Free Outbound Link Checker for Any Page
See every external link on a page, with anchor text, link type and broken links.
No signup required. Results in seconds.
What Is an Outbound Link and How Does It Work?
An outbound link is a hyperlink that sends visitors from one website to a different website or domain. It's also called an external link or an outgoing link.
Examples of outbound links include a blog linking to a scientific study, a news article citing a government website, or a product guide linking to a manufacturer's specifications.
Outbound links work by using a hyperlink to point from a page on one domain to a URL on another domain. When a user selects the link, the browser requests and loads the destination URL. Search engines can also crawl these links to discover pages and understand connections between web content.
Links from other websites to yours are inbound links, also called backlinks. Links to your own pages are internal links. This checker lists outbound links only.
Do Outbound Links Help SEO?
Outbound links do not directly improve Google rankings. Linking to popular or authoritative websites does not provide a direct ranking boost.
However, relevant outbound links can support content credibility and provide additional context about a topic. Spammy links, improperly qualified paid links, and hacked links can create SEO problems.
Linking to good sources shows readers where your facts come from, which makes your content easier to trust.
Helpful links point readers to tools, studies and guides that answer their next question.
Paid and affiliate links need the right tag. Google asks for rel="sponsored" on links you're paid for.
Dofollow links can pass ranking credit to the websites you link to, so choose them with care.
How to Use the Outbound Link Checker
To use the outbound link checker, paste a page URL and read the report. It takes a few seconds.
Paste a page URL
Enter any page, like example.com/blog/post. You can leave out the https://.
Read the page's links
See every external link with its anchor text, link type and status.
Check the whole website
Switch tabs to see every website the domain links to, ranked by strength.
Dofollow, Nofollow, Sponsored and UGC Links
Dofollow, nofollow, sponsored and UGC links differ in one tag: the rel attribute. Google added sponsored and UGC in 2019.
This tool also works as a dofollow and nofollow link checker. It reads that tag on every link it finds.
- Dofollow
- A normal link with no rel tag. It can pass ranking credit to the page it points to.
- Nofollow
- Uses rel="nofollow". It asks search engines not to pass credit, though Google may treat it as a hint.
- Sponsored
- Uses rel="sponsored". Google asks for it on paid links, ads and affiliate links.
- UGC
- Uses rel="ugc". It marks links in user-generated content, like comments and forum posts.
What's in Your Outbound Link Report
Your outbound link report shows five things about the page and its website. Here's what each one means.
- External links
- Links on the page that point to a different website. Internal links are left out.
- Anchor text
- The clickable words of each link. For image links, we show the image's alt text.
- Link type
- Dofollow, nofollow, sponsored or UGC, read from each link's rel attribute.
- Status
- Whether the first 20 links work, redirect or are broken when we visit them.
- Whole website
- Every website the domain links to across its pages, from our link database.
How to Audit Your Outbound Links
To audit your outbound links, run each important page through the checker and fix what it finds.
- 1
Fix broken links
Replace or remove links that return errors. They frustrate readers and waste your page's authority.
- 2
Tag paid links
Mark ads, sponsored posts and affiliate links with rel="sponsored", as Google asks.
- 3
Check your anchor text
Each anchor should describe the page it points to. "Click here" tells readers nothing.
- 4
Drop low-quality sources
Remove links to spammy or unrelated websites. Link only where it helps the reader.
- 5
Update redirected links
Point links straight to the final URL, so readers skip the extra hop.
Outbound Link Best Practices
Outbound link best practices come down to linking for the reader. These five habits keep your links useful and safe.
Link to help the reader
Add a link when it backs up a fact or answers the reader's next question.
Choose trustworthy sources
Prefer original studies, official docs and well-known websites in your niche.
Link to the exact page
Point readers to the page that supports your point, not a website's homepage.
Don't overdo it
There's no fixed limit, but a page that's mostly links looks like spam.
Recheck links over time
Pages move and websites expire. Rerun important pages every few months.
Using Outbound Links for Link Building
Outbound links on other websites are a map of link building chances. Here's how to use them.
Find resource pages
Check a resource page's outbound links. If it lists websites like yours, ask to be added.
Spot link farms
A website that links out to thousands of domains passes little value. Check the Whole website tab.
See who competitors link to
A competitor's outbound links show its partners, suppliers and the sources it trusts.
Find broken link chances
A broken outbound link on someone else's page is a chance to suggest your page instead.
Why Some Links Don't Show Up
Some links don't show up because of how the page is built or protected. These are the usual reasons.
Links added by JavaScript
We read the page's HTML. Links that scripts add after loading won't appear.
Pages that block bots
Some websites block automated visits, so the page or its link checks can fail.
Login walls
Pages behind a login or paywall only show us what a logged-out visitor sees.
Status checks
We check the first 20 links. Some websites reject quick checks, so a working link can look broken.
Outbound Link Checker: Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to common questions about outbound links and the free checker.
Yes, with no signup and no email. Check any public page and export its links as CSV.
Yes. Outbound, external and outgoing links all mean the same thing: links from your page to another website.
Partly. The This page tab scans one page live. The Whole website tab lists every domain the site links to.
The first 20 external links on the page. The rest are listed with their anchor text and link type.
Some websites block automated checks or need a login. Open the link yourself before you change it.
No. We read the page's HTML, which is what most crawlers see first.
From our link database of over 133 million domains, updated about every three months. See the note at the bottom.
Outbound links point to other websites. Internal links point to other pages on your own website.
External links point from your page to another website. Backlinks point from another website to yours. One site's external link is another site's backlink.
Look at the domain in the link. If it's your own domain, the link is internal. Any other domain makes it external.
Not directly. Google's John Mueller has said linking out to popular websites doesn't change rankings by itself. Good links still help readers trust your content.
They can. Links to spammy websites, unlabeled paid links and hidden links added by hackers can all hurt your site.
Yes. Hacked websites often carry links hidden from visitors but left in the HTML. This checker lists them, because it reads the raw HTML.
Only when their page is the best source for your reader. Otherwise, link to neutral sources like studies or official docs.
Every few months for important pages. Links break as other websites move or shut down.
There's no fixed number. Link when it helps the reader, and avoid pages that are mostly links.
No. Use nofollow for links you don't vouch for, and sponsored for paid ones. Normal editorial links can stay dofollow.
Sponsored is for paid and affiliate links. Nofollow is for any other link you don't want to vouch for.
Data source: The This page tab scans the live page when you check it. The Whole website tab uses the Common Crawl domain-level web graph (July to September 2026 release). It's served from Rankavi's own link database. It shows linked domains only, not individual pages or anchor text.