How to Get Dofollow Backlinks in 2026 (Sources That Still Work)

The most dependable way to get dofollow backlinks in 2026 is to earn them from places that link out normally: relevant directories that still follow their links, partner and integration pages, guest posts and interviews, and articles by people who use your product. Many of the biggest platforms nofollow outbound links, and a lot of launch sites only give a followed link on a paid or top-ranked listing, so check every link on the live page once it is up. Skip anything that sells dofollow links in bulk.

A note on the data (November 2026): the directory figures below come from LaunchIt's directory list, where we check each listing's link and tag what we find. Disclosure: we run LaunchIt, a launch platform that gives every listing a dofollow link, so we have an obvious interest in this topic. Weigh what follows accordingly, and check our listings the same way you check anyone else's.

What "dofollow" actually means

There is no dofollow attribute. Links are followed by default, so "dofollow" is just the community's name for an ordinary link whose rel attribute contains none of nofollow, sponsored or ugc. Google's guidance on qualifying outbound links says regular links need no rel value at all, while links marked rel="sponsored", rel="ugc" or rel="nofollow" will generally not be followed. A page can also nofollow every link on it through its robots meta tag. Writing rel="dofollow" does nothing.

The same rules apply to dofollow external links on your own site: link normally to sources you vouch for, and add a rel value only when a link is paid, user generated or one you do not want to endorse. For the full refresher, with the HTML side by side, read our post on dofollow vs nofollow. This post is about getting the links.

Where dofollow backlinks come from, ranked by effort

Our guide to backlinks for startups lists the realistic sources for a new product: launch platforms and directories, your own profiles, guest posts and interviews, partners and friends. Here they are by effort.

1. Your own profiles (an hour, mostly nofollow)

GitHub, X, LinkedIn and community profiles take minutes to set up, and most social platforms nofollow outbound links. Set them up for the people who search your name, and leave them out of your dofollow count.

2. Directories and launch platforms (an afternoon)

The lowest-effort source of real dofollow links, and the one where policies differ most. Pick directories that list products like yours, submit by hand with your exact canonical URL, and expect a mix of followed, nofollowed and "followed if you pay".

3. Partners, integrations and customers (an email each)

If your product integrates with another tool or has customers who write about their setup, there is often a page that would naturally link to you: an integrations directory, a "built with" showcase, a customer story. The line not to cross is Google's: link swaps at scale and partner pages that exist only for cross-linking count as link spam.

4. Guest posts, interviews and podcasts (a few hours each)

A guest post or founder interview on a site your buyers read usually comes with a followed link in the bio or the body. Link with your brand name or a plain URL. Google's spam policy names optimised anchor text in guest posts and press releases, so a bio stuffed with your target keyword is the wrong way to do it.

5. Things worth citing (the most effort, the best links)

Dofollow contextual backlinks, meaning a followed link inside the body of a relevant article, are what every link seller advertises and what you cannot safely buy. They come from giving writers something to cite: original data, a free tool, a teardown. Slow, but the only source here that can keep producing links after you stop working on it.

What our directory data shows about dofollow links

LaunchIt's list of startup directories has 216 directories ranked by Ahrefs DR, with an average DR of 47 and 105 at DR 50 or higher. Of those 216, 41 carry a dofollow tag, meaning the link was checked as dofollow. The rest are a mix of nofollow, "it varies" and not yet verified. Pick thirty at random and you will not get thirty dofollow links.

Here is what we found on the detail pages of some well-known names:

• Awwwards. Link we found: Dofollow; How you get it: Paid, 65 EUR per website; DR: 89.
• There Is An AI For That. Link we found: Dofollow; How you get it: Paid, $49 or $437 one-time; DR: 77.
• Product Hunt. Link we found: Nofollow; How you get it: Free to launch; DR: 91.
• SourceForge. Link we found: Nofollow; How you get it: Free basic listing; DR: 93.
• Futurepedia. Link we found: Nofollow; How you get it: Price not published; DR: 72.
• EarlyHunt. Link we found: Varies; How you get it: Dofollow for $19 or a top 3 finish; DR: 63.
• Startup Ranking. Link we found: Varies; How you get it: Dofollow on Premium only; DR: 61.
• Today Launches. Link we found: Varies; How you get it: Dofollow on Instant Launch only; DR: 47.
• AI Startups. Link we found: Varies; How you get it: Dofollow for $49; DR: 43.
• Show HN. Link we found: Varies; How you get it: Low-scoring posts were nofollow; DR: 91.
• DEV Community. Link we found: Varies; How you get it: New posts can be noindex, nofollow; DR: 91.

