How to submit your website

Understand what a website submission can achieve

A website submission asks a directory, launch platform or community to publish information about your website. The result might be a product page, company profile or approved post. A backlink exists when a page on another website links to yours; sending a form alone does not create one.

A suitable listing can help people discover your product. Its value depends on the audience, the published page and what visitors do after clicking. Some submissions are declined, some stay in a queue, and some publish a page without a clickable website link.

Ahrefs' link-building guide places directory submissions among links you can add yourself. It cautions that widely available placements offer little competitive advantage. Treat submission as one distribution activity. Continue making useful product pages and resources that people have a reason to reference.

If you need help using the directory's filters or checkmarks, start with how to use everybacklink.

1. Prepare a listing you can submit accurately

Open your destination page in a signed-out browser. Check that it loads, explains the product and lets a visitor understand what they can try or buy. Choose a stable public URL that matches the platform's rules. Use your homepage when it asks for the main website; use a specific product page when that is what the listing describes and deep links are allowed.

Keep a small submission folder with the following materials:

Your product name and preferred public website URL, including the correct HTTPS address.
A one-sentence description and a longer explanation of the audience, the problem and the actual features.
A logo and screenshots of the working product. Keep originals so you can export the size each platform requests.
A monitored contact email. Use a company-domain address if the platform requires ownership verification.
Accurate pricing and access details, including whether visitors need an account or payment to try the product.
A demo or video when requested, plus any founder or company details you are comfortable publishing.

Check character limits and image dimensions on each form. Avoid putting private dashboard URLs, API keys or customer information into screenshots. A platform asking for a public demo should receive a page that a reviewer can actually open.

Describe what someone can do with the product. An invoice tool might say, “Upload an invoice PDF and export its line items to CSV.” Use that level of detail, and only claim features that work. Adapt the wording to each directory's audience and rules, and keep prices and feature claims consistent.

2. Choose platforms that fit your product

Use the directory to build a manageable shortlist. Start with a relevant category, then check the conditions in each entry. For every candidate, answer these questions:

Does it accept your product type, market and launch stage? A business review platform may expect a software vendor; an open-source platform may require a real public project.
Would its visitors have a reason to use your website? Read some recent listings and look at the surrounding categories.
What exactly gets published? Find a comparable public listing and inspect where the website link appears.
What will it cost in time, money and ongoing obligations? Check the free route, any paid options and badge requirements.
Is there a current submission process? A directory with no working form or recent activity may need further checking before you spend time preparing assets.

For example, open our Product Hunt entry to see how a platform's requirements and submission steps are recorded. Then read the platform's own current instructions. An entry is a starting point, and eligibility can change.

DR can help you compare candidates, but it is a domain-level Ahrefs metric. It does not measure the quality of your future listing page. Ahrefs recommends considering other factors, including relevance and traffic. Check those before making a choice on the strength of a score.

For communities, read the rules for the specific section where you intend to post. Share something useful and disclose your involvement with the product when relevant. A general account or profile page is not permission to insert a promotional link into unrelated discussions.

3. Check what a fee or badge actually buys

A price can refer to a basic listing, faster review, a scheduled launch, featured placement or an advertisement. Find out which one you are being offered. Check whether payment is one-time or recurring, whether publication is subject to review, and what happens if your product is rejected.

A free listing can still require manual review, an account or a link from your website. If a badge is required, read its placement and duration rules, the destination it links to and whether you can qualify that outbound link. Only agree to terms you can maintain.

Google's link-spam policy covers buying links for ranking purposes, excessive link exchanges and low-quality directory links. Advertising and sponsorship links are allowed when qualified appropriately. Evaluate a paid placement for its audience and stated service; do not buy on a promise of ranking credit.

If you add a paid or sponsored link to your own site, Google prefers rel="sponsored"; nofollow is also acceptable for that purpose. If a platform requires a badge but forbids these qualifications, check Google's link-spam rules before agreeing. See Google's outbound-link guidance.

4. Complete the form and save the confirmation

Open the submission address from the platform's directory entry. If it takes you to the homepage, find the current submission or vendor-registration page.
Create your own account if required and complete email or ownership verification. Check which profile details will be public.
Choose the closest accurate category. Enter your URL, description and pricing, then upload the requested assets.
Preview the listing when possible. Test the destination URL, check the crop of each image and remove unsupported claims.
Read the final plan and publication terms before sending the form or paying. Save the confirmation, date and any reference number.

If the platform gives a review window, record it. If it does not, mark the timing as unknown. Keep receipts for any payments. Do not assume that a successful payment means the listing is published.

You can now mark the site as submitted in everybacklink. Keep your detailed record elsewhere, because the directory's checkmark only records your own action in your browser.

