Outbound Link Checker
Site blocks the check? Paste the HTML instead
Open the page, press Ctrl+U (Cmd+Option+U on a Mac), copy everything and paste it here. Keep the page URL in the box above so links resolve and your own domain is recognised.
Paste a page URL above. The checker lists every link that leaves the site, grouped by domain, with dofollow or nofollow for each. It checks one page, not a whole site.
By hand: View Page Source, search for href="http, and skip the links to the page's own domain.
We ran this checker on Google's top 10 for three backlink searches. The median ranking page linked to 10 other domains. None linked to more than 25.
Nofollow: 12 of the 19 pages tagged none of their outbound links nofollow, sponsored or ugc.
Checked 30 October 2026. Method.
How the checker counts
It reads every <a href> in the HTML the server sends. A link to the same domain or one of its subdomains is internal and only shows in the count. Everything else is outbound, labelled by its rel value: dofollow (none), nofollow, sponsored or ugc. Navigation, footer and social links count too.
By domain shows which sites the page links to and how often. Every link adds the anchor text. The CSV has the full list.
How many outbound links is normal?
Whole pages, counted as above, from Google's US top 10 on 30 October 2026 (articles only, forums and videos left out):
| Search (page type) | Pages | Median domains linked | Range | Pages with no nofollow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| what is a backlink (definition) | 7 | 7 | 6 to 15 | 6 of 7 |
| how to build backlinks (guide) | 4 | 12.5 | 3 to 17 | 3 of 4 |
| best link building tools (roundup) | 8 | 16 | 5 to 25 | 3 of 8 |
Roundups link out most. The three pages that tagged more than half of their outbound links were from SEO software companies: AIOSEO, Ahrefs and SE Ranking. A page linking to 40 domains is past every page here. Look at what those links are before you pitch it.
When to check outbound links
- Before pitching a page for a link. A handful of relevant sources is normal. Dozens of unrelated casino, loan or essay links can be a sign the site sells links.
- On a "best tools" post. The domain view is the author's list of picks: who is already in, and whether your product fits.
- After a placement goes live. Confirm your link is there, points to the right URL and is dofollow.
- On your own old posts. Spot links to domains that expired or changed hands.
Want your site on that list of outbound links?
MentionAgent finds the posts in your niche that already link out to tools and sites like yours, writes to the author, and asks for a mention. You approve each email before it goes.
Start Getting Mentioned On AutopilotFrequently asked questions
Can it check a whole website?
No, one page at a time. For a whole site, use a site crawler. Screaming Frog's SEO Spider lists external links with the pages they sit on, and its free version crawls up to 500 URLs.
The page would not load. What now?
Some sites block automated requests. Open the page, press Ctrl+U (Cmd+Option+U on a Mac), copy the source and use "Paste the HTML instead" under the URL box. It also helps when links are added by JavaScript: copy the HTML from the browser's Elements panel instead.
Do outbound links help SEO?
Google's SEO starter guide encourages linking to relevant resources. What its spam policies act against is link spam: links created primarily to manipulate rankings, including links bought or sold. More in do outbound links help SEO.
Is an outbound link the same as an external link?
Yes. Both mean a link from a page to a different website. A backlink is the same link seen from the site it points to.
Method
On 30 October 2026 we took Google's US top 10 (via Serper) for "what is a backlink", "how to build backlinks" and "best link building tools", dropped forums, videos and social posts, and fetched each article's HTML. 19 unique pages loaded. Each was counted with the same rules as this checker: whole page, subdomains internal, nofollow, sponsored and ugc counted as not dofollow.