The dofollow group

The two clearest paid results are niche: Awwwards is a web design award, and There Is An AI For That is an AI tool database. They make sense only if you are what they cover. The free side is bigger than you might expect: 36 of the 41 dofollow-tagged directories on our list are free, including product directories such as WebCatalog (DR 59), Saas Po (DR 56), Launch List (DR 52), Startups Gallery (DR 33) and MicroSaaS Directory (DR 30), plus AI Infinity (DR 92) for AI products.

The list also includes general web directories with a dofollow tag that will list almost anything. Google's spam policy names low-quality directory links as link spam, so a followed link is not a reason to submit on its own. Relevance first, attribute second.

The nofollow group

Product Hunt, SourceForge and Futurepedia linked with nofollow on the listings we checked, as did smaller sites like Launchlog, Toolscout and ScriptByAI. That does not make them a waste of time: they can send real visitors and give you an indexed page about your product. Just keep them out of your dofollow count.

The "it varies" group

Nofollow for free, followed if you pay or rank well:

• EarlyHunt project pages matched its pricing page: free launches nofollow, Premium or top 3 dofollow. Our own LaunchIt page there is nofollow.
• Startup Ranking's free profiles used rel="nofollow", while Premium verified profiles had no rel attribute. Profiles awaiting approval showed no link at all.
• AI Startups: on ten tool pages, five links were nofollow and five were not, matching its free versus $49 split. Every link also carried a ref=mvpwizards tag, so it points at a parameterised URL rather than your clean one.
• On Show HN, title links on low-scoring posts carried nofollow while most higher-scoring posts did not. Hacker News does not document this.
• On DEV Community, links inside posts had no nofollow, but some brand-new posts with no reactions carried a page-wide noindex, nofollow tag, and comment links were nofollow.

The attribute on a pricing page is a claim. The attribute on your live listing is the fact, and policies change quietly.

What our 106-directory run adds

In September 2026 we submitted one product to 106 AI directories by hand over two days, for a client. 22 listings were live within 24 hours, and 102 of the 106 were recorded as giving a followed link (84 free, 14 freemium, 6 paid, average DR 47.9). Disclosure: we ran that submission service, and LaunchIt is one of the 106.

Those are different measures of different lists: the 106 were picked for an AI product and recorded at submission time, while the 41 of 216 counts only links we have checked and tagged as dofollow. Either way, check your own listings rather than trusting anyone's headline number, ours included.

How to check if a link is dofollow in 90 seconds

You do not need a paid tool. On every listing you care about:

1. Open the live listing page, not the directory's pricing page.
2. Right click and choose View page source. Avoid Inspect, which shows the page after JavaScript has run.
3. Search the source for your domain. If the link shows in the browser but not in the source, JavaScript is building it, and backlink crawlers may never record it.
4. Read the rel attribute on that anchor. No rel, or only noopener or noreferrer, means dofollow. Anything containing nofollow, sponsored or ugc means it is not.
5. Search the source for "robots". A noindex or nofollow in the robots meta tag covers every link on the page, which is the DEV trap above.
6. Confirm the link points at your canonical URL with no tracking parameters, then search Google for site: plus the listing URL to check the page is indexed.

If a link passes all six and still does not appear in your backlink tool, read why some dofollow backlinks never show up in Ahrefs. Our backlink verification docs walk through the same checks on a LaunchIt listing.

What to avoid

Dofollow backlinks services

Packages that promise hundreds of dofollow backlinks for a flat fee are selling what Google's spam policies call link spam: buying links that pass ranking credit, creating links with automated programs or services, low-quality directory and bookmark links. Google says buying links is normal for advertising and sponsorship as long as they carry rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored". In other words, a paid link done properly is not a dofollow link.

