Check if a link is followed, in 30 seconds

Before you spend an afternoon on a profile, a directory listing or a launch, check what the link actually is. You don't need an SEO tool.

Open a page where someone else already got the link you want. Open the browser console (right click, Inspect, Console), swap in their domain and paste:

[...document.querySelectorAll('a')]
  .filter(a => a.href.includes('their-site.com'))
  .map(a => a.rel + ' | ' + a.href)

Reading the result

• Empty, or only noopener noreferrer: the link is followed.
• nofollow, ugc or sponsored: it isn't. Nofollow wins if more than one is there.
• Nothing at all: there is no link, or the button goes through the platform's own redirect. G2, Capterra, YouTube channel links and many AI tool directories work this way.

Before you build links at all

Links help most when the site under them is in order. Two checklists worth running first: how to run a technical SEO audit and, if you're moving domains, the website migration SEO checklist. And since search is changing, what still matters for AI search.

Skip the checking

The PublishMyBlog link hub lists free places to link a website, with the page we checked for each one and what the link was. For news on AI, SEO and website tools, see PublishMyBlog.