A do-follow backlink is a normal hyperlink from another website with no rel="nofollow", rel="sponsored" or rel="ugc" attribute, which means search engines can follow it and count it as a vote of confidence in your site. "Do-follow" is not an attribute you add. It is the default state of a link.
This guide covers what the distinction does in 2026, how to check any link in ten seconds, what do-follow and no-follow links each do for a new SaaS, seven places a founder earns do-follow links without buying them, and the mistakes that waste months.
Do-follow vs no-follow, in one table
| | Do-follow | No-follow (and sponsored, ugc) |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A plain link, no rel attribute | A link marked rel="nofollow", rel="sponsored" or rel="ugc" |
| Passes link equity | Yes | Treated as a hint since 2019; Google may or may not count it |
| Sends referral traffic | Yes | Yes |
| Builds brand entity for AI answers | Yes | Yes, AI systems do not check rel attributes |
| Typical sources | Editorial articles, partner pages, honest directories, docs | Reddit, most launch platforms, social profiles, paid placements |
The 2019 change matters here. Before it, no-follow was a hard stop. Now Google treats it as a hint, follows some of those links, and will not tell you which. Do-follow links are the ones you can count on for authority. No-follow links still do real work for traffic and recognition.
How to check whether a link is do-follow
- Right-click the link on the page and choose "Inspect".
- Look at the
<a>element. If there is norelattribute, orrelcontains only values likenoopener, it is do-follow. - If
relcontainsnofollow,sponsoredorugc, it is not.
Two shortcuts: the free Ahrefs SEO Toolbar and the NoFollow Chrome extension highlight no-follow links on any page. Do this before assuming a platform "gives you a backlink". Product Hunt, most launch aggregators and nearly every social network mark outbound links no-follow.
What do-follow links do for a new SaaS
They are still the most reliable way to build authority because they are editorial decisions. When a respected site in your niche links to your tool inside an article, an editor decided you were worth naming. Google notices, and so do the systems that assemble AI answers.
For a brand-new domain, the first five to ten quality do-follow links are the difference between page five and page two. They will not put you at position one. Nothing does. They get you into the conversation.
Quality beats attribute. A do-follow link from a small, respected blog in your exact category is worth more than one from a generic directory with ten thousand unrelated listings. Relevance, surrounding text and the linking site's real audience all matter.
What no-follow links still do
- Referral traffic. A busy forum thread or a large publication sends visitors, and some of those visitors later link to you the do-follow way.
- Entity building. Google and AI assistants understand brands as entities. Repeated, consistent mentions across the web build recognition regardless of the rel attribute.
- A natural profile. A site whose links are 100 percent do-follow looks engineered. Most healthy sites sit around 60 to 70 percent do-follow. You do not need to manage the ratio. You need to stop ignoring the no-follow half.
Free do-follow backlinks: 26 sites checked on 7 September 2026
Most "free dofollow backlink sites" lists are copied from each other and never checked. We fetched the homepage and up to four listing pages on 85 startup and software directories on 7 September 2026, collected every outbound link to a listed product, and read the rel attribute. These are the 26 where product links carried no nofollow, sponsored or ugc on the pages we sampled. DR is from Ahrefs on the same day. Policies change without notice, so inspect the link on your own listing before you count it.
| Site | DR | Cost | Product links we sampled | Note | |---|---|---|---|---| | MicroLaunch | 63 | Free, paid fast lane | 151, all do-follow | Indie launch platform | | OpenAlternative | 52 | Free | 70, all do-follow | Open-source products only | | Tiny Startups | 71 | Free, paid placement | 51, all do-follow | Curated startup directory | | Startups.fyi | 32 | Free, paid placement | 26, all do-follow | Startup directory | | Startup Tracker | 45 | Free | 12, all do-follow | Startup directory | | Startup Stash | 66 | Paid submission | 46, all do-follow | Curated tool directory | | Pitchwall | 68 | Free | 11, all do-follow | Startup pitches | | Ctrl Alt CC | 50 | Free | 2, all do-follow | Product discovery, small sample | | Indie Page | 67 | Free profile | 62, all do-follow | Founder profile with product links | | Toolpilot | 78 | Free, paid placement | 17, all do-follow | AI tools | | Tools For Humans | 39 | Free, paid placement | 56, all do-follow | AI tools | | aitools.fyi | 43 | Free, paid placement | 101, all do-follow | AI tools | | Remote Tools | 57 | Free | 15, all do-follow | Remote-work tools | | AppSumo | 83 | Revenue share | 58, all do-follow | Marketplace, only if you run a deal | | BetaList | 76 | Free queue, paid fast lane | 11, all do-follow | Small sample; historically nofollow on free listings | | BetaPage | 54 | Free, paid featured | 110, 10 nofollow | Beta launches | | directree | 55 | Free | Verified founders do-follow, others nofollow | Add the badge after verifying the domain | | Fazier | 83 | Free, paid fast lane | 310, 6 nofollow | Indie launch platform | | Uneed | 75 | Free, paid fast lane | 12, 4 nofollow | Indie launch platform | | Startup Fame | 83 | Free, paid fast lane | 44, 8 nofollow | Indie launch platform | | OpenHunts | 70 | Free | 152, 47 nofollow | Indie launch platform | | Toolify | 73 | Free, paid placement | 37, 9 nofollow | AI tools | | Tinylaunch | 73 | Free, paid fast lane | 36, 17 nofollow | Indie launch platform | | Indie Hackers | 81 | Free | 52, 17 nofollow | Product pages | | Hacker News Show HN | 91 | Free | 31, 10 nofollow | Only while your post is on the page | | Startup Collections | 19 | Free | 18, 9 nofollow | Small |
Where the split is "mostly do-follow", the nofollow links were usually on free or unverified listings and the do-follow ones on paid or claimed listings. That is the common pattern now: the attribute is a perk, not a default.
