# Are 'As Featured On' Badges Worth Anything? How to Check a Feature Page Before You Count It
> Are 'as featured on' badges worth anything?

```yaml
url: "https://makerhunt.io/studio/are-as-featured-on-badges-worth-anything"
markdown: "https://makerhunt.io/studio/are-as-featured-on-badges-worth-anything.md"
title: "Are 'As Featured On' Badges Worth Anything? How to Check a Feature Page Before You Count It"
type: studio_article
category: Growth
tags: "as featured on badges, as seen in logos, are featured badges worth it, how to check a feature page, backlink audit, referral traffic, noreferrer, nofollow, startup trust signals, Growth"
featured_image: "https://txmhk1zrnc.ufs.sh/f/xSkWTCqmKWx9pwc4WHxDnCBkQg2zwe7OSH6sfXKMjcibmdYZ"
published_at: "2026-11-15T04:10:47.157Z"
updated_at: "2026-11-15T04:10:47.756Z"
```

## About this studio article

Are 'as featured on' badges worth anything? Five checks for any feature page, what a badge can and cannot do, and badge-for-link points. Checked Nov 15, 2026.

## Article

An "as featured on" badge is worth showing only when the page behind it is real coverage that a visitor can open and read, and a feature page is worth counting only after it passes five checks: it is indexed, you know whether it ranks, you have read the link's rel in the page source, it sends visits you can measure, and it is a real article instead of a thin listing. Most pages pass some of those checks and fail others, which is normal. The point of checking is to call each feature what it is: coverage, a mention, a listing or a placement.

**Last checked: Nov 15, 2026**

Disclosure: Hed Press, which is mentioned once below, is run by the same team as MakerHunt and the other Hunt and Aura++ sites. Everything said about other sites comes from a page we opened on November 15, 2026. I give no conversion numbers because I could not find a public test I trust.

## What are you trying to learn about a feature page?

When a site features your startup, five questions decide what the page is worth to you. The table also shows which ones you can answer yourself and which only the publisher can see, because that split is the part most checklists skip.

Check

The question

What you can see yourself

What only the publisher sees

1. Indexed

Can Google find this page?

A site: search, a search for the exact title, the page's robots and canonical tags

Whether Google has chosen to index it, in their Search Console

2. Ranking

Does anyone see it in search?

What shows up when you search the title, your product name and the question the page answers

Impressions, clicks and average position for that page

3. Link

Is the link followed or nofollow?

The rel on the live link, in the page source

Whether they plan to change it later

4. Traffic

Does anyone click through?

Visits from that source in your own analytics, with UTM tags or referrer data

How many people read the page

5. Real page

Is it an article or a thin listing?

Reading the page and its neighbours

Nothing: this one is entirely yours to judge

Run the checks in this order. Each one is quick, and a failure early on (a page that is not live to the public, say) saves you the others.

## How do you check whether the page is indexed?

Search Google for `site:` followed by the exact URL of the feature page. Google's [documentation for the site: operator](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/monitor-debug/search-operators/all-search-site) says an indexed URL can show up for a site: query, though that is not guaranteed, so a missing result is a reason to look further and not proof that the page is out. Then search the page's exact title in quotes in a private window, which is also the first half of the ranking check. Finally, open the page source and look for a robots meta tag that says noindex and a canonical link that points at the page itself.

A page published today may simply not be indexed yet, so write the date in your sheet and look again in a few days before you decide. The SideHunt guide to [whether to do directories or editorial links first](https://sidehunt.io/studio/directories-or-editorial-links-first) has the status, robots and canonical command, so I will not repeat it here.

![A laptop on a white desk showing a purple line graph with sharp peaks, with a blurred blue wall behind it](https://images.pexels.com/photos/3861957/pexels-photo-3861957.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&w=1200&h=800&fit=crop)

## Does the page rank or get impressions?

Here is the honest limit: you cannot see how many impressions a page on someone else's site gets. Google's [Performance report help](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7576553) describes impressions, clicks and position for the property you have verified, so your own Search Console shows how your pages do, not theirs. What you can do is search the way a buyer would and see whether the feature page appears at all. Try three searches in a private window: the page's title, your product name, and the question the page claims to answer. Note where it shows up, or that it does not, with the date.

