rel="sponsored" and rel="ugc" are two link attributes Google introduced in September 2019 to give webmasters more precise ways to describe paid links and user-generated links. Unlike rel="nofollow", which is a catch-all, these values tell Google something specific about why a link exists. Since March 1, 2020, Google treats all three attributes as hints for ranking, not strict directives: Google may still crawl or use a marked link, but the signal informs its ranking systems. If you already understand dofollow and nofollow links, this post goes deeper on the two specific values that most SEOs still get wrong.
What rel=sponsored Is For
rel="sponsored" belongs on any link that exists because of a paid arrangement. Google’s qualifying-links documentation puts it directly: “Mark links that are advertisements or paid placements (commonly called paid links) with the sponsored value.”
The practical scope is wider than most people assume:
- Direct paid placements: a banner ad, a sponsored widget, a display ad unit
- Paid reviews or advertorials: when you received money, a product, or services in exchange for a post containing links
- Affiliate links: links that earn you a commission when someone clicks and purchases. Google’s spam policies are explicit: affiliate links must be qualified with
rel="nofollow"orrel="sponsored"to avoid a link spam violation - Paid guest posts: if you were compensated for a guest post, links in that post are paid links
- Paid inclusions in roundups or directories: any “best of” list where your placement was bought
What does NOT need sponsored: an affiliate link you added to your own content because you genuinely recommend the product. Some practitioners add sponsored anyway for clarity, which is fine. The line Google draws is whether compensation influenced the link’s existence.
Why mislabeling paid links matters. Google’s spam policies state that it is not a violation to buy or sell links “as long as they are qualified with a rel='nofollow' or rel='sponsored' attribute.” A plain dofollow link on a paid placement is a link scheme violation. Manual penalties and algorithmic demotions follow from patterns of unqualified paid links, affecting both the buyer and the seller.
nofollow is still an acceptable fallback for paid links (Google says so directly), but sponsored gives Google a more precise signal and is the recommended choice.
What rel=ugc Is For
rel="ugc" marks links added by users, not by you or your editorial team. Per Google’s documentation: “We recommend marking user-generated content (UGC) links, such as comments and forum posts, with the ugc value.”
Common scenarios:
- Blog comments: links a commenter drops in your comment section
- Forum posts and replies: links members add to discussion threads
- Q&A platform answers: Stack Overflow, Quora, Reddit-style links
- User profile bios: links in member profiles on your platform
- Wiki edits: links added by community contributors
- Reviews with URLs: links customers add to review sections on your site
The key distinction: UGC links are added by users whose intent and quality you cannot fully control. You are not vouching for those links. The ugc attribute communicates that to Google.
CMS and plugin behavior. Most major platforms apply ugc (or nofollow) to comment links automatically. WordPress has added rel="ugc" to comment links since version 5.1. If you run a forum or community platform, check your settings. There is typically a toggle to enforce ugc on user-submitted links rather than relying on per-user trust levels.
Google does allow one nuance here: if you have contributors who consistently post high-quality links over time, you can remove the ugc attribute for those specific trusted users as a reward. This is optional, not required.
How These Attributes Relate to rel=nofollow
Before September 2019, nofollow was the only option for links you did not want to vouch for. It covered paid links, user-generated links, and anything else you wanted to distance yourself from. Google then added sponsored and ugc as more descriptive alternatives.
The relationship now:
| Attribute | Use when… |
|---|---|
rel="sponsored" | The link exists because of payment or commercial arrangement |
rel="ugc" | The link was added by a user, not you |
rel="nofollow" | You don’t vouch for the link and neither of the above applies |
nofollow remains the catch-all. If you encounter a link you want to flag but it is not paid and not user-generated (say, a link to a source you found borderline credible), nofollow is still the right choice.
The hints model. Since March 1, 2020, all three attributes are treated as hints, not crawl directives. Google confirmed this when the attributes launched: the linked pages “may still be crawled” through other discovery paths (sitemaps, other inbound links). The practical implication is that nofollow, sponsored, and ugc inform Google’s ranking systems rather than acting as hard gates on PageRank flow. Google may choose to count or discount a marked link based on its own signals; your attribute is a strong input, not a guarantee.
Combining values. You can apply multiple rel values to a single link. Google explicitly supports this:
<a rel="ugc sponsored" href="https://example.com">Link text</a>
<a rel="ugc,sponsored" href="https://example.com">Link text</a>A realistic example: a user comment on a forum you monetize drops an affiliate link. That link is both user-generated and commercially motivated. rel="ugc sponsored" accurately describes both facts.
How to Check What rel a Link Carries
To inspect a link’s rel attribute on any page:
- Right-click the link and choose “Inspect” (or press F12 to open DevTools, then click the element picker).
- Find the
<a>tag in the HTML panel. Therelattribute will appear directly:<a rel="sponsored" href="...">. - If no
relattribute appears, the link is a plain dofollow link.
