Dofollow directories: which ones actually link, checked by hand

Most dofollow directories lists are copied from other dofollow directories lists. We opened a live listing on each of 122 directories and read the link. 85 give a dofollow link one way or another, 25 of them on a plain free listing, and 37, including most of the biggest names, do not give one at all.

Before anything else: outclimbed, the site you are reading, is itself a paid directory, and the list this article describes is ours too. That is the reason we checked rather than copied. The full list, with the Domain Rating and traffic of each directory, is on our startup directories page, and it is free to use.

What is a dofollow directory?

A dofollow directory is one whose link to your product carries no attribute telling search engines to ignore it. There is no dofollow attribute; a link is followed unless rel says nofollow, ugc or sponsored. We covered the attributes themselves in dofollow vs nofollow directory links.

One more condition is easy to miss. The link has to point at your site. Plenty of directories send every click through a path on their own domain, such as /go/your-product, and redirect from there. That redirect passes nothing, whatever the attribute says. We counted those as nofollow.

How we checked each directory

For every directory we did two things. First, we read its submit, pricing or FAQ page for what it promises. Second, we opened a product listing that was already live and read the outbound link to that product: the exact rel attribute, and whether the href went to the product or to a redirect on the directory.

Where the two disagreed, the live listing won. A few directories advertise dofollow links while their free listings carry nofollow; the dofollow turns out to come with a paid plan or a badge. Where we could not see a live link at all, because the site blocked us or only drew its links with JavaScript, we left the directory out rather than guess. The check was done in October 2026.

How many dofollow directories are there, really?

Fewer than the lists suggest, and the ones that are rarely give it away without a condition. Here is the split across the 122 directories in our list:

So roughly one directory in five or six will give a free listing a followed link with no strings. That is the number worth knowing before spending a weekend on submissions.

Free, badge and paid: the three kinds of dofollow directories

The three groups are different deals, and it helps to name them before you start submitting.

• Free. The listing links straight to you. Many of these are curated, small design galleries and developer lists among them, so a free listing can still be refused.
• With a badge. The listing is free and dofollow for as long as your site shows their badge or a link back. Remove the badge and the link usually flips to nofollow or the listing is removed.
• Paid. Free listings are nofollow; a paid or featured plan, or winning a top spot in a launch, makes the link followed. Some launch platforms work this way on purpose, so the link is a prize rather than a default.

The distinction matters more than the count. A list that calls all three groups "dofollow" is technically right and practically misleading: a badge deal costs you a link back for as long as you want the listing, and a paid one costs money, sometimes every month. Read the condition before you read the Domain Rating.

Our list shows which is which in its Link column, and you can filter it to free dofollow directories directly.

Why are the biggest platforms nofollow?

Because they accept anyone. A site that lists thousands of products a week cannot vouch for each of them, and Google asks such sites to say so. Its guidance on qualifying outbound links recommends ugc for user-submitted content, which is exactly what a directory listing is.

What we saw matches that. Product Hunt marks product links ugc. Reddit uses nofollow and ugc. The large software review sites mostly link out through tracked redirects, or show no link to the product in the page at all.

What a badge-for-dofollow deal really asks of you

A badge deal is a link exchange with a logo on it: they link to you, you link to them. One or two of these are ordinary. Twenty start to look like something else.

Google's spam policies list "Excessive link exchanges ('Link to me and I'll link to you')" as an example of a link scheme. A young site whose backlinks are mostly directories it links back to is building exactly that pattern. Pick the badge deals you would be happy to explain, put the badges somewhere honest such as a press or "as seen on" page, and stop well before your footer becomes a wall of them.

Which dofollow directories are worth your time?

Not all followed links are equal, and volume is the wrong target. Three things decide whether a dofollow directory is worth the submission:

1. Domain Rating. A link from a stronger site counts for more. We show each directory's DR, from Ahrefs, refreshed weekly.
2. Relevance. An AI tool directory for an AI tool, a design gallery for a product whose landing page is its pitch. A relevant link also sends people who might use the thing.
3. Traffic. We rank each directory by its place in the Tranco list of the most visited sites. A followed link on a directory with real visitors is the rare case where you get both halves.

Sort our list by DR, filter to free dofollow, and start from the top. Then add the busiest nofollow ones in your category for the visitors.

How to check a dofollow directory yourself

Directories change their policies, and our check is a snapshot. Before you pay anyone for a followed link, take thirty seconds to look:

1. Open a product listing on the directory that is already live, not your own pending one.
2. Right-click the link to that product's website and choose Inspect.
3. Read the rel attribute. nofollow, ugc or sponsored means no link equity.
4. Read the href. If it points to the directory's own domain, it is a redirect, and it passes nothing.
5. Check a second listing. Free and paid listings on the same site often differ.

What dofollow directory links do for your Domain Rating

Something, early on, and less than the sales pages say. Domain Rating counts unique linking domains with followed links, so the first handful from established directories can move a brand-new site off zero. After that each new directory adds less, because the scale is logarithmic.

Neither DR nor these links are a promise of rankings or traffic; DR is a third-party estimate, not something Google uses. If you want benchmarks, we wrote about what a good Domain Rating looks like, and about when directory backlinks are worth it. You can check where you stand with the free Domain Rating checker.

Where outclimbed fits

Since we run a directory, here is ours. A place on the outclimbed wall is paid and ranked by points, and listing links carry ugc and nofollow by default, because a submitted listing is user-generated and we would rather say so. What a place buys is position and the visitors that come with it. The details, including the parts that are less flattering, are in the rules.

Questions about dofollow directories

What is a dofollow directory? One whose link to a listed product has no nofollow, ugc or sponsored attribute and goes straight to the product, not through a redirect.

Are free dofollow directories still a thing? Yes, but fewer than the lists claim: 25 of the 122 we checked gave one on a plain free listing, and 27 more while you show their badge.

Why are big platforms like Product Hunt nofollow? They accept anyone and cannot vouch for every link, so they mark them ugc or nofollow, or route them through redirects. They are still worth it for visitors.

Is a badge-for-dofollow deal safe? One or two are normal. Many of them start to look like the excessive link exchanges Google's spam policies describe.

How do I check if a directory link is dofollow? Inspect the link on a live listing and read its rel and href. No attribute and a direct href means dofollow.