Dofollow, nofollow, sponsored and ugc: what each one means
Every link on a page is one of four kinds, set by the rel attribute of its <a> tag. This is what the checker reads for each link.
Dofollow
no rel, or rel="noopener"
A normal link. Nothing tells Google to ignore it, so it can pass authority (PageRank) to the page it points to. There is no rel="dofollow" value: a link is dofollow when it carries none of the three below.
Nofollow
rel="nofollow"
Asks search engines not to count the link. Since 2020 Google reads it as a hint, not an order, so a nofollow link from a strong outlet can still help, but you can't count on it.
Sponsored
rel="sponsored"
Marks a link that was paid for: an ad, a sponsorship or a sponsored post. Google asks for it on every paid link and treats it like nofollow.
UGC
rel="ugc"
User-generated content: links in comments, forum posts and reviews. It tells Google the site did not vouch for the link, which is also treated as a hint.
When a paid link has to be sponsored
Google asks for rel="sponsored" on every link that exists because money, a product
or any other compensation changed hands: sponsored posts, advertorials, affiliate links and
paid placements. rel="nofollow" is still accepted for the same purpose.
In practice, many outlets sell sponsored articles with a dofollow link, some add nofollow or sponsored without saying so, and some change the attribute months after publishing. So check every link you pay for the day it goes live, and again a few weeks later.
Why the link type matters for link building
Authority flows through dofollow links, so they are what you are usually paying for. A profile made only of dofollow, exact-match links looks built, though: a natural mix of dofollow and nofollow links and of anchor texts is what a site that earns its links looks like.
Use the checker to verify the links you get, and the backlink checker to see where your competitors' links come from. When you buy links on Growwer, each of the 39,881 outlets shows whether its links are dofollow before you order.
How to check if a link is dofollow
Three steps, no sign-up and no browser extension.
- Step 1
Paste the page URL
Use the exact URL of the article or page where the link lives, not just the domain. We fetch that page as a crawler would and read every link in its HTML.
- Step 2
Filter the links you care about
Keep external links only to see who the page links out to, or filter by nofollow, sponsored or ugc to check a specific link. Links with several rel values are flagged as combined.
- Step 3
Check your link and its anchor
Find your link in the list and confirm its type and anchor text. If the whole page is nofollow (meta robots or X-Robots-Tag), we warn you at the top.
Link building with Growwer
Get dofollow links on outlets with real traffic
Choose from 39,881 outlets with verified metrics, and see the link type of each one before you buy. No outreach, no surprises when the article goes live.
Dofollow checker FAQ
What people ask most about dofollow and nofollow links.
- A dofollow link is a normal HTML link with no
nofollow,sponsoredorugcvalue in itsrelattribute. Search engines can follow it and pass authority through it. "Dofollow" is a nickname: there is no such attribute value. - Paste the URL of the page that holds the link into the checker above. It lists every link on the page with its rel value, so you can find yours and see whether it is dofollow, nofollow, sponsored or ugc. You can also inspect the link in your browser and read its
relattribute. - Yes. A
<meta name="robots" content="nofollow">tag or anX-Robots-Tag: nofollowHTTP header makes every link on the page nofollow, whatever each link says. The checker reads both and warns you when the page carries one. - Indirectly, yes. Google treats nofollow, sponsored and ugc as hints, so it may still use some of them, and a nofollow link on a big outlet can bring real referral traffic and brand searches. For authority, dofollow links from relevant sites with real traffic are still what moves rankings.
- Google's guidelines ask for
rel="sponsored"(or nofollow) on any link you pay for. Many publishers still sell dofollow links in sponsored articles, which is a risk the buyer takes on. On Growwer every outlet shows its link type before you order, so you decide knowing exactly what you get. - The checker reads the HTML the server sends, the way most crawlers see it on the first pass. Links that JavaScript adds after the page loads don't appear, and links in menus, footers and hidden blocks do. Very large pages are cut after the first links we find.
- Yes. It needs no sign-up and has a generous daily limit per visitor. It only fetches public pages, so it won't check pages behind a login or on a private network.
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