rel=sponsored, ugc and nofollow: which to use on paid and user links
Put rel=sponsored on paid links, rel=ugc on links your users write and rel=nofollow on links you won't vouch for. A rule per link type, with the markup.
LLaunchScaler·Published ·8 min read
Use rel="sponsored" on any link someone paid for (ads, sponsored posts, paid directory and featured placements), with nofollow also accepted; use rel="ugc" on links inside content your users write, such as comments and forum posts; and use rel="nofollow" for any other link you would rather Google not associate with your site. Google introduced sponsored and ugc in September 2019, and a paid link left without either value is link spam under its policies.
The rule is about who put the link there and why. Editorial links you chose because they help the reader need no attribute at all.
What do rel sponsored, ugc and nofollow mean?
They are values of the rel attribute on an <a> tag that tell Google about your relationship with the linked page. Google's documentation says that "for regular links that you expect Google to fetch and parse without any qualifications, you don't need to add a rel attribute." The three values exist for links that are not ordinary editorial choices.
Value
Google's definition
Markup
sponsored
"Mark links that are advertisements or paid placements (commonly called paid links) with the sponsored value."
Questions, answered
What people ask about this
01
What is rel=sponsored?
rel="sponsored" is a link attribute value that marks a link as an advertisement or paid placement. Google introduced it in September 2019 and says it is the preferred way to flag paid links, with nofollow still accepted.
"We recommend marking user-generated content (UGC) links, such as comments and forum posts, with the ugc value."
<a rel="ugc" href="...">
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 rel="nofollow" href="...">
You can combine values, "as a space- or comma-separated list," for example rel="ugc nofollow". Google says "links marked with these rel attributes will generally not be followed," while noting the linked pages "may be found through other means, such as sitemaps or links from other sites." The basics of followed versus qualified links are in nofollow vs dofollow.
Which rel value goes on which kind of link?
Decide by the reason the link exists. If money, goods or services changed hands for it, it is sponsored. If a user of your site wrote it, it is ugc. If you chose it as a reference because it helps the reader, it needs nothing. nofollow covers the rest: links you must include but do not vouch for.
User content; optimized signature links are a named spam pattern
Free, editorially reviewed directory listing
None
<a href="https://product.example/">
You chose to list it on its merits
Sources you cite in an article
None
<a href="https://source.example/study">
An editorial reference
Links to your own pages
None
<a href="/pricing">
Google says to use robots.txt, not nofollow, to keep its crawler off parts of your own site
Two cases people get wrong. First, badges and widgets: Google lists "requiring a link as part of a Terms of Service, contract, or similar arrangement without allowing a third-party content owner the choice of qualifying the outbound link" as link spam, so a badge you are asked to place should let you add nofollow. Second, trusted contributors: Google says you "might remove" ugc "from links posted by members or users who have consistently made high-quality contributions over time."
Which value should a directory or launch platform use?
A directory's links fall into all three groups, depending on how each listing got there. The value should follow the listing's route onto the page, not the platform's overall business model. Buyers checking a platform before paying can read these values in the source of any live listing.
How the listing got there
Value
Reviewed and accepted by an editor, no payment
None needed
Paid inclusion, a paid boost or a featured slot
sponsored
Posted by users with no review, such as open submissions or comment threads
ugc
Kept for reference, but the platform no longer vouches for it
nofollow
A platform can mix these on one page: a featured card at the top with sponsored, and editorially accepted listings below with no attribute. What matters is that the paid ones are never left followed.
When did Google introduce rel=sponsored and rel=ugc?
Google announced both values on September 10, 2019. The same announcement turned all three values into hints: "All the link attributes, sponsored, ugc, and nofollow, are treated as hints about which links to consider or exclude within Search." They worked as ranking hints straight away, and "for crawling and indexing purposes, nofollow will become a hint as of March 1, 2020."
Nothing you already marked needs changing. Google's answer to whether existing nofollow links on ads must be updated is "No. You can keep using nofollow as a method for flagging such links to avoid possible link scheme penalties." It recommends switching to sponsored for paid links when convenient, and today's documentation says nofollow "is still an acceptable way to flag them, though sponsored is preferred."
On choosing the wrong value, Google's answer is narrow: "There's no wrong attribute except in the case of sponsored links." Tagging a comment link sponsored does no harm; leaving a paid link unqualified does.
