What does nofollow mean?

A nofollow link is marked with rel="nofollow" in the HTML. It does not pass ranking authority (link equity) from the source page to the target. It still provides value through referral traffic and brand visibility, but it does not directly influence search rankings.

Backlink Toolkit — Live Link Checker & Domain Analyzer

Q: How does the Live Link Checker actually work?

Each source URL is fetched by our server, parsed with a DOM parser, and every anchor pointing to your target URL is extracted. We report whether the link was found, its rel attribute (dofollow, nofollow, ugc or sponsored), and the anchor text. Nothing is cached or stored.

Q: What is the Open PageRank score and why not call it PageRank?

Open PageRank is an open dataset derived from Common Crawl and maintained by DomCop. It is not Google PageRank, which was retired from public view in 2016. We call it by its correct name because using 'PageRank' would be inaccurate and is also a Google trademark.

Q: Why does the Referring Domains card show '—' instead of a number?

Because we do not have a complete backlink index. Showing a fabricated or incomplete number would be misleading. We display '—' and explain the limitation rather than inventing data.

Q: Is my target URL or my source URL list stored on your server?

No. Both the target and source URLs are submitted to our server, processed in memory, and discarded immediately after the response is returned. Nothing is written to disk, logged, or shared with third parties.

Q: What does UGC or sponsored mean on a link?

UGC (User Generated Content) is a rel value used for links inside user-submitted content like forum posts or comments. Sponsored is used for paid placements. Both are treated as not passing ranking authority, similar to nofollow, but they carry additional disclosure meaning.

Paste your target URL and up to 25 source URLs. Each source is fetched and parsed for anchors pointing to your target. We report whether the link exists, its rel attribute (dofollow, nofollow, UGC or sponsored), and the anchor text.

Target URL — the page you want links pointing to

Source URLs — one per line (max 25)

0 / 25 Press Ctrl+Enter to check

Source URL	Status	Rel	Anchor Text

Enter a target and at least one source URL, then click Verify Links.

💡 What "rel" tells you. A dofollow link passes ranking authority. A nofollow link (marked rel="nofollow") does not pass authority, but still drives referral traffic. UGC and sponsored are additional disclosure values — they behave similarly to nofollow for ranking purposes. All four are useful for different reasons.

Enter a root domain to see its authority metrics. Data is fetched live from the Open PageRank API via our server. Anything we cannot retrieve is shown as "—" rather than invented.

Where these numbers come from. Page Rank and Global Rank are queried live from the Open PageRank API, an open dataset derived from Common Crawl. It is not Google PageRank, which was retired in 2016. We show it under its correct name.

What we can and cannot measure

Page Rank (Open PageRank): a 0–10 logarithmic authority score. Live from the API.
Global Rank: ordinal position within the Open PageRank index.
Spam indicator: a heuristic from the same index. Indicative only.
Referring domains: we do not have a complete backlink index. We show "—" rather than a fabricated number.

Enter a domain and click Analyze. Results will appear here.

Your last 30 checks, stored on your own device. Click any entry to load it back into the checker or analyzer. Nothing is stored on our servers.

No checks yet.

🔗 Two tools, two jobs

This page combines two different backlink workflows in one place, because they answer different questions and you usually need both in sequence.

Live Link Checker answers: "Does this page actually link to mine?" You give it a target URL and a list of source URLs. It fetches each source and reports whether a link to your target exists, whether that link is dofollow or nofollow, and what anchor text is used. This is the most reliable part of the toolkit, because the answer is verifiable — you can open the source in a browser and see the same thing.

Domain Analyzer answers: "How strong is this domain overall?" You give it a root domain and it returns its Open PageRank score. This is useful for competitor benchmarking and for tracking your own domain over time, but it comes with important caveats — the numbers are comparative, not absolute, and they come from an open dataset rather than a commercial backlink index.

Together, they cover the two questions that come up in almost every link-building audit: is the link there, and does the source carry weight.

📋 How to use the Live Link Checker

Enter your target URL. This is the page you want to find links pointing to — usually one of your own pages.
Paste your source URLs. One per line. These are the pages you suspect link to your target. Up to 25 per run. The checker will fetch each one in sequence.
Click Verify Links. The tool sends the list to our server, which fetches each source, parses the HTML, and looks for anchors whose href resolves to your target.
Read the results. Each row shows: whether the link was found, the rel attribute on the anchor, and the anchor text itself.
Export if needed. The CSV export gives you a spreadsheet-ready list of all results. Useful for client reports.

What the rel attribute tells you

dofollow — the default. Passes ranking authority from the source page to yours.
nofollow — the source has marked the link with rel="nofollow". Does not pass authority, but still drives referral traffic.
ugc — User Generated Content. Used for links inside forum posts, comments, or other user-submitted sections. Behaves like nofollow for ranking.
sponsored — used for paid placements. Also behaves like nofollow for ranking, and carries additional disclosure obligations.

All four are useful for different reasons. A sitewide nofollow link from a popular blog still sends real traffic, even if it does not move your rankings directly.

📊 Understanding the domain metrics

Open PageRank (0–10)

A logarithmic authority score derived from a public link-graph crawl. Higher values indicate a domain that receives links from many other high-authority domains. A score of 0 does not mean the site is worthless — it usually means the crawler has not yet discovered enough links to estimate its score.

Index Position

The domain's ordinal position within the Open PageRank index. We display this as a number because some users find it useful for relative comparison, but the raw figure needs context. A position of 100,000 is very different from 100,000,000 — but neither is actionable on its own. Treat it as a rough band, not a precise rank.

Referring Domains — why we show "—"

A commercial backlink index like Ahrefs or Majestic crawls tens of billions of pages and indexes every link it finds. We do not have that infrastructure. Rather than show a partial or fabricated number, we display "—" and tell you why. If you need accurate referring-domain counts, use a paid tool — this toolkit does not pretend to replace one.

