How do I know if a backlink is dofollow?

View the page source and inspect the tag. No rel attribute (or rel values other than nofollow, sponsored or ugc) means it's treated as a followed link.

How do I check if a backlink is indexed?

Search for the exact linking URL in Google. If it doesn't appear, the page may not be indexed yet, or may be noindexed or canonicalised elsewhere.

Why did my backlink disappear?

Common causes: page deleted or moved, site redesign, editor removed outbound links, listing expired, or the site was deindexed.

How often should I check backlinks?

On delivery, then around 30, 90 and 180 days. BuildSEO re-checks automatically on a schedule, weekly on Growth.

Can I trust a vendor's link report?

Only if it includes evidence you can verify: the live URL, the link in the HTML, and a dated screenshot.

Pillar guide · Link verification

How to check if a backlink is live, indexed and dofollow

"Submitted" isn't "live". A link only counts if the page loads, the link is in the HTML, it points where you expect, and the page can be indexed. Here's how to check all of it — once, and on a schedule.

By Anurag Pattnaik · Updated 28 Sep 2026

Key takeaways

Check six things: status code, link present, destination, rel attribute, indexability, and whether the page is indexed.
A link can exist on the page and still be worthless if the page is noindexed, canonicalised elsewhere or blocked by robots.txt.
Links disappear over time — re-check at 30, 90 and 180 days, not only on delivery day.
Keep evidence: a screenshot and the HTML at the moment of checking.
Report cost per link still live, not links delivered.

Why verification matters

Vendors and tools often report links as "built" the moment a submission or email goes out. Some never go live; some are removed later; some sit on pages search engines can't index. Clients pay for links that work — so verification is the product, not an afterthought.

The six-point backlink check

Check	What to look for	Fails when
1. Page loads	HTTP 200 after redirects	404, 410, 5xx, or a redirect to an unrelated page
2. Link present	An <a href> to your domain in the HTML	Link removed, or only present in a screenshot/image
3. Correct destination	Right URL, protocol and path	Points to a 404, a redirect chain or the wrong page
4. rel attribute	Note follow, nofollow, sponsored or ugc	Unexpected nofollow when follow was agreed
5. Page is indexable	No noindex meta or X-Robots-Tag; self-canonical; not blocked in robots.txt	noindex, canonical to another URL, or disallowed path
6. Page is indexed	The URL appears in search results	Not indexed weeks after publishing

Free tool

Redirect & SSL Checker

Trace redirects and confirm the linking page returns 200.

Open tool →Free tool

Broken Link Checker

Find dead links on a page — including yours.

Open tool →Free tool

Meta Tag Analyzer

Read the page's robots meta and canonical in one pass.

Open tool →Free tool

Robots.txt Tester

Check whether the linking path is disallowed.

Open tool →

How to check manually

Open the linking page in a private window and confirm it loads.
View source (not just the rendered page) and search for your domain.
Inspect the <a> tag: href, anchor text and rel.
Check the head for <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> and the canonical tag.
Check the response headers for X-Robots-Tag.
Search Google for the exact URL, or use site: with the page path, to see if it's indexed.
Save a screenshot and the HTML with the date.

Tip If the link only appears after JavaScript runs, check the rendered HTML too. Links injected late can be missed or delayed by crawlers.

Checking at scale

Manual checks work for ten links. At hundreds, you need automation that fetches each page, parses the HTML, records the rel attribute and indexability, stores evidence and repeats on a schedule.

Option	Good for	Limits
Spreadsheet + manual checks	Under ~20 links	Slow, no evidence trail
Backlink index tools (Ahrefs, Semrush, etc.)	Discovering and trending links	Crawl lag; not evidence of a specific placement
Scripts / crawlers	Technical teams	Maintenance, no client-ready report
BuildSEO	Every link it builds	Captures screenshot + HTML snapshot, re-checks on a schedule

When to re-check

Check on delivery, then at roughly 30, 90 and 180 days. Most removals come from site redesigns, expired listings, editors pruning outbound links, or pages being deleted.

Track the share still live at each checkpoint. That number — not links delivered — is what you should use to judge vendors and calculate cost per live link.

What to do when a link is lost

Page moved: ask the owner to restore the link on the new URL.
Link removed in an edit: send a short, polite reinstatement request.
Page deleted: replace it with a new placement; don't keep reporting it.
Noindexed or canonicalised: flag it — it exists but carries little value.
Nofollow added: note the change; decide whether it still earns its place.

Reporting verified links to clients

Separate submitted, pending, live and lost. Show evidence for every live link and the date it was last checked. Clients stop questioning numbers when they can open the screenshot themselves.

BuildSEO exports this as a white-label PDF and Excel workbook: live URL, anchor, follow status, indexation, screenshot, HTML snapshot and last re-check for every link.