Before you count a backlink, check that it is dofollow. Enter any page URL and see every link on it with its rel attribute, so you know which links pass SEO value and which don't.
How to use the Dofollow / nofollow checker
- Paste the URL of the page that links to you, or any page you want to audit.
- Run the check. Every link on the page is listed with its rel values.
- Filter to external links and look for yours: no nofollow, sponsored or ugc means it is a dofollow link.
Dofollow vs nofollow
A normal link is dofollow: search engines follow it and it passes ranking value. Adding rel="nofollow" tells them not to. rel="sponsored" marks paid links and rel="ugc" marks user-generated links such as comments. Google treats all three as hints, but in practice only dofollow links build Domain Rating.
Checking a directory before you submit
Open an existing listing on the directory and run it here. If the outbound product links carry nofollow, the listing can still send visitors, but it will not help your DR. That alone decides whether a paid "dofollow" upgrade is worth it.
Reading the counts
The top row shows total unique links, how many point to other sites, how many are dofollow, and the nofollow, sponsored and ugc counts. A link can carry more than one value (rel="nofollow ugc"), so those three can add up to more than the non-dofollow total. Use the filters to see only external or only dofollow links, and download the CSV to keep a record. rel="noopener" and "noreferrer" are about browser security and don't change SEO value: a link with only those is still dofollow.
When your link isn't what you were promised
If a listing you paid for as dofollow shows nofollow or sponsored, screenshot the result and ask the site to fix it. If the link is missing entirely, it is probably added by JavaScript, which this check doesn't run; ask for a plain HTML link, since that is also what crawlers see first.