For checking your own outgoing links in bulk, this manual method does not scale. When you classify them in an audit using a tool that reads the raw rel attribute on each link, you can see at a glance which of your outgoing links are dofollow, nofollow, sponsored, or ugc, and flag any paid links that are currently unqualified.
BacklinkTower’s link classifier does exactly this for your backlink profile: it reads the rel attribute from your GSC, Ahrefs, or Semrush export and labels each link accordingly. If a link from a paid placement is showing as dofollow when it should carry sponsored, you can identify and fix it before it becomes a spam flag.
Scenario-to-Attribute Decision Table
Use this when you are uncertain which rel value a specific link situation calls for. All guidance is sourced to Google’s qualifying-links documentation and spam policies.
| Situation | Correct rel value(s) | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You wrote a paid review and were given money or products | rel="sponsored" | Compensation influenced the link; Google spam policy requires this |
| Affiliate link in your own content | rel="sponsored" | Commission-based; Google classifies affiliate links as paid placements |
| Display/banner ad on your site | rel="sponsored" | Advertiser paid for placement |
| Guest post you were paid to write | rel="sponsored" | All links in paid content are paid links |
| Guest post you wrote for free (editorial exchange) | rel="dofollow" (no attribute) or rel="nofollow" | No payment; editorial judgment governs. Google does not require sponsored here |
| Blog comment link left by a visitor | rel="ugc" | User-generated; you did not place or vouch for this link |
| Forum post link by a member | rel="ugc" | Same: user-submitted, not editorially reviewed |
| User profile bio link | rel="ugc" | User controls the link, not you |
| Comment link from a trusted, long-standing contributor | Can remove ugc (optional) | Google says you may reward quality contributors by removing the attribute |
| Affiliate link dropped in a comment by a user | rel="ugc sponsored" | Both conditions apply: user-generated and commercially motivated |
| Link to a source you do not endorse | rel="nofollow" | Not paid, not user-generated; catch-all case |
| Editorial link you genuinely vouch for | No attribute (dofollow) | You reviewed and chose this link; it should pass equity |
| Link in a widget or embedded content you sell | rel="sponsored" | Commercial arrangement, even if distributed via widget rather than inline anchor |
Do Paid or UGC Links Pass Any SEO Value?
The short answer: probably not much, by design. Links marked sponsored or ugc are signals to Google that it should be skeptical of them for ranking purposes. Whether they pass zero PageRank is less clear-cut than it was before March 2020.
Under the hints model, Google may choose to count or discount marked links based on its own systems. A ugc link from a highly authoritative site might still carry some weight. A sponsored link on a low-quality link farm will likely carry none. What you are doing with these attributes is giving Google accurate metadata to work with, not flipping a binary PageRank switch. For a deeper look at whether marked links influence rankings at all, see the data on whether nofollow links help SEO.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a rel=ugc link?
A rel="ugc" link is one where the ugc attribute has been added to the <a> tag to indicate the link was placed by a user, not by the site’s editorial team. Google introduced this attribute in September 2019 as a more specific alternative to nofollow for user-submitted links in comments, forum posts, and similar contexts. Google treats it as a hint, not a directive.
What is rel=sponsored used for?
rel="sponsored" is used on links that exist because of a paid arrangement: advertisements, affiliate links, paid reviews, sponsored content, and any link where compensation (money, products, or services) influenced whether the link was placed. It is Google’s preferred attribute for paid links, though rel="nofollow" remains an acceptable alternative for the same purpose.
What is the difference between nofollow, sponsored, and ugc?
All three tell Google you are not vouching for a link, but each describes a different reason. nofollow is the catch-all: use it when no other value fits. sponsored specifies the link was paid for. ugc specifies the link was added by a user. Since March 2020, Google treats all three as ranking hints rather than strict crawl directives.
Can I use nofollow instead of sponsored on paid links?
Yes. Google’s spam policies state that qualifying a paid link with either rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored" is acceptable. However, sponsored is Google’s preferred choice because it gives more precise signal. If you are updating a site that currently uses nofollow on all paid links, you do not need to convert them all at once; they remain valid.
Do sponsored and ugc links pass link equity?
Generally not in the way a plain dofollow link does. These attributes tell Google to apply skepticism to the link for ranking purposes. Under the hints model introduced in March 2020, Google may still crawl the linked page through other discovery paths and may apply some weight based on its own systems. But the intent of both attributes is to prevent the link from transferring earned ranking credit, and in practice that is how Google uses them.
Does WordPress automatically add rel=ugc to comments?
WordPress has added rel="ugc" to comment links by default since version 5.1. Most comment-management plugins follow the same pattern. If you are running an older WordPress install or a third-party commenting system, check your settings or plugin options to confirm ugc is being applied to visitor-submitted links automatically.
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