What happens if a paid link is left followed?
A paid link that passes ranking credit falls under Google's definition of link spam, "creating links to or from a site primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings." That applies to both sides: the site that sold the link and the site that bought it. Google's traffic-drop guide says sites that don't comply with its spam policies "might rank lower in results or not appear in results at all."
Google does not object to paid links as such. Its policy states that "buying and selling links is a normal part of the economy of the web for advertising and sponsorship purposes," and that it is "not a violation of our policies to have such links as long as they are qualified with a rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored" attribute value." The attribute is what makes a paid placement compliant.
Before you buy a placement anywhere, check a live example of it: view the page source, find the sponsor's link and read its rel. A seller offering a followed link for money is offering exactly what the policy describes. Weighing whether a paid placement is worth it on other grounds is covered in is a featured placement worth it.
How do you add rel values on your site?
Add them in the HTML of each link, or programmatically for whole classes of links such as user comments and ad slots. Handling them in code is safer than relying on editors to remember, because a single followed ad link is enough to put a page outside the policy. Most CMS link dialogs and rich-text editors also accept raw HTML with a rel.
In a template or component:
<!-- Sponsored post: every link to the sponsor -->
<a href="https://sponsor.example/" rel="sponsored">Sponsor name</a>
<!-- Comment body: user-written link -->
<a href="https://commenter.example/" rel="ugc nofollow">their site</a>
For user-generated HTML, set the attribute when you sanitise it, so no user link can skip it:
// Mark every link in user-submitted HTML before storing or rendering it
const doc = new DOMParser().parseFromString(userHtml, "text/html");
doc.querySelectorAll("a[href]").forEach((a) => a.setAttribute("rel", "ugc nofollow"));
const safeHtml = doc.body.innerHTML;
Then check the output the way a crawler sees it: view the page source, not the live DOM, and confirm every paid or user link carries its value. A test that fails the build when an ad component renders a link without sponsored stops the mistake reaching production.
Does a paid link also need a visible label?
Yes, for readers. The rel value is read by search engines and is invisible on the page, so it does nothing for the person deciding whether to trust what they are reading. Disclosure to readers is a separate obligation. In the US, the FTC's Endorsement Guides say a connection that "a significant minority of consumers wouldn't expect" and that would affect how they judge an endorsement "should be disclosed clearly and conspicuously."
Put a plain label next to the placement ("Sponsored," "Paid placement," "Ad") and disclose paid reviews at the top of the review, not in a footer. For affiliate links, the FTC suggests wording such as "I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post." Google's guidance on reviews also points writers who use affiliate links to its position on affiliate programs. What the rules require for paid reviews and endorsements is covered in paid review disclosure rules.
Buy a placement that is labelled as paid
If you want a week in front of people already browsing for tools, LaunchScaler Featured sells exactly that as labelled paid placement: every featured slot is labelled, so a reader always knows it was paid for. Spotlight is $19 a week for a card in the discovery rail, Category is $49 a week for one of five slots at the top of your category, and Global is $199 a week for the homepage hero, each with a Featured badge, views and click-throughs counted while it runs, and a mention in the newsletter. Book 1 to 4 weeks and see your start date up front. Get featured.
Use rel="ugc" on links inside content your users create, such as comments, forum posts, reviews and profiles. Google says you may remove it from links posted by contributors who have consistently made high-quality contributions over time.
03
Can I use rel="nofollow sponsored" together?
Yes. Google accepts multiple rel values separated by spaces or commas, so rel="sponsored nofollow" or rel="ugc nofollow" are both valid. Adding nofollow keeps compatibility with services that only read nofollow.
04
What happens if I don't mark a paid link as sponsored?
A paid link that passes ranking credit is link spam under Google's spam policies, and Google says sites that don't comply may rank lower or not appear in results at all. Marking it sponsored or nofollow keeps the placement within the policy.
05
Should affiliate links be rel=sponsored?
Google's rel guidance defines sponsored as advertisements or paid placements and does not name affiliate links separately. An affiliate link pays you per sale, so marking it sponsored is the reading that keeps you clear of the paid-links rule.
Since September 2019 Google shows no review stars for Organization or LocalBusiness reviews a business hosts about itself. Where product stars come from.
