Submit a side project to a few startup directories and you'll notice half of them promise a "dofollow backlink". Some deliver. Some slap rel="nofollow" on it anyway. Some only follow the link if you keep their badge on your site or pay for premium.
You don't need an SEO tool to tell which is which. DevTools is enough.
What the attributes mean
There's no such thing as rel="dofollow". A link counts as "dofollow" when it doesn't have any of these:
<!-- a normal link, passes ranking signals --> <a href="https://yourproduct.com">Your Product</a> <!-- asks Google not to pass ranking credit --> <a href="https://yourproduct.com" rel="nofollow">Your Product</a> <!-- user-generated content, like comments and forums --> <a href="https://yourproduct.com" rel="ugc">Your Product</a> <!-- paid or sponsored placement --> <a href="https://yourproduct.com" rel="sponsored">Your Product</a> Google calls nofollow, ugc and sponsored hints. For planning, I just assume they pass little or nothing. A plain link from a relevant page that Google indexes is the one that helps.
The check
Open your listing, right-click the link to your site and hit Inspect. Then look at the <a> tag.
If rel contains nofollow, ugc or sponsored, it's not a followed link. If there's no rel, or only noopener / noreferrer, it's followed. noopener is a security thing and has nothing to do with SEO.
Look at the href too. If it goes through something like directory.com/out?url=..., it's a redirect, and those usually don't pass value either.
One more catch: some sites add nofollow with JavaScript after the page loads. Compare the page source (Ctrl+U) with what you see in Inspect. Or paste this in the console on the listing page:
[...document.querySelectorAll('a[href*="yourproduct.com"]')] .map(a => ({ href: a.href, rel: a.rel || '(none, so followed)' })) And check the listing page isn't noindex. Look for <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> in the head. A followed link on a page Google won't index isn't worth much.
Why the free ones come with strings
Directories want something back. The usual deals look like this:
| Deal | What it means | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Keep their badge | They follow your link while the badge is on your site | Remove the badge and the link can flip to nofollow |
| Upvote threshold | Followed if your launch gets enough votes | No guarantee |
| Paid plan | Followed on premium | Paid links are supposed to be marked sponsored |
| Editorial review | Followed once a human approves it | Can take weeks |
I don't think badge deals are shady if the directory is relevant and actually reviews listings. Full disclosure, I run one: IndieDaddy gives a free reviewed listing with a followed link while its small badge is on your site, and nofollow if you don't want the badge. It's new, so judge it on whether it fits your product, not on Domain Rating.
How many directory links is enough?
Less than people think. Twenty or thirty good, relevant listings spread over a few weeks is a solid start for a new site. A few hundred random ones looks like spam and can do more harm than good.
Order I'd go in: directories in your niche first, then curated launch sites that review submissions, then integration and "built with" pages of tools you use. After that, one genuinely useful thing on your own site (a free tool, an honest comparison) that people link to without being asked.
Measure it
Write down your Domain Rating before you start and check again after a month. It moves slowly, so checking every day will just make you sad. There's a free Domain Rating checker on IndieDaddy for that, and a longer post on dofollow vs nofollow links from directories if you want more examples.
What's the sneakiest "dofollow" trick you've seen on a directory? Post it so the rest of us can skip that one.
