rel="sponsored" and rel="ugc"

Definition

Google lists three rel values for telling it about a site's relationship with a linked page:

sponsored is the value Google asks for on paid links, and its spam policies list buying or selling links for ranking purposes as link spam. ugc is recommended for comments and forum posts; Google notes that a platform may remove it from links posted by contributors with a consistent record of quality.

In practice

Values can be combined in a space- or comma-separated list, so rel="sponsored nofollow" or rel="ugc,nofollow" are both valid. Platforms often send the combined form so that crawlers unaware of the newer values still see nofollow.

Google treats all three as hints. Links carrying them are generally not followed, but the destination can still be crawled if Google finds it through sitemaps or other sites. The attributes apply only to crawlable <a> elements.

Typical defaults on common platforms:

• Comment systems and forums: ugc, often with nofollow.
• Sponsored post marketplaces and ad networks: sponsored.
• Editorial links in article bodies: no qualifier.

Relation to backlink indexing

A sponsored or ugc attribute does not prevent the page holding the link from being indexed. It changes how Google treats the link, not whether the page enters the index. A purchased guest post marked sponsored still has to be crawled and indexed before anyone can confirm it is live in Google.

That is why backlink indexing and link qualification are audited separately. A backlink indexer works on the first question (getting the page crawled), while the attribute answers the second. The IndexChex backlink monitor records whether each link carries nofollow, sponsored or ugc, which helps buyers confirm that the link they paid for matches what was agreed.

Related terms

• rel="nofollow", the general-purpose qualifier
• Tiered links, where qualifier choice is often ignored
• Link rot, when qualified links disappear over time
• Crawling, which the hints influence

Back to the indexing glossary.