Sites people still list as do-follow that are not. SaaSHub (23 of 25 sampled links nofollow), Crozdesk (18 of 23), StartupBase (26 of 50), Softpedia (all), WIP (all), Awesome Indie (52 of 65). Product Hunt, G2, Capterra, GetApp, Software Advice, TrustRadius, AlternativeTo and SourceForge block automated checks; Product Hunt and the review sites have carried nofollow on outbound product links for years. The full 72-directory table, with the ones that are nofollow and the ones we could not verify, is in Startup Directories: 70+ Places to Submit Your Startup.
7 places a new SaaS earns do-follow backlinks
1. Honest software directories
A structured listing on an indexed directory gives you a page about your product on another domain that links back to yours. Check the directory first: are listings indexed, does it link to your real homepage, is it honest about paid placement, and would you still want the listing if the link were no-follow?
directree gives verified founders a free do-follow link: submit or claim the listing, verify the domain, add the badge, and the listing links to your site with no nofollow. There is no paid tier for the link and listing order is not for sale. Why the link is free explains the reasoning; submit your product takes about 30 seconds.
2. Integration and partner pages
If your product connects to another tool, both sides have a real reason to document it. Offer a real page: setup steps, a joint customer example, a migration guide. Suggest a destination URL, not anchor text. Let the partner describe the relationship in their own words.
3. Links you already have a right to claim
Launch platforms, marketplaces, accelerator profiles, customer sites and open-source templates often already mention you, sometimes pointing at an old launch URL. Keep a spreadsheet, ask for the correction where your product genuinely belongs, and do not turn every profile into a negotiation.
4. Guest posts on relevant blogs
A useful guest post on a blog your buyers read earns an editorial link in context. Write something specific the audience will value, not a disguised pitch. One strong guest post in your category outweighs dozens of directory submissions.
5. Earned press and expert quotes
Journalists link editorially. Getting there needs an angle: a real launch, original data, an unusual product or a founder story with something concrete in it. Platforms like Connectively (formerly HARO) and Qwoted let you answer journalist queries at a smaller, steady scale.
6. Linkable assets: free tools, data, checklists
A calculator that solves one narrow problem, a public benchmark with a transparent method, a compatibility table, a migration checklist from a well-known alternative. Assets earn links without being asked and keep earning them for years. The best first asset sits close to a problem your product already understands.
7. Customers and communities you already serve
Customer stories, case studies on a customer's blog, and community resource lists are links with a reason to exist. They are slower to earn and they are the ones that never look manufactured.
Make your own site linkable first
A referrer needs a page worth sending readers to. Before any outreach or submission, have: a clear homepage title and one plain description of what the product does; a stable product URL, not a launch page or a login wall; a contact page with a founder or company name; a pricing page, even for a free product; documentation for the integrations that matter; and one page that teaches something specific to your audience. The SaaS SEO strategy for founders covers the rest of the foundation.
A 90-day order of operations
- Days 1 to 14. Fix internal links, make the homepage and pricing page linkable, submit to a handful of relevant directories, claim existing mentions, set up Search Console and a backlink tracker.
- Days 15 to 45. Publish one genuinely useful asset and show it to people who already discuss the problem.
- Days 46 to 90. Look at evidence, not totals: which links sent visits, which pages got indexed, which partner mention produced signups. Build the second asset around the signal that was real.
Mistakes that waste time or worse
- Only chasing do-follow. Founders spend hours negotiating one do-follow link while ignoring ten no-follow opportunities that would have sent more traffic. Traffic leads to users, users to mentions, mentions to links.
- Treating directory links as a magic bullet. A do-follow link from a spammy directory can hurt. A no-follow link from a curated one with real traffic can help. Quality over attribute.
- Buying "guaranteed do-follow" links. A disclosed sponsorship is marketing. Paying for an editorial-looking link whose only job is to pass ranking signals is the pattern Google's spam updates target.
- Exact-match anchor text everywhere. Natural anchors are branded, partial or generic. If every link says your money keyword, it looks artificial.
- Pointing every link at the homepage. If a partner mentions your API, link the docs. If a directory describes a free tool, link the tool. Specific destinations help the reader and your internal structure.
- Obsessing over domain-rating numbers. Third-party metrics compare link profiles. They are not Google's score and they say nothing about whether the page has an audience.
Where directree fits, honestly
One do-follow link from one directory will not change your rankings. No single link does. A directree listing gives you a structured, honest page that shows up in search and in AI answers, plus a verified do-follow link from a relevant source, for free. It is a reasonable first step in a backlink strategy. Do not stop there. The honest software directory exists to help people find software; the link is a side effect of doing that properly.
FAQ
Are do-follow backlinks still important in 2026?
Yes. Links remain a confirmed ranking factor. The emphasis has moved to quality and relevance: a few strong do-follow links from credible, relevant sites outperform many weak ones, but link equity is still how authority for competitive terms is built.
How many do-follow backlinks does a new SaaS need?
There is no universal number. For most early-stage products the practical goal is a small set of genuine, relevant links from real sites, enough to establish the domain as a known entity and give your best pages a chance before you go after competitive terms.
Can no-follow links hurt my SEO?
No. No-follow links from legitimate sites cannot hurt you. The links that hurt are manipulative ones, bought or automated, whatever their attribute.
Should I ask for do-follow links in outreach?
Generally no. Asking for the attribute signals SEO-first outreach. Build something worth linking to and let the site owner choose; good sites give do-follow links naturally when the content deserves it.
Does a directree listing give a do-follow backlink?
Yes, for verified founders who add the badge, and it is free. You can confirm it by inspecting the link on your listing. See pricing for what Plus adds on top of the free listing.