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Free NoFollow Link Checker

Audit every rel="nofollow", "sponsored", and "ugc" link on one page, or check up to 10 URLs in bulk. Flags page-level robots nofollow that other checkers miss. CSV export. Built for SEOs, affiliate marketers, and content reviewers.

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How to Audit NoFollow Links in 3 Steps

Paste any URL

Enter the URL of any public web page. The tool fetches the page and parses every <a> tag including its rel attribute.

Review color-coded results

Every link is labeled with a colored rel badge: red for nofollow, green for dofollow, amber for sponsored, purple for ugc, gray for noopener/noreferrer.

Filter and export

Toggle to just nofollow (or any rel type) and export the result as CSV. Includes URL, anchor text, type, and all rel flags.

What Is a NoFollow Link?

A nofollow link is an HTML hyperlink with the attribute rel="nofollow". The attribute tells search engines like Google not to pass ranking signals (sometimes called "link equity" or "PageRank") from the source page to the destination. It was introduced by Google in 2005 to combat blog-comment spam, and has since evolved into the foundation of how search engines understand which outbound links a site editorially endorses.

In 2019 Google split the original nofollow into three more specific attributes: nofollow, sponsored (for paid/affiliate links), and ugc (for user-generated content). Google now treats all three as "hints" rather than strict directives, meaning a nofollow link may still be crawled and indexed, just without full ranking equity. This tool detects all three plus security-related noopener and noreferrer attributes so you can audit pages comprehensively.

New to rel attributes? Our complete guide to nofollow vs dofollow links walks through how link equity flows, when to use each attribute, and the most common mistakes, the ideal companion read to this checker.

Bulk Checks and Page-Level NoFollow Detection

Bulk mode audits up to 10 URLs in one pass: paste a list of pages (one per line) and get a per-page card with nofollow, dofollow, sponsored, and ugc counts, plus a Combined CSV that includes a sourcePage column. It is the fastest way to sweep an entire blog section after an affiliate-compliance change, or to vet a list of link-building prospects before outreach. Pair it with the free Canonical URL Checker on the same URL list when the sweep is part of a wider on-page audit, clean rel attributes cannot help a page whose canonical tag points somewhere else entirely.

Page-level nofollow detection is the check most tools skip. A page can nofollow every one of its links at once through a <meta name="robots" content="nofollow"> tag or an X-Robots-Tag response header. When that happens, a per-link rel audit looks perfectly clean while in reality nothing on the page passes equity. This tool reads both signals on every check and shows a warning banner when a page-wide nofollow is in force, so a backlink that looks dofollow never fools you. To fix the markup on links you find, generate the exact tag with the free Rel Attribute Generator.

The 5 rel Attributes You Need to Know

rel="nofollow"

Original 2005 attribute. Signals "do not pass ranking equity." Used historically for comment spam prevention, paid links, and untrusted content. Google now treats it as a hint, not a directive.

rel="sponsored"

Introduced 2019. THE correct attribute for paid, affiliate, and sponsored links. Using plain nofollow on paid links is now outdated, sponsored is more specific and Google-preferred.

rel="ugc"

Introduced 2019. Marks user-generated content links (blog comments, forum posts, profile-page links). Tells Google "the site owner did not editorially create this link."

rel="noopener"

Security attribute, not SEO. Prevents the new tab from manipulating the source page via window.opener. Must be on every target="_blank" link.

rel="noreferrer"

Privacy attribute, not SEO. Prevents the browser from sending a Referer header to the destination. Common on target="_blank" alongside noopener.

When to Use Each rel Attribute

Affiliate or referral links

Use rel="sponsored" (best) or rel="sponsored nofollow" (most conservative). Plain nofollow alone is now outdated for paid links, Google's updated link policy specifically calls out sponsored as the correct attribute.

Blog comments and forum posts

Use rel="ugc" or rel="ugc nofollow". Most major comment systems (Disqus, WordPress core) apply ugc automatically. Audit your forum or comments section to ensure compliance.

Untrusted external content

Use rel="nofollow". Suitable for screenshots of malicious sites, archived links to dubious sources, or any link you must include but don't want to endorse.

Internal site navigation

Do NOT use nofollow. Your internal navigation should flow link equity throughout your site. Adding nofollow to navigation prevents PageRank distribution and hurts your own SEO.

Editorial outbound citations

Do NOT use nofollow. When you link to legitimate sources, leave them dofollow, passing equity to authoritative sources is a normal trust signal and Google rewards sites that link out responsibly.

NoFollow Audit + Branded Shortening: Better Together

Audit your link profile here, then create Flyn short links for every affiliate, sponsored, or outbound link you share, with free click counts, editable destinations, and country, device, and referrer breakdowns on Pro.

Track every click

Every Flyn short link counts clicks from the first share; Pro adds device, country, referrer, and time-series breakdowns.

Branded URLs

With custom domains on Pro, flyn.to/affiliate becomes yourbrand.com/affiliate. Branded URLs build trust.

Editable destinations

Swap the destination URL anytime. Change an expired affiliate offer without re-sharing anywhere.

Sub-50ms redirects

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is a nofollow link?

A nofollow link is a hyperlink with rel="nofollow" in its HTML, for example, <a href="..." rel="nofollow">. The rel attribute tells search engines not to pass ranking power (link equity, sometimes called "PageRank") through that link. Originally introduced by Google in 2005 to combat comment spam, nofollow is now also used to label affiliate links, paid placements, and other links the site does not editorially endorse.

How is nofollow different from dofollow?

