device, and referrer breakdowns). Free plan includes 25 links/month.

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