Paid "dofollow upgrades"

Be honest with yourself here. When a directory charges for a followed link, you are buying a placement, and Google's policy covers paid links that pass ranking credit. That does not make every paid listing a bad idea: a paid tier can buy a faster review, a better slot and an audience that clicks. Pay for those things, judge the spend on visitors, and treat any ranking effect as something nobody can promise. That includes us: free LaunchIt listings get the same followed link as paid ones.

Mass "dofollow backlink submission" tools

Software that submits your site to thousands of directories or search engines solves a problem that ended around 2012. Its reports are mostly dead indexes, sites that nofollow everything and free-for-all link pages. Details in the free SEO submission software trap.

Smaller traps

• "Edu dofollow backlinks" packages. A bought link on a university page is still a bought link.
• Links dropped in comments and forums. They are usually ugc or nofollow anyway, and optimised forum links are on the spam list.
• Exact-match keyword anchors everywhere. Real people link with your brand name.

A simple 30-day plan

Days 1 to 5: get your site ready. One canonical host with the other redirected, no stray noindex on marketing pages, a sitemap submitted in Search Console.

Days 6 to 10: build a shortlist. Choose 20 to 25 directories from our list that cover products like yours. Paste them into the Bulk Domain Rating Checker, sort by DR, and add a column for the live listing URL so you can verify each link later.

Days 11 to 20: submit and reach out. Submit by hand to the 10 to 15 most relevant, pasting your exact canonical URL every time. Email five partners or customers who might have a natural page for you, and pitch one guest post or interview. If it fits, post on Show HN or DEV for visitors.

Days 21 to 30: audit and follow up. Run the 90-second check on every listing and record one of four results: dofollow, nofollow, not live or not indexed. Chase pending listings. Judge any paid upgrade by the traffic it could bring, not the attribute.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get dofollow backlinks for free?

Submit to relevant free directories that follow their links (36 of the 41 dofollow-tagged directories on our list are free), ask partners and integrations for a page, write guest posts, do interviews and publish things worth citing. Check each link on the live page.

Are dofollow backlinks services worth it?

Bulk packages are not. Buying links that pass ranking credit, or having them created automatically, is link spam under Google's policies. Paying a relevant directory for exposure can make sense if you judge it on visitors.

How do I know if a backlink is dofollow?

View the source of the live page, find the anchor pointing at your site and read its rel attribute. No nofollow, sponsored or ugc means dofollow, provided the page itself is indexed and not set to nofollow.

How many dofollow backlinks does a new site need?

There is no magic number. Around twenty referring domains in the first month from real directories, communities and partners is realistic, and only part of those will be dofollow. A dozen followed links from relevant, indexed pages beats hundreds from submission blasts.

Do directories still give dofollow links in 2026?

Some do. On our checked list, 41 of 216 directories carry a dofollow tag. Several of the biggest names, including Product Hunt and SourceForge, were nofollow on the listings we checked, and others give followed links only on paid or top-ranked listings.

Are nofollow links worthless?

No. They send visitors, put you in front of writers who may later link normally, and give you indexed pages about your product. Google also treats nofollow as a hint. Plan on dofollow links building authority and treat anything else as a bonus.

Launch on LaunchIt

We run LaunchIt, so weigh this accordingly. Every listing links to your website with a standard followed link, rendered server-side in the page HTML, and it stays up permanently. The listing domain shows Ahrefs DR 72 on our pricing page.

Basic Launch is free. It waits in the standard review queue (the earliest free slot is currently about two months out) and needs a text link or badge back to LaunchIt on your site before approval. Premium Launch can go live as soon as tomorrow, with guaranteed homepage placement on launch day, a verified badge, a newsletter feature to 2,100+ subscribers and no badge required. If you would rather hand off the directory work, our submission service does it by hand and reports every live link.

We make no claims about search rankings. What you get is a permanent, indexed page with a followed link, discovery and referral visitors. Submit your product or compare the plans.