Dofollow is the implicit default, there is no actual "dofollow" attribute. Any link without rel="nofollow" (or rel="sponsored" / rel="ugc") is treated as a dofollow link and passes ranking signals to the destination. Search engines use these signals to decide which pages should rank higher. Nofollow links explicitly opt out of passing those signals, while dofollow links opt in by default.

Does nofollow still matter in 2026?

Yes, but the rules have evolved. Since 2019, Google has treated rel="nofollow" as a "hint" rather than a strict directive, it may still follow and index nofollowed links for discovery purposes. The bigger change was the introduction of rel="sponsored" (for paid links) and rel="ugc" (for user-generated content), which give Google more granular signals. This tool detects all three so you can audit your link attribute strategy comprehensively.

When should I use rel="nofollow"?

Use nofollow on links where you do not want to endorse or pass ranking equity: user comments and forum posts (or use ugc), untrusted external sources, login and admin pages, links to content that may violate Google guidelines, and large widget-distributed links. Do NOT use nofollow on internal navigation, footer links, or your own editorial outbound citations, those should remain dofollow to maintain healthy site-equity flow.

What is the difference between rel="nofollow", rel="sponsored", and rel="ugc"?

All three tell search engines a link should not pass full ranking equity, but they signal different reasons. nofollow is the original general-purpose "do not trust" signal. sponsored (introduced 2019) is specifically for paid links, affiliate links, and advertising, using nofollow alone on paid links is no longer Google-compliant. ugc (also 2019) marks links inside user-generated content like forum posts and blog comments. You can combine them: rel="nofollow sponsored" is valid for paid affiliate links.

Can nofollow links still rank or be indexed?

Yes. Since Google treats nofollow as a hint rather than a directive, Googlebot may still crawl the destination URL for indexing purposes. The pages still appear in Google's index, they just receive less (or no) ranking equity from the nofollowed link. To truly prevent indexing of a page, use a noindex meta tag on the destination page or block it in robots.txt, nofollow alone does not prevent indexing.

How do I find all nofollow links on a page?

Paste the URL into this tool and click "Check NoFollow." It fetches the page, parses every <a href> tag, reads the rel attribute, and shows you which links carry rel="nofollow" (or sponsored, or ugc). The tool returns up to 200 links per page with color-coded badges, full rel value, anchor text, and CSV export, perfect for SEO audits, FTC compliance reviews, and competitive link-profile analysis.

Should affiliate links be nofollow or sponsored?

Use rel="sponsored", not rel="nofollow", for affiliate links. Google explicitly introduced sponsored in 2019 as the correct attribute for paid relationships including affiliate marketing, sponsored content, and ads. Using nofollow alone on affiliate links was the old standard but is now considered outdated. Many top SEOs use rel="sponsored nofollow" together for maximum compliance signal, though Google considers either alone sufficient.

Does Google penalize sites with too many nofollow links?

No. Google does not penalize sites for having lots of nofollow links, it actually expects them on comment sections, forums, and affiliate-heavy pages. What Google DOES penalize is missing rel="sponsored" or "nofollow" on paid links (this can trigger a manual action for "unnatural outbound links"). This tool helps you identify pages where paid or affiliate links are missing the required disclosure rel attributes.

Why are noopener and noreferrer in the rel attribute?

noopener and noreferrer are security attributes, not SEO attributes. rel="noopener" prevents the new tab from accessing window.opener of the source page (mitigates tabnabbing attacks). rel="noreferrer" prevents the browser from sending a Referer header to the destination (privacy). Both should be on every target="_blank" link. They have zero impact on whether the link passes ranking equity, that's determined only by nofollow, sponsored, and ugc.

Can I check multiple URLs at once?

Yes. Switch the tool to Bulk mode and paste up to 10 URLs, one per line. Each page is fetched and audited in a single pass, and every result card shows the nofollow/dofollow/sponsored/ugc counts plus any page-level nofollow directive. The Combined CSV export adds a sourcePage column so you can audit a whole site section, a list of guest-post prospects, or all of your money pages in one spreadsheet.

What is the difference between a nofollow link and a nofollow meta tag?

rel="nofollow" on an individual <a> tag nofollows only that one link. A nofollow directive in the page's meta robots tag (<meta name="robots" content="nofollow">) or in the X-Robots-Tag HTTP header nofollows EVERY link on the page at once, even links whose own rel attribute looks clean. Most checkers only read per-link rel attributes and miss this completely. This tool checks both: if the page carries a page-level nofollow, you get a clear warning banner above the results.

Can I export the nofollow audit results?

Yes. Click the CSV button above the results table to download every link (or the filtered subset) as a CSV file with columns: href, anchor text, link type, rel value, and boolean flags for each rel attribute. The CSV is ready to paste into Excel, Google Sheets, or a SEO audit report.

Does this work on JavaScript-rendered pages?

No. This tool reads the raw HTML response from the URL, the same view Googlebot uses in its first crawl pass. Links injected by client-side JavaScript (React, Vue, Angular single-page apps) won't appear unless they're also in the server-rendered HTML. If your site is JS-heavy, run the checker 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 from Flyn.

DoFollow Link Checker

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Link Extractor

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

Outbound Link Checker

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

Rel Attribute Generator

Build rel="nofollow sponsored ugc noopener" tags after you spot links to fix.

Take control of your link profile

Audit nofollow attributes for free, then use Flyn to create short links that count every click (analytics breakdowns and branded domains on Pro). Free plan includes 25 links/month, no credit card required.

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