If a page ranks for your product name, it can help people find you by name. If it ranks for a question a buyer asks, that is stronger. If it ranks for neither, it may still be worth keeping for another reason, such as a visit or a mention in front of the right readers, and the traffic check below is how you find out. Google's [Links report help](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9049606) adds one more limit: the report shows a sample of links and does not specify whether a link is marked nofollow, so it is a clue that a page links to you and not a replacement for reading the source.

## Is the link followed or nofollow, and does it matter?

Open the page source, search for your domain and read the rel on the anchor. There is no `rel="dofollow"`; a plain link has no rel, and nofollow, ugc and sponsored are the qualifiers to look for. The EarlyHunt guide on [dofollow vs nofollow](https://earlyhunt.com/studio/does-dofollow-vs-nofollow-matter) explains what each one changes and has the full audit, and the free [Aura++ dofollow link checker](https://auraplusplus.com/tools/dofollow-link-checker) reads it for you.

For a feature page, one more point: the rel tells you about the link, not about the page. A nofollow link on a real article that your buyers read can be worth more than a followed link on a page nobody opens, so record the rel and keep going through the checks.

## Does the feature send real traffic?

This is the check most founders skip, and it is the one that tells you whether people actually arrive. There are two ways to see it in your analytics: the referrer, which says which site the visit came from, and UTM tags, which you or the publisher add to the link. Google's [help page on campaign URLs](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/10917952) lists the parameters. In Google Analytics 4, open the Traffic acquisition report and switch the dimension to session source and medium to look for the site by name.

The catch is that the referrer is sometimes removed. MDN says the [noreferrer keyword](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Attributes/rel/noreferrer) tells the browser to omit the Referer header when it fetches the target. Google's [default channel group definitions](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9756891) say Direct is where users arrive via a saved link or by entering your URL. My inference, not a Google statement, is that visits from a link marked noreferrer will often be filed under Direct, because the page that sent them is not told where they came from. If so, a feature can send people and still look like it sent nobody.

I looked at four live pages on November 15, 2026 to see how common this is. One page each, one day, so treat it as a picture of what to look for and nothing more.

Page opened Nov 15, 2026

rel on the product link

UTM on the link?

A BetaList startup page (the Dataminimal listing)

5 of 7 anchors to the visit link: noopener nofollow. 2: no rel

Yes. The visit link returns a 301 to the product with ref=betalist, utm_source=betalist and utm_medium=referral added

A SaaSHub page (the Notion listing)

Main links to the product: nofollow

No UTM on the Notion links I read. Some other products on the same page carry utm_source=saashub

A TechCrunch article about the Readwise book app (Nov 2)

7 of 7 outbound links in the article text: noreferrer noopener nofollow

No

The Indie Hackers products page

5 of 5 product links: nofollow noopener

No

Two things to take from it. Some platforms add a UTM for you, which makes their traffic easy to find, and the Readwise article's links carry noreferrer, so Readwise's analytics may show those visits as Direct while the article is plainly sending people. If you can, ask the publisher to use a link with your own UTM, or give each feature a distinct landing URL, so you can tell them apart. If you cannot, add "how did you hear about us?" to signup and read the answers. To see where a link on a platform actually goes, one command shows the redirect:

`curl -sI "https://example.com/the-visit-link" | grep -i -E '^(HTTP|location)'`

On the BetaList visit link above it printed `HTTP/2 301` and a `location:` line with the UTM parameters. To read the whole anchor tag instead of guessing, use `curl -sL "$U" | grep -o -i -E ']*yourdomain\.com[^>]*>'` with the feature page in `U`. On the TechCrunch article that printed a tag ending in `rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"`.

## Is it a real article or a thin listing?

Open the page in a private window and read it as a stranger would. Google's guidance on [people-first content](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content) is a useful lens: would the page be worth reading if your link were removed? The test below is my own, and any one answer is a clue rather than a verdict.

