Free Backlink Sites: Which Directories Still Give a Followed Link

What counts as a free backlink site

A free backlink site is one where you can make a link to your own site, or ask for one, without an editor deciding to cite you: a directory or launch platform that lists products and businesses, a user-content platform where you write a post, a profile or an answer, a social bookmarking site. Some charge for a listing or for a followed link; whether a given site is free is its own terms, which this report does not read.

Google's spam policies list "low-quality directory or bookmark site links" and forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature as examples of link spam (link spam). For links people post themselves, Google recommends sites mark them rel="ugc" (qualify your outbound links), so a profile or forum link is often not followed at all.

What we measured

Three dated readings, all our own:

• mxverify's reading of 195 of the 247 directories it has valued, between 25 September 2026 and 23 October 2026: up to ten pages linked from each homepage, and every outbound link on them — 13,548 links in all.
• bklink's audits of links placed on directories: 122 links on 82 directories, as last read.
• Our own listings: 36 listings we made on 35 launch directories, read on 3 October 2026 (the directories study).

Disclosure. The audits cover placements our users chose to audit, including our own accounts', not a random sample of the web.

The short answer

What a link is worth, by kind of site

BV is what one new followed link from a site is worth to rankings, in dollars, by mxverify's BV 2.8 model; it is not a price. The level is the kind of link the site gives: an editorial citation keeps ×1, a guest post or a directory listing ×0.5, a press-release copy, forum post, profile or any nofollow link ×0.1, and a link from a one-owner network ×0.05.

A directory listing is priced at level B, and a post or profile on a user-content platform mostly at level C. The publishers' median is low because 76% of the publishers valued are priced at C or D; 49% of all publishers valued sit on one-owner networks (D). A link from a large platform can still be worth more than one from a small publication: the platform's strength sets the ceiling, the level takes its share of it. Every site valued is on mxverify's backlink sites list, by value.

How directories' pages link out

• Half of the links followed. Of 13,548 outbound links on the directory pages mxverify read, 6,811 (50%) were followed, 6,401 (47%) nofollow, 259 sponsored and 77 ugc.
• Most directories link out mostly followed. Of the 134 directories with 10 or more outbound links read, 77 (57%) gave more than half of them followed, and 6 gave none.

The pages read include each site's listing pages, so the share describes the links it gives the products it lists, with its sponsor and social links mixed in. It is not a reading of your own listing.

Directories whose pages link out mostly followed

The 20 directories below are rated, priced at level B (a listing), and gave more than half of the outbound links mxverify read followed. Highest worth first; each name opens its mxverify report.

This list says how their pages linked out when read, not what a listing costs or how your own listing will be marked. Many directories charge for a listing, or for a followed link. Every directory valued is on mxverify's directory submission sites list.

Do directory links stay?

• Half were missing. Of 122 links placed on 82 directories, 62 (51%) were not on the page when the audit read it. 39 were followed, 12 nofollow, and 9 pages could not be read.
• Our own listings did better. Of 36 listings we made ourselves, 21 linked back with a followed link and 4 with a nofollow one; 3 named us only in content drawn by script, and 6 did not show the listing at all.

A link in a list of "new", "similar" or "alternative" products leaves the page when the list moves on. Keep the address of your own listing page, and read it again later.

User-content platforms

mxverify has valued 31 user-content platforms (Web 2.0 sites, forums, Q&A), 21 of them at level C, with a median link worth $119. It has read 17 of them: 266 of 376 outbound links on their pages were followed. That is too few sites to name any. On a platform you post on, the site decides the rel, not you, and Google asks it to use ugc. The valued platforms are on mxverify's Web 2.0, forum and Q&A sites list.

How to use a free backlink site

1. List where your customers look. A directory people browse is worth a listing for the visits alone; one nobody reads is closer to the "low-quality directory" links Google's policy lists.
2. Read your own listing. Open it signed out and find your <a href> in the page's source: is it there, and what does its rel say?
3. Check what a link from the site is worth. Enter it in mxverify's free backlink checker before you pay for a listing or a followed link.
4. Keep the listing's address and check it again after a few weeks. A bklink audit does both reads.
5. Don't do it at scale. Dozens of directory and profile links made for ranking are the pattern the link spam policy lists.

Method and limits

• Kinds of site are mxverify's reading of each homepage (what the site is mainly for); 247 directories and 31 platforms had been valued on 23 October 2026.
• How a site links out is mxverify's reading of up to ten of its pages, once, and counts every outbound link on them. A site with fewer than 10 outbound links read is left out of the shares.
• Named directories are rated, priced at level B, offered to search engines by mxverify, not in a high-risk category, and gave more than half of the links read followed; at most 20 are shown, highest BV first.
• Value is BV 2.8, for one new followed link, with relevance to your own site held at ×1. It is a model's estimate of ranking benefit, not a price.
• Audits count placed links only, at their latest reading. The audited directories are those our users placed links on, not a sample of all directories.