Nofollow Link Checker
Find all nofollow, sponsored, and UGC links on any webpage. Audit link equity flow and ensure correct rel attribute usage. Free nofollow link checker.
- Paste page URL
- Review outlink table
- Adjust link policy
- Browser-based — no install
- Instant results
What is a Nofollow Link Checker?
The Nofollow Link Checker fetches any URL and identifies every outbound link on the page, checking whether each carries a rel="nofollow", rel="sponsored", or rel="ugc" attribute, or passes PageRank as a standard followed link. The tool displays the target URL, anchor text, and rel attribute value for each link, along with a summary count of followed versus nofollow links.
When Should You Use Nofollow Link Checker?
Use this when auditing how a page distributes link equity, when reviewing whether paid placements or partner links are correctly marked as sponsored, or when you want to understand the outbound link profile of a competitor's high-authority page. Google introduced rel="sponsored" and rel="ugc" as more specific signals alongside rel="nofollow" — using the specific attribute is now recommended over the generic nofollow for paid and user-generated content.
How to Read Nofollow Link Checker Results
Standard links without a rel attribute pass PageRank to the target. Links with rel="nofollow" are treated by Google as a hint rather than a directive — it may still choose to follow and credit the link. Links with rel="sponsored" signal a paid or commercial arrangement. Links with rel="ugc" signal user-generated content such as blog comments or forum posts. Check that all paid placements, affiliate links, and comment-section links carry the appropriate rel attribute to stay compliant with Google's link spam policies.
What Should You Know Before Using Nofollow Link Checker?
Do not apply nofollow to all outbound links indiscriminately — linking to high-quality external resources without nofollow is a positive editorial signal. Apply nofollow to paid links, affiliate links, low-quality directories, and links in user-generated content. Regularly audit outbound links on your most-linked-to pages to confirm that no followed links have crept into paid placements, which could constitute a link scheme violation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does rel=nofollow mean?
The rel="nofollow" attribute on a link tells search engines not to pass PageRank (link equity) through that link to the destination. Google treats nofollow as a hint rather than a directive — it may still choose to follow and index the linked page, but it will not count the link as a ranking endorsement for the destination.
What is the difference between nofollow, sponsored, and ugc?
rel="nofollow" is the general-purpose hint to withhold link equity. rel="sponsored" specifically identifies paid placements, affiliate links, and commercial arrangements. rel="ugc" identifies user-generated content such as blog comments and forum posts. Google introduced sponsored and ugc in 2019 as more specific signals — use the appropriate one rather than applying nofollow to all situations.
Should I add nofollow to all outbound links?
No. Adding nofollow to every outbound link is not recommended. Linking editorially to high-quality external resources is a positive trust signal. Reserve nofollow for paid links, affiliate links, links in user-generated content, and links to low-quality or untrusted destinations. Nofollowing all outbound links can appear unnatural and overly cautious.
Do paid links need to be nofollowed?
Yes. Google's link spam policies require that paid links — including affiliate links, sponsored posts, and paid placements — carry either rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow". Passing PageRank through paid links is a violation of Google's guidelines that can result in manual actions against both the linking and linked-to sites. The Nofollow Checker helps verify all paid placements are correctly tagged.
Does nofollow mean the page won't be indexed?
No. rel="nofollow" only affects whether PageRank is passed through the link — it does not prevent the linked page from being crawled or indexed. If you want to prevent a page from being indexed, add a noindex meta tag to the page itself or return an X-Robots-Tag: noindex HTTP header. Do not confuse link-level nofollow with page-level indexing control.
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