Web 2.0 submission sites are free platforms where you create your own page or blog on their subdomain and add a link back to your site. In October 2026 we checked 110 of them. Only 65 still load and still offer a free public page. Most of the links they give are nofollow, not dofollow.
This post is the working list. Every one of the 65 web 2.0 submission sites below was opened and checked by hand in October 2026, and 45 names from the popular lists were dropped because they are dead, parked, for sale, or now trial only. The table also tells you which platforms actually give a dofollow link, because most of them do not.
What is a web 2.0 submission site?
A web 2.0 submission site is a hosting platform that gives you a free page on its own domain. You sign up, you get an address like yourname.wordpress.com or yourname.github.io, and you publish content there. The page belongs to the platform, but the content is yours.
The link building use is simple. You publish a useful page on that free subdomain and link from it to your own website. That page is called a web 2.0 property. Because the host domain is strong, people hoped some of that strength would flow through the link. In practice it depends entirely on whether the platform marks the link nofollow.
Quick answer: A web 2.0 submission site is a free blogging or site builder platform that hands you a public page on its subdomain, which you can use to publish content and link to your own site.
65 web 2.0 submission sites that are live right now
Domain Rating is a 0 to 100 score from Domain Rating by Ahrefs, pulled on 13 October 2026. A higher number means the domain carries more link authority. It is not a Google score and it is not the same as Moz Domain Authority.
Domain Rating (DR) is the Ahrefs score for the host domain, from 0 to 100, pulled in October 2026. Link type is based on the dofollow and nofollow ratio Ahrefs reports for outgoing links on that domain, so it tells you what the platform does most of the time. “Mixed” means a real share of links are followed and a real share are not, usually depending on where you put the link. “Not checked” means we could not read the markup, so we are not going to guess. Approval is what the platform itself says about going live.
All links checked on 13 October 2026.
How to submit to web 2.0 sites step by step
- Pick three or four platforms, not thirty. Choose from the top of the table, where the Domain Rating is high and the link type is dofollow. Four real pages beat thirty empty ones.
- Create the account with a working email. Use a real inbox you check. Several of these platforms send a confirmation link, and the page stays private until you click it.
- Choose a subdomain name that reads like a topic, not a keyword. Something like coastalroofingtips is fine. Something like best-roofing-company-dallas-cheap looks like spam to a human reviewer.
- Fill in the profile. Add a photo, a short bio, and one link in the profile field. A blank profile is the first thing moderators look at.
- Publish a real post of 600 words or more. Write something you would be happy to publish on your own blog. Original text, your own photos or screenshots, a clear heading structure.
- Add one or two links in the body, where they help the reader. Link to a specific page that answers the point you just made, not to your homepage with your brand name as the anchor.
- Check the page as a visitor. Open it in a logged out browser or a private window. If it asks for a login, it is not public, and it is doing nothing for you.
- Keep the page alive. Add a second post within a month. Platforms delete inactive free accounts, and a deleted page takes your link with it.
Quick answer: Sign up, set the subdomain, complete the profile, publish one original post of 600 words or more, place one or two helpful links in the body, then confirm the page loads for a logged out visitor.
What makes a web 2.0 submission stick
Original content, not a spun copy
The page needs text that exists nowhere else. Platforms run duplicate checks, and Google simply ignores a page that repeats something it already has. If you reuse your own blog post word for word, you have created a duplicate, not an asset.
A reason for the page to exist
Ask what a stranger would get from the page. A tutorial, a comparison, a set of photos, a short case study. If the only purpose is the link, it reads that way to both the moderator and the algorithm.
A complete profile and a filled out site
One post on an otherwise empty subdomain looks abandoned. Two or three posts, an about page, and a profile photo make the property look like something a person actually runs.
Links that point at the right page
Send the link to the page that matches the topic. If the post is about roof leaks, link to your roof repair page, not your homepage. Use the page topic as the anchor text.
Time on the platform
New accounts get watched. Publishing one post, waiting a week, then publishing another is safer than publishing four posts in an hour and dropping four links.
Mistakes that get your web 2.0 submission rejected
- Posting the same article on ten platforms. This is the single most common mistake. The platforms detect it, and the pages get removed or hidden from search.
- Exact match anchor text every time. Ten links that all say “cheap dentist london” is a pattern, and patterns are what get flagged.
- Thin pages of 150 words. Most free platforms will publish it, but it will never get indexed, so it never passes anything.
- Affiliate or commercial links with no content around them. Several platforms in this list ban pure promotion in their terms, and will close the account.
- Leaving the account dormant. Free accounts get pruned. Platforms such as uCoz and several site builders remove sites with no activity.
- Using a throwaway email. You lose the recovery option, so when the platform asks you to reconfirm, the page disappears and you cannot get it back.
- Never checking if the page is indexed. A page Google has not indexed cannot pass anything at all, nofollow or dofollow.
What a web 2.0 property actually does in 2026
This is the part most lists leave out, so here it is plainly. A thin, duplicated web 2.0 page does nothing. Not a small amount. Nothing. If you spin one article across forty free subdomains, you have spent a weekend producing forty pages that Google either will not index or will index and ignore. There is no hidden benefit waiting to appear later.
