DEV.to Links Are Followed. Its Policy Against Writing for Links Is Real Too.
Written by Submitator. We write launch articles about our customers' products, DEV.to among the places they run, so we have a reason to like it. The link numbers below are measured from their live articles rather than quoted, and the method is in the footnote.
DEV.to is a developer publishing community rated 91 by Ahrefs, level with Product Hunt and Hacker News and above every directory in our catalog. There is no submission form, no category tree and no review queue. There is an editor: a cover image, a title, up to four tags, and markdown.
The question everyone actually arrives with is whether the links are followed. We measured it. Forty recent articles pulled from their public API, 212 outbound links inside the article bodies, and 202 of them pass equity. So yes, and from a very strong domain.
All ten of the nofollowed links sat in one article: an account named after its own product, linking nine times to its own documentation. Every link in the other thirty-nine posts was followed, including plain references to GitHub, Google Cloud and Medium. Their content policy asks for writing that is "not designed primarily for the purposes of promotion or creating backlinks", and in our sample that is not decoration.
DEV.to for a founder, at a glance
| What you get | DEV.to |
|---|---|
| Price | $0 |
| Domain Rating | 91 (Ahrefs) |
| Links in your article | Followed on 202 of 212 measured |
| What you file | An article, not a listing |
| Review queue | None, you press Publish |
| The catch | A content policy against writing for backlinks |
| Cross-posting | Canonical URL setting, so your blog keeps the original |
| Thirty directories from Submitator | Listings, not writing, from $29 |
Per dev.to, its editor, its public articles API and its Terms of Use, all read on 4 September 2026. Domain Rating is Ahrefs' figure via submitator.com/domain-rating-checker, which returned 91; no second provider was queried. The link finding is a measurement, not a claim: we requested the forty most recent articles from dev.to/api/articles, fetched each article page, isolated the markup inside the article body container so that navigation, sidebar and footer links were excluded, and read the rel attribute of every outbound anchor. Thirty-three of the forty articles contained at least one outbound body link, 212 anchors in total. Of those, 198 carried "noopener noreferrer" and 4 carried no rel attribute, so 202 pass equity; 10 carried nofollow, and all ten were in a single article posted by an account named after its own product, nine of them pointing at that product's documentation subdomain. We did not test what triggers a nofollow, cannot see account reputation or moderation state from outside, and forty articles is a snapshot of one day's front page rather than a survey of the site. The content policy sentences are quoted from section 11 of their Terms of Use. The canonical figure is from the same API pull: 8 of the 40 articles carried a canonical_url pointing off dev.to. Submitator writes launch articles about customers' products; article writing is not one of the features listed on our pricing page, and our plans as sold are directory submissions: $29 for 30 directories, $49 for 60 and $79 for 100, one-time, chosen by you in the dashboard with each Domain Rating shown, rejections credited back as +1 directory and a 30-day refund policy on the conditions in our terms.
How to publish on DEV.to without wasting the domain
- 1
Pick a subject that would exist without your product
This is the whole game and it is also their stated rule. The posts that work are about a problem, a technique or a mistake, and your product appears because it is what you built while solving it. If the article stops making sense once you delete the product name, it was an advert with paragraphs.
- 2
Write the title as one plain sentence
Their own tip panel says to treat the title as a super short description of the post and to use keywords where appropriate so people can find it by search. That is unusually literal advice and it is right: no cliffhangers, no numbered listicle padding, just what the reader will learn.
- 3
Use all four tags, and use real ones
Four is the cap. Tags are how the feed routes your post to people who follow a technology, so pick the established ones your readers already follow rather than inventing a niche. A post with one vague tag reaches almost nobody.
- 4
Put something real in the body, not a teaser
Their policy says posts must contain substantial content and may not merely reference an external link that contains the full post. Code blocks, the actual commands, the thing that broke and what fixed it. The editor supports markdown and the toolbar is right there, so there is no excuse for a wall of text.
- 5
Link the way you would in a comment to a colleague
References to documentation, repositories and prior art are followed, as our count shows. One link to your own thing, in context, reads as attribution. Nine links to your own docs is the pattern that got nofollowed in the only article in our sample where that happened.
- 6
Set the canonical only if it is a cross-post
If the piece is already on your blog, put your URL in the canonical field under Advanced Options so search engines credit your site as the original. If DEV.to is where it first appears, leave it empty. Eight of the forty articles we pulled were cross-posts using this correctly.
- 7
Disclose what needs disclosing
Affiliate links must be clearly disclosed under their policy, and the editor has an AI Disclosure control for declaring AI involvement in the writing. Both are cheap to do and expensive to be caught not doing on a platform where the audience reads carefully.
What the measurement actually shows
We pulled the forty most recent articles from their API, opened each one, and read only the anchors inside the article body so that navigation and footer links could not pollute the count. Thirty-three of the forty carried at least one outbound link. Of the 212 anchors, 198 carried noopener noreferrer and four carried no rel attribute at all. Both of those pass equity.
