Review relationships, not attributes alone

Confirm the purpose and safety of external links

Open representative pages and inspect destination, anchor, paid or user origin, rel and new-tab behaviour. Missing nofollow is not an error by itself.

An external-link check compares purpose, rel, target and final domain — Useful evidence connects the visible link with its destination and relationship.

Simple check

Open a page and list external links with their visible anchor text.
Copy the final destination and confirm it matches the link's promise.
Determine whether the link was paid, user-added or editorially selected.
Use Inspect to view rel and target.
Follow the link and save source URL, element screenshot and final domain.

How to classify the result

External-link issue levels
Situation	Level	Action
Useful unpaid editorial source	Normal	An ordinary link is appropriate.
Paid or affiliate link without `sponsored`	Material	Correct the relationship.
Unmoderated, unqualified UGC link	Spam risk	Configure `ugc` and moderation.
Hidden, compromised or deceptive destination	Critical	Remove and review site security.
Unexpected new-tab behaviour	Review	Assess `noopener` and UX.

Technical check

[...document.querySelectorAll('a[href]')]
  .filter(a => new URL(a.href, location.href).origin !== location.origin)
  .map(a => ({text: a.textContent.trim(), href: a.href,
    rel: a.rel, target: a.target}));

This lists links on the rendered page only. It cannot see other site URLs or infer commercial relationships.

Discrepancies and scope

A redirect may change domains, and links may appear only after JavaScript or login. Compare the browser export with a crawler and CMS data. nofollow describes a relationship as a hint; it does not guarantee that the destination cannot be crawled or indexed.

Any automated price applies only to the scope on the service page. Follow the step-by-step guide for changes.

How to Check Outbound Links