Spam Indicator

A heuristic that combines link-source reputation, anchor-text entropy, and referral-network overlap. Values under 15% are generally considered clean. Values above 40% suggest a profile that may attract closer scrutiny from search engines. It is an indicator, not a verdict.

⚠️ A note on "Page Rank". Google retired public PageRank in 2016. Every tool that still shows "PR" is displaying a third-party estimate, not Google's number. We use Open PageRank because its dataset is open and its methodology is documented. It is not the same as Ahrefs DR or Moz DA, but it is honest about what it is.

🚩 Common backlink auditing mistakes

Trusting "link placed" reports. Outreach campaigns often report a link as placed before it is live, or after it has been removed. Always verify with the Live Link Checker.
Chasing raw backlink counts. Referring domains matter far more than total links. One sitewide footer link can add thousands of "backlinks" from a single domain.
Disavowing based on third-party scores alone. Google's disavow tool is a last resort. Never disavow based on a single tool's spam score — you need evidence of a manual action or a persistent toxic pattern.
Ignoring nofollow links. They do not pass authority, but they still drive traffic, and a natural link profile includes them. A site with 100% dofollow links looks manipulated.
Comparing PageRank across indexes. Open PageRank, Moz DA and Ahrefs DR use different scales and different underlying datasets. Never compare values between them.

📖 SEO glossary

Backlink: A hyperlink from one website to another. Search engines treat them as votes of confidence.
Dofollow: A standard hyperlink that passes authority (link equity) from the source page to the target.
Nofollow: A link annotated with rel="nofollow". It does not pass ranking authority.
UGC: User Generated Content. A rel value for links inside comments, forums or other user-submitted areas.
Sponsored: A rel value for paid placements. Behaves like nofollow for ranking and carries disclosure obligations.
Anchor Text: The visible, clickable text of a hyperlink. It provides context about the linked page's topic.
Referring Domain: The unique root domain hosting a link. One domain can contain many individual links.
Link Equity: Colloquial term for the ranking value transferred through a hyperlink.
PBN (Private Blog Network): A network of sites created primarily to build links to a target. Explicitly against Google's guidelines.
Toxic Link: A backlink from a source that is likely to harm rather than help the target's rankings.

🔒 Your privacy and how we handle data

We do not log the URLs you check. Both the target URL and source URL list are sent to our server, processed in memory, and discarded immediately after the response. Nothing is written to disk, and nothing is shared with third parties.

History is local only. Your recent checks are stored in your browser's localStorage and are visible only to you. The "Clear all history" button removes them. Nothing in the history is transmitted anywhere.

Domain analysis caches for 24 hours. To avoid hammering the Open PageRank API, we cache domain results for 24 hours on the server side. The cache key is the domain name only — no user identifiers, IP addresses or session data are stored.

Cookies and advertising. Advertising and analytics cookies are switched off by default. They only turn on if you press Accept all, or select them individually under Manage preferences. You can change your choice at any time from the Cookie Policy page. Full details are in our Privacy Policy.

About the author

Khalil Rahman — Front-end developer and tool builder

Khalil has spent the last eight years building browser-based tools for SEOs and developers. He built this toolkit after getting frustrated with "backlink checkers" that hid a fabricated referring-domain number behind a paywall teaser, or that showed a spam score of 0 for every domain regardless of what it actually was. The Live Link Checker and its nofollow detection are the features he actually uses; the domain analyzer is honest about what it can and cannot measure. He maintains the SkillsInsider SEO toolset.

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❓ Frequently asked questions

How does the Live Link Checker actually work?

Each source URL is fetched by our server, parsed with a standards-compliant DOM parser, and every anchor pointing to your target URL is extracted. We report whether the link was found, its rel attribute (dofollow, nofollow, UGC or sponsored), and the anchor text. Nothing is cached or stored.

What is the difference between dofollow and nofollow?

A dofollow link (the default) passes ranking authority from the source page to the target. A nofollow link is annotated with rel="nofollow" and does not transfer authority. Both types provide value — nofollow links drive referral traffic and brand visibility, but only dofollow links contribute directly to ranking.

Why does the Referring Domains card show "—" instead of a number?

Because we do not have a complete backlink index. Commercial tools like Ahrefs and Majestic crawl tens of billions of pages and index every link they find. We do not have that infrastructure, and showing a partial or fabricated count would be misleading. We show "—" and explain the limitation instead.

What is the Open PageRank score, and why not call it PageRank?

Open PageRank is an open dataset derived from Common Crawl, maintained by DomCop. It is not Google PageRank — Google retired public PageRank in 2016. We call it by its correct name because using the term "PageRank" would be inaccurate and is also a Google trademark.

What does UGC or sponsored mean on a link?

UGC (User Generated Content) is a rel value used for links inside user-submitted content like forum posts or comments. Sponsored is used for paid placements. Both are treated as not passing ranking authority, similar to nofollow, but they carry additional disclosure meaning.

Are my target URL and source URL list stored on your server?

No. Both are submitted to our server, processed in memory, and discarded immediately after the response is returned. Nothing is written to disk, and nothing is shared with third parties.

Should I disavow links based on this tool?

No. Google's disavow tool is a last resort, only appropriate when there is a manual action or a clearly toxic pattern. This tool tells you whether a link exists and how it is marked, not whether it is harmful. The spam indicator is a heuristic, not a directive.

Can I check more than 25 source URLs at once?

Not in a single run. The 25-URL limit keeps the tool responsive and prevents abuse of the shared server resources. For larger audits, run multiple batches — the CSV export from each batch can be combined in a spreadsheet.

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