Free nofollow / dofollow bulk checker
You chased those backlinks. Are they still dofollow? This bulk nofollow checker reads up to 20 donor pages at once and shows which links to your site pass equity (dofollow) and which are quietly nofollow, sponsored, ugc, or gone. Enter your domain and the pages; no signup.
Scroll the table sideways to see every column →
| Donor page | Status | Link | Rel | Anchor |
|---|
Dofollow vs nofollow: what the difference actually is
Every link on a web page can carry a rel attribute that tells search engines how
to treat it. A plain link with no such attribute is a dofollow link: it passes
ranking signals to the page it points at. A link marked rel="nofollow" tells Google
not to pass those signals. Two newer variants narrow this further:
rel="sponsored" for paid or affiliate links and rel="ugc" for
user-generated content like comments and forum posts.
For link-builders this matters because a link you paid for, negotiated, or earned can quietly be a nofollow, or get switched to one later. From the front end the link looks identical; the difference is in the markup. This dofollow checker reads it for every URL you give it, so you see the real rel value instead of guessing.
How to use it
- Enter your domain (e.g.
example.com). Every link to it, on any path or subdomain, counts as a match. - Paste the donor pages. One URL per line, up to 20 — the pages where your backlinks should live.
- Read the table. Each row shows whether your link was found and its rel: dofollow, nofollow, sponsored, or ugc.
Why the dofollow / nofollow mix matters
The instinct is to want every backlink dofollow. In practice that's the wrong target. A natural backlink profile has a mix: editorial dofollow links alongside nofollow mentions from social posts, directories, comments, and news aggregators. A profile that is 100% dofollow exact-match anchors is a pattern Google associates with bought links, not earned ones.
What's worth your attention is change and surprise. A link you were told would be dofollow that
turns out nofollow. A guest post whose links got switched to nofollow during a site redesign. A
paid placement marked sponsored when you expected editorial treatment. Those are the
cases where a bulk check pays for itself: you find out before you've reported the link as a win
or paid the next invoice.
One honest limitation: this free tool reads the raw HTML only. If a donor adds your link with JavaScript after the page loads, it won't be in the HTML and the tool will report it as missing. That's not a bug. It's the line between a quick free check and full monitoring, which renders the page in a real browser.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a dofollow and a nofollow backlink?
A dofollow link passes ranking signals from the linking page to yours — it's a normal link with no rel attribute that blocks it. A nofollow link carries rel="nofollow", which tells Google not to pass those signals. Both can still send you real visitors; the difference is whether the link counts toward how search engines judge your site.
Do nofollow links have any SEO value?
Indirectly, yes. Since 2019 Google treats nofollow as a hint rather than a strict rule, so a nofollow link can still be considered. More importantly, nofollow links from relevant sites drive referral traffic, build brand awareness, and make a backlink profile look natural. A profile that is 100% dofollow looks engineered. The goal isn't zero nofollows: it's a believable mix.
What do rel="sponsored" and rel="ugc" mean?
They are more specific versions of nofollow that Google introduced in 2019. rel="sponsored" marks paid or affiliate links; rel="ugc" marks user-generated content like forum posts and blog comments. Like nofollow, they tell Google not to pass ranking signals. This tool flags each one separately so you know exactly how a link is marked.
Why does the checker say a link is missing when I can see it on the page?
The most common reason is that the link is added by JavaScript after the page loads. This free tool fetches the raw HTML only, so a link injected client-side won't appear. Other causes: the link points to a slightly different domain than the one you entered, or the page redirected. For JavaScript-rendered pages, LinkGuard's paid checks render the page in a real browser.
How many backlinks can I check at once?
Up to 20 donor URLs per check, with no signup. That keeps the free tool fast and fair for everyone. If you need to watch hundreds or thousands of backlinks on a schedule, that's what the LinkGuard product does: you start with 1000 free tokens, no card required.
Can I tell when a backlink changes from dofollow to nofollow?
Not with a one-off check. You'd have to re-run it and compare by hand. A link can be switched from dofollow to nofollow at any time, often without you knowing. LinkGuard monitors your backlinks on a schedule and alerts you when a link's rel attribute changes, so you catch a downgrade when it happens instead of months later. Start free with 1000 tokens.
Last updated: 2026-05-22