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External Link Checker

Check external links on your page: which pass link equity and which are nofollow

Check Results

This only checks external links. For a comprehensive analysis, use the full page check.

You can also audit your entire site. Duplicate titles and descriptions, orphan pages, broken links between sections, and other site-wide issues can only be found with a full site audit.

If you don't have an SEO specialist, we can help fix the errors found.

Full Page Check Full Site Audit Fix Errors

Why Check External Links

External links point to other websites. They affect SEO both ways: they help search engines understand page topics through link context, but also pass link equity (link juice) to third-party sites. Controlling external links lets you manage equity distribution and protect your site from association with low-quality resources.

What This Tool Checks

  • External link count — how many links point to third-party domains
  • Dofollow links — links that pass link equity to the target site
  • Nofollow links — links with rel="nofollow" that don't pass equity
  • Sponsored and ugc attributes — markup for advertising and user-generated links
  • Anchor text — anchor text of external links

Link Equity and External Links

Each dofollow link passes part of PageRank to the target page. The more external dofollow links on a page, the more equity flows to third-party sites. This doesn't mean external links are harmful — links to authoritative sources increase content trust. But links to ads and unreliable resources should be marked nofollow.

When to Use Nofollow

  • Advertising links — use rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow"
  • User-generated content — comments, forums: rel="ugc" or rel="nofollow"
  • Untrusted resources — if linking to a site you can't vouch for
  • Affiliate links — always mark as nofollow or sponsored

Frequently Asked Questions

Do external links hurt SEO? ▶
No, if you link to quality and relevant resources. Google has confirmed that linking to authoritative sources is normal practice. Problems arise if a page links to spammy or malicious sites.
Should all external links be nofollow? ▶
No. Making all external links nofollow is an outdated tactic. Links to authoritative sources (Wikipedia, official documentation) are better left dofollow — they show search engines that your content is backed by reliable sources.
What's the difference between nofollow, sponsored, and ugc? ▶
All three attributes tell search engines not to count the link for ranking. The difference is context: nofollow is universal, sponsored is for paid/advertising links, ugc is for user-generated content links (comments, forums). Google recommends using the specific attribute, but nofollow works too.

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Headings Check
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Encoding Check
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