Look at

Real article

Thin listing

The words

Someone explains what the product does, who it is for and where it falls short, in sentences

Your own tagline and description, reformatted in a template

A distinctive sentence in quotes

Found only on this page, or only where it was written

Found on a dozen other listing pages, word for word

Author and date

A named author or desk and a publication date

Neither, or the date is the day you submitted

The link

Inside a sentence about your product, with a descriptive anchor

A button or a list row labelled "visit website"

The neighbours

Other pages on the site cover related topics and read like they were written for someone

An unrelated mix of listings with the same layout

How you got there

An editor or writer chose it, or you can say honestly how it came about

You filled in a form and it was accepted

A thin listing is not worthless. It can confirm that your product exists and can send a few visits, which is why the traffic check matters. It just is not coverage, and it should not be counted or badged like coverage.

## How do you decide what to call it?

After the five checks, give each feature one label. This keeps your link sheet, your homepage and your own judgement honest.

What the checks showed

Call it

Show a badge?

Real article, indexed, readers you can see or visits you can measure

Coverage

Yes, linked to the page

Real page, but not indexed yet or no visible readers

A mention to recheck in a few weeks

Wait and recheck

Thin listing, indexed, sends some visits

A listing

Only if you launched there and the badge says so plainly

Thin listing, not indexed, no visits

Not counted

No

A page you published or paid for, or got by linking back

A placement, whatever the page quality

Say what it is: "published on" and not "featured in"

![Gold, silver and bronze medals on red ribbons lying on a wooden table](https://images.pexels.com/photos/1722398/pexels-photo-1722398.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&w=1200&h=800&fit=crop)

## Do "as featured on" badges help with trust?

They can, but I could not find a public test I trust that measures conversion lift from a press-logo strip, so I will not give you a number. Several articles repeat precise lift figures without a method behind them, and I left them out. What I can point to is research on how people treat the logos.

Baymard's article on [third-party reviews and endorsements on tour sites](https://baymard.com/research-articles/tours-and-experiences-reviews), published February 22, 2023, reports that in its testing some participants clicked third-party ratings and logos to reach the underlying reviews, and where the content was static, some left the site to search for the tour by hand. One participant tried to click a Yelp logo in an "As Seen On" section, and when nothing happened had to search for it herself. Baymard's advice is to link such logos to the company's profile page on the third-party site. That research covers tour booking sites, so I would not stretch it to every product, but it points at something general: a logo is a claim, and visitors who care will try to check it.

On recognition, Baymard's [2013 site seal survey](https://baymard.com/research-articles/site-seal-trust) asked US adults which badge gave the best sense of trust when paying online, and about 36% of the seal votes (among 1,286 who picked a seal) went to Norton, well ahead of most others. That is about payment seals, not press logos, so treat it as a hint that people trust names they already know. It suggests a feature in a publication your buyers recognise counts for more than a feature on a site nobody has heard of.

From that, these are the rules I would follow:

- **Only show real coverage.** A thin listing does not belong in an "as featured in" strip.
- **Link every badge to the page it refers to.** A visitor who clicks and lands nowhere learns the badge was decoration.
- **Choose names your buyers know.** One trade publication they read can beat five logos they have never seen.
- **Show one or two, not a wall.** Keep a fuller list on a press or coverage page.
- **Check each logo's usage rules.** Some publishers have brand or press guidelines; read them before you display a logo, or use the outlet's name in plain text.
- **Measure it.** Google says Analytics enhanced measurement records [outbound clicks](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9216061) by default for links that leave your domain, so you can see whether anyone clicks your badges.

## What should you know about badge-for-link directories?

Some directories and launch sites offer a better listing or a followed link if you put their badge on your site. That is a reciprocal arrangement: they link to you and you link to them. Our own [Aura++ guide to dofollow backlinks for new startups](https://auraplusplus.com/studio/dofollow-backlinks-for-new-startups) goes through the launch platforms that work this way. These are the points I would weigh:

- **One or two badges from places you really listed on are ordinary.** Google's [spam policies](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies) list "excessive link exchanges" ("Link to me and I'll link to you") among link spam examples, and a footer full of badges starts to look like that pattern.
- **Read what the badge must do.** Where does it go, does the link have to stay followed, and what happens to your listing if you remove it?
- **A badge link is an outbound link from your site.** Google's [guidance on qualifying outbound links](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/qualify-outbound-links) says nofollow fits when other values do not apply and you would rather Google not associate your site with the linked page. Read the directory's terms first, since some require a plain link.
- **A badge does not make a thin listing into coverage.** Show it as the listing it is.
- **Recheck after a few weeks.** A badge can disappear in a redesign, and listings can change after launch week.

