rel="sponsored" vs nofollow vs ugc: Which Links Need Which Tag

Use rel="sponsored" on any link you were paid or compensated for, rel="ugc" on links inside user-generated content such as comments and forum posts, and rel="nofollow" when neither applies but you don't want to vouch for the page you link to. Google treats all three as hints, and for paid links either sponsored or nofollow keeps you inside its spam policies.

This explainer covers what each value means, when it's required versus recommended, how to combine them, how to set them in common CMSs, and how to audit a site for paid links that are missing a tag.

What each rel value means

Google's documentation on qualifying outbound links defines the three values this way:

• rel="sponsored": "Mark links that are advertisements or paid placements (commonly called paid links) with the sponsored value."
• rel="ugc": "We recommend marking user-generated content (UGC) links, such as comments and forum posts, with the ugc value."
• rel="nofollow": "Use the nofollow value when other values don't apply, and you'd rather Google not associate your site with, or crawl the linked page from, your site."

A link with no rel value at all is often called a "dofollow" link, although there is no dofollow attribute. It's simply a normal link that can pass ranking signals. For background on how links pass value in the first place, see our guide to what backlinks are and why they matter.

When each value is required or recommended

Link type	Value to use	Required or recommended?
Paid placement, sponsored post, advertorial	sponsored (or nofollow)	Required to comply with Google's link spam policy
Banner or text ad that links out	sponsored	Required if the link could pass ranking credit
Affiliate link	sponsored (or nofollow)	Strongly recommended; the link exists because of compensation
Link given for a free product, service or favor	sponsored	Required; Google counts goods and services as payment
Blog comment, forum post, community profile	ugc (optionally with nofollow)	Recommended
Link to a source you cite but don't vouch for	nofollow	Optional
Editorial link to a source you trust	None	Leave it as a normal link
Internal link to your own page	None	Don't qualify it

The "required" rows come straight from Google's spam policies, which list "exchanging money for links," "exchanging goods or services for links" and "sending someone a product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link" as link spam, then state that such links are fine "as long as they are qualified with a rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored" attribute value." Our explainer on Google's link spam policy for link builders walks through the full list.

HTML examples

The attribute goes on the <a> tag. Here are the common patterns:

<!-- Paid placement or sponsored post -->
<a href="https://example.com/product/" rel="sponsored">Example Product</a>

<!-- Affiliate link -->
<a href="https://example.com/?ref=partner123" rel="sponsored">Check current pricing</a>

<!-- Link inside a user comment -->
<a href="https://example.org/" rel="ugc nofollow">my website</a>

<!-- Link you don't want to vouch for -->
<a href="https://example.net/claim/" rel="nofollow">this claim</a>

<!-- External link that opens in a new tab and is also paid -->
<a href="https://example.com/" target="_blank" rel="sponsored noopener">Example</a>

<!-- Normal editorial link: no rel value needed -->
<a href="https://example.edu/study/">the original study</a>

Note that noopener and noreferrer are browser security and privacy values. They say nothing to Google about the nature of the link, so a paid link with only rel="noopener" is still unqualified.

Combining values and Google's "hint" model

Google accepts multiple values in a space- or comma-separated list, for example rel="ugc nofollow" or rel="ugc,nofollow". A common pattern is ugc nofollow on comment sections, which tells Google both where the link came from and that you don't vouch for it.

When Google introduced sponsored and ugc in its September 2019 announcement, it changed how all three work. They became hints Google may use "along with other signals" for ranking purposes, and nofollow became a hint for crawling and indexing as of March 1, 2020. Google also said "there's absolutely no need to change any nofollow links that you already have," so older paid links marked nofollow are still compliant.

What "hint" means in practice: Google decides how to treat the link, and a qualified link may still be crawled. It doesn't mean a paid link without a qualifier is safe because Google "might ignore it anyway." The obligation to qualify paid links hasn't changed.

Internal links: don't nofollow your own site

Some older SEO advice used nofollow on internal links to "sculpt" PageRank toward important pages, for example nofollowing login, cart or terms links. It doesn't help, and it can stop Google discovering pages you want found.

Google's documentation says that if you want to keep Google from crawling part of your own site, use the robots.txt disallow rule rather than rel attributes. If you want a page kept out of search results, use a noindex directive on that page. Leave your internal links as normal links and let your site structure show what matters.

How to set rel attributes in common CMSs

WordPress

What the block editor's link popover offers depends on your WordPress version and plugins. SEO plugins such as Yoast SEO add toggles to mark a link as nofollow or sponsored when you insert it. Without a plugin, select the block, choose "Edit as HTML" and add the rel value to the <a> tag directly. For affiliate-heavy sites, a link-management plugin that applies sponsored to every affiliate URL is less error-prone than tagging links by hand.

Shopify

In the rich text editor for blog posts and pages, switch to the HTML view with the "Show HTML" button and add the rel value to the link. For links in theme sections, the attribute has to be added in the theme's Liquid code.

Wix

Wix supports rel attributes in several of its content products. According to Wix's help article on adding link rel attributes, you tick checkboxes to add nofollow or to mark a link as sponsored, and in Wix Blog posts only the nofollow and sponsored options are available.

How to audit a site's outbound links for missing tags

If a site has ever sold placements, run affiliate programs or published sponsored content, audit it. Here's the process we use:

1. Crawl the site with a desktop crawler and export every external link with its source page, anchor text and rel value.
2. Filter to followed external links, meaning those without sponsored or nofollow.
3. Flag commercial patterns: affiliate parameters (ref=, aff=, tag=), known affiliate networks and redirect paths such as /go/ or /recommends/.
4. Cross-check with sales records. Ask whoever sold ads or sponsored posts for a list of paid URLs, and confirm each one is qualified.
5. Look for "sponsored" content without the attribute. Search the site for posts labeled sponsored, partner or paid, and check the links inside them.
6. Check templates. Footer credits, partner badges and widget code are easy to miss and repeat on every page.
7. Fix in bulk where possible by updating the template, plugin setting or redirect handler, then recrawl to confirm.

If a client's site has a manual action for unnatural links from the site, this audit is the core of the cleanup.

What link builders should put in agreements

Attribute disputes usually happen because nobody wrote anything down. Any agreement for a sponsored placement should state:

• That any link in exchange for payment, product or service will carry rel="sponsored" (or nofollow).
• Who adds the attribute and who checks it after publication.
• That the host won't change a link's attribute or target without notice.
• That the content will be labeled as sponsored for readers where advertising disclosure rules require it.
• What happens if a link is removed or altered during the agreed term.

Editorially earned links need no attribute clause at all, which is one reason we favor them. The same goes for contributed articles: our guide to guest posting without the spam risk covers how to keep them editorial. Anchors matter here too; see our piece on anchor text strategy in 2026.

When you compare link building services, ask each provider how it handles attributes on paid placements. A provider that promises "dofollow only" on paid links is describing link spam. At eSEOspace's link building service, every placement report lists the rel value we found on the live link.

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