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Nofollow, ugc and sponsored links explained

Updated

A link can carry a rel attribute that tells search engines what kind of link it is. There are three you will come across: nofollow, ugc and sponsored. Here is what each one means and when to use it.

A normal link

<a href="https://www.example.com/">Example</a>

Without a rel attribute, a link is a plain recommendation: search engines may follow it and count it as a vote for the other site. This is what most link exchanges are about.

rel="sponsored": paid links

<a href="https://www.example.com/" rel="sponsored">Example</a>

Use it for links that are there because of money or something of value: adverts, paid placements, affiliate links, and links in return for free products. Google asks you to mark paid links, preferably with sponsored; nofollow is still accepted. A bought link without either is exactly what its spam policies are about.

rel="ugc": links your visitors added

<a href="https://www.example.com/" rel="ugc">Example</a>

UGC stands for user-generated content: comments, forum posts, reviews and profiles. You did not choose these links yourself, so you mark them as such. Many blog and forum systems add it for you.

rel="nofollow": no endorsement

<a href="https://www.example.com/" rel="nofollow">Example</a>

The general-purpose “I do not vouch for this” attribute. Use it when you link to a site but do not want to pass on any endorsement, and neither of the other two fits. Before 2019 it was the only option, so you will still see it everywhere, also on paid and user links.

Good to know

  • You can combine them. rel="nofollow ugc" is fine, for example in comments.
  • They are hints, not commands. Since 2019 Google treats all three as hints for ranking, and since March 2020 also for crawling and indexing: it decides itself whether to count or crawl the link.
  • Visitors do not notice. The link looks and works the same. Visitors still click it, so it still brings you traffic.
  • No penalty for using them. Marking links honestly never hurts your site.

And for a link exchange?

A link exchange between two related sites is not a paid link, so sponsored does not apply, and ugc is for links your visitors add. That leaves a normal link or nofollow. Most webmasters exchange normal links; if you prefer nofollow, agree on it with your partner before you place the link. Linkorado checks that the link is on the page; it does not look at the rel attribute. See also Is link exchange safe for SEO?

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