The same logic applies to pages you publish yourself. [A published product story on Hed Press](https://hedpress.com/get-editorial-backlinks) is a page about your product, which opens with who it is, what it is and who it is for and carries one product link in the article, according to its own page. Its pricing page lists a free plan that asks your site to credit it (with a dofollow product link), a free nofollow plan with no credit, and a $29 plan with a dofollow link. That is a fine page to run through the five checks, and under the table above it is a placement, so say "published on" if you show it, and recheck the rel after it goes live.

## What does a run-through look like? (a made-up example)

Parcelkeep is an imaginary shipping-notification app for small online shops, and the numbers below are invented to show the method.

Its founder has four features on her list. A startup directory page: indexed, thin, a nofollow link with a UTM added by the site, and 11 visits that month. A newsletter mention: not indexed (it lives in an email archive), no rel because there is no link, but a handful of signups said they heard about it there. A directory that gave a followed link in return for a badge: indexed, thin, a plain link, and two visits. A trade article: indexed, a real article with a byline, nofollow noreferrer on its links, and a few visits that show up as Direct.

Her labels: the trade article is coverage, and gets a badge linked to it. The newsletter is a mention, counted by signups and not by links. The startup directory is a listing, worth keeping and not badging. The badge directory is a listing, and she keeps its single badge in the footer because she really listed there, and nothing more. Without the checks she would have counted four "features" and put four logos on the homepage.

## What mistakes make a feature look better than it is?

- **Counting the link and skipping the page.** A link on a page that is not indexed, not read and not real is not a win.
- **Reading analytics without allowing for noreferrer.** A feature can send people and still look like Direct traffic.
- **Badging a listing as "featured in".** Say "listed on" or "published on" if that is what it is.
- **Unlinked badges.** They invite the click that goes nowhere.
- **Judging by the rel alone.** It describes a link, not a page.
- **Not rechecking.** Pages are edited, rel values change and badges vanish.

## FAQ

### Are "as featured on" badges worth anything?

They can build a little trust when they point to real coverage a visitor can open, and they can backfire when they are decoration. I could not find a public test I trust that measures a conversion lift, so judge them by whether the page behind each one is real and by whether anyone clicks.

### How do I know if a feature page is worth counting?

Check whether it is indexed, whether it shows up in search, the rel on your link, whether it sends visits you can measure, and whether it is a real article. A page that passes the real-article and indexed checks, and either sends visits or has readers you can see, counts as coverage.

### Does a nofollow feature still count?

It can. The rel describes the link, not the page. A nofollow link on a real article your buyers read can send customers and give people a page to find you by name. Record it as nofollow and judge it by the other checks.

### Why does a feature show up as direct traffic in my analytics?

One possible reason is a link marked noreferrer, which tells the browser not to send the referrer. Google defines Direct as visits from a saved link or a typed URL, so a visit with no referrer is likely to land there. Ask the publisher for a link with a UTM tag, or use a unique landing URL for each feature.

### Should I put a directory's badge on my site?

One or two, linked, from places you really listed on, is ordinary. Read the terms, check what the badge link has to look like, and avoid a wall of badges. If you show a badge for a thin listing, label it as a listing.

## What should you do this week?

- List every page that features your startup: URL, date, and where you found it.
- Run the five checks on each and write one label next to it: coverage, mention, listing, placement or not counted.
- Look in Traffic acquisition for each source and add a UTM or a distinct landing URL where you can.
- Link every badge on your site to the page it refers to, and take down any that point at a thin or missing page.
- Put a recheck in your calendar for next month.

If you are building something and want people to find it, [MakerHunt](https://makerhunt.io) is one place to list it, and our guide to [getting editorial backlinks as an indie maker](https://makerhunt.io/studio/how-to-get-editorial-backlinks-as-an-indie-maker) covers how to get a real article in the first place.

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