Ten carried nofollow, and they were not scattered. Every one was in the same post, from an account posting under its product's name, with nine of the ten pointing at that product's own documentation subdomain. Meanwhile links to GitHub, Google's cloud documentation, Medium, LinkedIn and a dozen personal blogs were all followed.
We cannot see the rule from outside and will not pretend to. What we can say is that in this sample, ordinary references pass equity and concentrated self-linking did not, which is consistent with the policy they publish.
The policy, in their words
Section 11 of their terms is short enough to read in full and worth it. Users must make a good-faith effort to share content that is "on-topic, of high-quality, and is not designed primarily for the purposes of promotion or creating backlinks". Posts "must contain substantial content — they may not merely reference an external link that contains the full post". And affiliate links must be clearly disclosed.
That is not a hostile policy. It is a description of what makes the place worth publishing on, and the reason a link from here is worth more than a link from a directory that will take anything.
One article is one link
Here is the honest limit of this channel. A good DEV.to post is a genuinely strong asset: a followed link from a DR 91 domain, a piece that can rank on its own, and readers who are the right people. It is also one post, on one domain, and it costs you the hours it takes to write something worth reading.
Being listed is a different job with a different shape. Thirty directories is thirty pages carrying your name and your link, filed in an afternoon, each one named in your dashboard with its Domain Rating on the card before you choose it. Neither replaces the other. Write the article because the audience is worth it, and cover the volume without spending another thirty afternoons on forms.
DEV.to costs an article. Thirty directories cost $29.
One payment, every directory named in your dashboard with its Domain Rating on the card, and you tick the ones you want before anything is filed.
DEV.to for founders: the short answer
Publish, if you have something to say. The links are followed, the domain is as strong as anything in this catalog, there is no queue and there is no fee. What it asks in return is an article that a developer would have wanted to read even if your product did not exist.
Get the tags right, keep the substance in the post rather than behind a link, and link to your own product once, where it belongs. That is the entire difference between the thirty-nine articles in our sample and the one.
Followed links, DR 91, and a policy with teeth.
We read 212 outbound links inside 40 recent DEV.to articles: 202 pass equity. All 10 that did not were in a single post whose author linked nine times to their own docs. Free, no queue, four tags, markdown, and a canonical field for cross-posts. Write something worth reading and the link takes care of itself. The whole catalog.
FAQ
Are DEV.to links dofollow?
Overwhelmingly yes. We pulled the forty most recent articles from their public API, isolated each article body and read every outbound anchor: 212 links in total, of which 202 pass equity and 10 carry nofollow. From a domain rated 91 by Ahrefs, that is one of the strongest followed links available to a founder for nothing.
Why were some DEV.to links nofollowed?
All ten sat in a single article. It was posted by an account named after its own product and linked nine times to that product's documentation. Every outbound link in the other thirty-nine articles was followed, including links to GitHub, Google Cloud docs, Medium and LinkedIn. We cannot see their rules from outside, but the pattern in our sample is that ordinary references are followed and repeated self-linking is not.
Does DEV.to allow you to post about your own product?
Yes, within a policy they state plainly. Their content policy asks users to “share content that is on-topic, of high-quality, and is not designed primarily for the purposes of promotion or creating backlinks”, and adds that posts “must contain substantial content — they may not merely reference an external link that contains the full post”. A genuine article that happens to be about what you built is fine. A teaser pointing at your blog is not.
Do you have to disclose affiliate links on DEV.to?
Yes, explicitly. Their content policy requires that if a post contains affiliate links, the fact must be clearly disclosed, and it suggests wording along the lines of noting that the post includes affiliate links. The editor also carries an AI Disclosure control for declaring AI involvement in the writing.
What is the DEV.to canonical URL setting for?
Cross-posting without competing with yourself. If the piece already lives on your own blog, set the canonical to your version and DEV.to tells search engines yours is the original. It is a real, used feature: eight of the forty recent articles we pulled had a canonical pointing off DEV.to. If you publish on DEV.to first, leave it alone.
What does the DEV.to editor ask for?
Less than any directory form. A cover image, which you can upload or have it generate, a title, up to four tags, and the body in markdown with a formatting toolbar. Then Publish or Save Draft, plus AI Disclosure and an Advanced Options panel. There is no category taxonomy, no screenshot requirements and no review queue.
What is DEV.to's Domain Rating?
91 on Ahrefs, which puts it level with Product Hunt and Hacker News and above every directory in our catalog. That is the reason to take the writing seriously rather than the reason to shortcut it.
Is DEV.to worth writing on for a startup?
If you can write something a developer would read on purpose, yes, it is among the best free things you can do. If you cannot, it is the wrong channel and the policy above is why. It is also not a substitute for being listed: one article is one link, and a directory run is dozens.
More submit-to guides.
Write the article. Let $29 cover the other thirty links.
One payment, each directory named with its Domain Rating on the card before you choose it, badges installed and kept live where one is wanted, and a rejection swapped for another directory.