A real page on a strong platform is a different thing. A 1,200 word tutorial on a WordPress.com or Hatena Blog subdomain, with your own screenshots and a clear structure, can get indexed, can rank for a long tail phrase, and can send you actual visitors. That referral traffic is the honest reason to build one. Those people click because the page helped them, and some of them become customers.
Now the link part. Most of these links are nofollow. Medium, LiveJournal, Wattpad, about.me, Webnode, hPage and Tripoto all mark outbound links so search engines do not follow them. On the mixed platforms, the followed links are usually the ones inside post content, while profile and sidebar links are not. According to Ahrefs, nofollow links do not influence the search engine rankings of the destination URL, which means they pass no link equity.
So what are they for? Three honest uses. First, referral traffic from pages that genuinely rank. Second, brand presence, so your name appears in more places when someone checks you out. Third, a small number of real dofollow links from platforms such as Google Sites, GitHub Pages, Blogger and Substack, where the markup does not block them. That last group is worth the effort. The other sixty are worth it only if you were going to publish the content anyway.
If you want to see the wider platform list and the general how to, our 100+ web 2.0 submission sites list for 2026 covers more names and the setup basics. This post is the narrower check on which ones still work and which give a followed link.
Do web 2.0 submission sites still work in 2026?
They work for traffic and visibility. They barely work for ranking power. That is the honest split.
What they do: they give you a free, indexable page on a trusted domain. They let a new business appear in search for a long tail phrase within weeks. They send referral clicks when the content is genuinely good. They are free, which matters when you have no budget.
What they do not do: they do not move you up the rankings on their own. They are not a replacement for editorial links. No tactic here can promise a position in Google, and anyone telling you forty web 2.0 links will lift a page is selling you something.
Where they fit in a real plan: use them as a place to publish supporting content, not as your link strategy. If you want links that pass equity, you need placements on other people’s real websites. Our guide to free guest posting sites that accept new writers covers that route, and how to find competitor backlinks shows you which sites already link to the people you compete with. If you would rather hand the outreach to someone else, our backlink outreach services page explains how we run it.
Quick answer: Web 2.0 submission sites still work for referral traffic and brand visibility in 2026. They do not reliably pass ranking power, because most of the links are nofollow.
Frequently asked questions
what is a web 2.0 backlink
A web 2.0 backlink is a link from a page you created yourself on a free hosting platform. You sign up on a site such as Blogger or WordPress.com, publish a post on your free subdomain, and link to your own website from it. You control the content, so it is a self made link, not an editorial one.
are web 2.0 links still effective
They are effective for traffic, not for rankings. A good page on a strong platform can get indexed and send you visitors. Most of the links are nofollow, so they pass no link equity. The small group that gives dofollow links, such as Google Sites and Blogger, is the part worth building.
how do i build a web 2.0 property
Pick one platform from the top of the table. Create a free account and choose a topic based subdomain name. Complete the profile with a photo and bio. Publish one original post of 600 words or more with your own images. Add one or two links in the body text. Post again within a month so the account stays active.
are web 2.0 submission sites dofollow or nofollow
Most are nofollow. Of the 65 platforms we checked, 30 pass followed links most of the time, 8 are clearly nofollow, and 14 are mixed depending on where the link sits. Google Sites, GitHub Pages, Blogger, Wix and Substack are the strongest dofollow options we confirmed.
how many web 2.0 sites should i submit to
Three to five, done properly. There is no benefit to forty thin pages. Each property needs original content, a filled out profile, and at least one follow up post. Most people get better results from four real properties than from forty abandoned ones.
can web 2.0 links hurt my site
Mass produced ones can. Dozens of spun pages with the same exact match anchor text form a visible pattern, and Google discounts the whole set. One or two well built properties with natural anchors carry no realistic risk. The danger is volume and duplication, not the platforms themselves.
which web 2.0 sites have the highest domain authority
Google Sites is the strongest at DR 100, followed by GitHub Pages and Gravatar at DR 97 and WordPress.com at DR 96. High Domain Rating on the host domain does not mean your page inherits it. Your new subdomain starts with nothing, so the content still has to earn its own visibility.
Final Thoughts
Dofollow Web 2.0 submission sites can be a useful part of your SEO strategy when you use them carefully. Platforms such as Google Sites, GitHub Pages, Blogger, and WordPress.com allow you to publish supporting content, build brand visibility, and potentially attract referral traffic. However, a high Domain Rating does not automatically guarantee better rankings, and not every platform provides dofollow backlinks.
Instead of creating dozens of low-quality pages, focus on a few relevant platforms and publish original, helpful content that gives readers a genuine reason to visit your website. Use natural anchor text, link to relevant pages, and keep your Web 2.0 properties updated. Remember that quality, relevance, and useful content matter more than the number of backlinks you create.
For more practical SEO guides, link-building strategies, and digital marketing insights, visit Digital Soules and explore resources to help strengthen your website’s online presence.
