The badge program
A dofollow link back to your site, plus verification badges you earn through diligence, not upvotes.
What the badge is, and why it's dofollow
Every listing that goes live carries the badge_featured badge: "Featured on AXIS Launch". It's a small graphic and an embed snippet, and the link inside it is dofollow.
Say plainly what that means: a dofollow link passes SEO authority from our domain to yours. Most launch directories ship a nofollow badge — the link is there for show, but it tells search engines to ignore it for ranking purposes. Ours doesn't. When you place the badge, search engines count it the same way they'd count any other genuine backlink.
That's the #1 reason makers keep the badge up after launch day: it's not just a stamp of "we were featured here," it's ongoing SEO equity for your own site, for as long as the badge stays live.
A free listing goes live once the badge is placed on the app's own site — that's the gate, stated once, honestly: no badge, no free listing.
Badge variants
Five badges exist. One applies to every listing; the other four are earned.
badge_featured — "Featured on AXIS Launch." Every published listing carries this one. It's the gate for going live on the free tier: place it, unmodified, with its working dofollow link, on the app's own site.
badge_top_month — "Top App of the Month." Awarded monthly, split by Business and Consumer categories, scored on idea and execution out of 5 with a short written review. This one is admin-tallied by hand, not generated by votes or traffic counts — we read the submissions and pick.
The next three apply to auction listings, where a buyer is deciding whether to trust numbers they can't independently see yet:
- badge_paid_verified — an active PAID connection is confirmed.
- badge_metrics_verified — an admin has personally observed a live revenue or analytics dashboard, or holds a read-only invite. Refreshed monthly; the badge drops if it goes more than 45 days without a recheck.
- badge_identity_verified — government ID and LinkedIn checked by an admin. The documents are never stored past the check and never shown to anyone; only the resulting badge is.
What each badge actually verifies
trust_verification Full standards, including exactly what an admin checks and when a badge lapses, live at /verification. Read that page before you assume a badge means more than it says — it means exactly the specific check, on the specific date shown, and nothing broader.
Your outbound links are tagged too
The link runs both directions. Every outbound link from a listing page back to the maker's app is also dofollow, and it's tagged with ?ref=axislaunch.
That tag means the traffic we send shows up as its own line in your own analytics — not folded into "direct" or "unknown." You can see, in your own dashboard, exactly how many visitors came from being listed here.
FAQ
Do I have to keep the badge up?
Yes. Free listings are conditioned on keeping the badge — and its unmodified, working link — live on your site for as long as the listing stays published. We check this with a quarterly badge audit, by hand: someone on our side visits your site and looks. It isn't automated, and it isn't continuous. If a badge is found removed or its link altered, we email first and give notice before delisting, rather than pulling the listing on the spot.
Can I use a badge before I'm live?
No. Badges link to your listing page, and that page doesn't exist until your submission is reviewed and published. Using a badge earlier would point visitors at a page that isn't there yet, and it would misrepresent a status you don't have.
Can I put the badge on a different site than the one that's listed?
No. The badge license covers the specific app's own site — the one named in the listing — and nothing else. Displaying it elsewhere, or editing the graphic or the link, isn't part of the license.