Suggested fields for your submission record
Field	What to record
Platform and account	The platform and account email, without storing your password in the sheet.
Submitted	Date, destination URL, plan and confirmation reference.
Cost and obligations	Amount, currency, renewal terms and any required badge.
Review status	Pending, needs changes, approved, rejected or withdrawn.
Public listing	Published page URL, whether it opens signed out and when you checked.
Website link	Actual link destination, redirect behavior and observed rel attributes.
Follow-up	Expected review window, next action and date.

5. Open the public listing and test your link

When the platform says your listing is approved, open its public URL in a signed-out or private window. Confirm that ordinary visitors can access the page, that the product details are right and that the website link is visible.

Click the link. Check that it reaches the intended page without an error or a redirect to a different product. Some platforms use tracking redirects, so record both the link address and the final destination when they differ. A text mention, an editor-only preview and a clickable public link are different results.

To inspect a link on a desktop browser, right-click it and choose Inspect. Find its <a> element and examine href and rel. If you see a button or script instead, inspect what navigation it produces; a working click alone does not establish that a crawler sees a normal link.

Keep the public URL and check date. If the platform places different links in the title, logo and Website button, inspect the one that points to your site. The same platform can use different link attributes in different places.

What do dofollow, nofollow, sponsored and ugc mean?

These simplified examples use a fictional product URL:

<a href="https://example.com/">Example product</a>
<a href="https://example.com/" rel="nofollow">Example product</a>
<a href="https://example.com/" rel="sponsored">Example product</a>
<a href="https://example.com/" rel="ugc nofollow">Example product</a>

The first is an ordinary link, often called dofollow. There is no required rel="dofollow" attribute. The other examples qualify the relationship: nofollow, a paid placement marked sponsored, and user-generated content marked ugc together with nofollow. Values such as noopener do not make a link nofollow.

Google treats nofollow, sponsored and ugc as hints for understanding links. The absence of those attributes does not prove that a particular link will help rankings. Read Google's explanation of link hints and its current qualification guidance.

Our directory records dofollow, nofollow or an unknown value. It is not a complete audit of every possible placement or attribute combination. Keep what you actually observe on your published listing, including sponsored or ugc when present.

A nofollow listing can still bring visitors who click it. Judge the placement by its relevance and measured results as well as its attributes. For background on backlinks and how to inspect them, see Ahrefs' backlink introduction.

6. Separate publication, indexing and business results

Keep separate records for each outcome:

Submitted: The platform received your form or post.
Published: A public page exists. Check whether it contains a working link to your site.
Indexed: A search engine has included a page in its index. Your destination page and the platform's listing are separate URLs.
Reported: A backlink tool or Search Console has surfaced the link in its own data.
Visited or converted: Someone arrived through the placement and, if applicable, signed up or bought something.

For a page you manage, use Search Console's URL Inspection tool to inspect its indexing status and request indexing when appropriate. You cannot request indexing for a platform's page you do not manage. Google says crawling can take days or weeks, and a request does not guarantee inclusion. See Google's recrawling instructions.

A public listing can be accessible to visitors while excluded from search. A noindex directive concerns the source page's indexing; a link's nofollow attribute concerns the link relationship. They are different controls. Google documents page-level robots directives, including directives sent through HTTP headers.

Use Search Console's Links report as another observation. Google says it is a sample, can include links that have since disappeared, and does not identify nofollow links. A missing report entry does not overturn your direct check of a live page.

To judge whether the effort helped your business, look at referral visits and relevant actions in your own analytics. Save a baseline and the publication date. Tracking may be incomplete, and a change in rankings or traffic after a submission does not establish that the submission caused it.

Handle common submission problems

The form was accepted, but no listing appeared

Check the confirmation email, verification tasks and account dashboard. The submission may be queued or incomplete. Follow the platform's published support process after its stated review window, and include your reference number. Avoid sending duplicate applications while one is pending.

The site now asks for payment

Check whether the charge is for publication or an optional upgrade. If the unpaid route has gone away, decide whether the current offer is worth its cost. Use Suggest an edit on the directory entry to report the changed terms with a current source.

The listing is live, but the link or product details are wrong

Use the platform's edit or support process to correct the exact field. Save the listing URL and explain the intended destination. Recheck after the edit is published. A private dashboard change may still need review.

The product was rejected

Read the reason and check eligibility. Correct a factual or technical problem if the platform allows another review. When the product does not fit, remove it from your shortlist. Do not change its category or claims to get around the rules.

After your first round, use what you learned to choose the next platforms. Alongside suitable listings, consider whether you can publish an original resource, useful tool or piece of research that others would choose to cite. Ahrefs discusses this approach in its link-building guide.

Sources and further reading

The submission workflow above is our practical guidance. Ahrefs provides SEO background; Google's documents describe its search policies and tools. Platform-specific rules must be checked on the platform itself.