{"id":456,"date":"2026-03-06T00:19:50","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T16:19:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.funseoscan.com\/?p=456"},"modified":"2026-03-06T00:24:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T16:24:37","slug":"rel-nofollow-ugc-sponsored-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funseoscan.com\/blog\/rel-nofollow-ugc-sponsored-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"rel=”nofollow” Explained: When to Use It and the Difference Between UGC & Sponsored"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the world of SEO, links are like votes. When you link to another website, you are essentially telling Google: “I trust this site, and I am willing to pass some of my own website’s authority (PageRank) over to them.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By default, every link you create is a “dofollow”<\/strong> link. But what happens if you need to link to a website that you don’t<\/em> completely trust? Or what if someone pays you to put a link on your blog? If you pass your hard-earned SEO authority to spammy or paid websites, Google might actually penalize your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is exactly why the rel=\"nofollow\"<\/code> attribute was invented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, Google has evolved this system to include two additional, highly specific attributes: rel=\"ugc\"<\/code> and rel=\"sponsored\"<\/code>. In this guide, we will break down exactly what these tags mean, when to use them, and how to avoid massive SEO penalties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What is a Nofollow Link?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Introduced in 2005 to combat blog comment spam, the rel=\"nofollow\"<\/code> attribute is a simple piece of HTML code added to a hyperlink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<a href=\"https:\/\/example.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">Click Here<\/a><\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Googlebot crawls your page and sees this tag, the instruction is clear: Do not pass my PageRank to this target URL, and do not use this link to help the target rank higher.<\/strong> Note: In 2019, Google updated its algorithm to treat nofollow<\/code> attributes as “hints” rather than strict directives. While they generally won’t pass authority, Google reserves the right to evaluate the link on its own terms.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 2019 Evolution: UGC and Sponsored Attributes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As the internet grew, Google realized that grouping every single untrusted link under “nofollow” wasn’t giving their algorithm enough context. Is it a spam comment? Is it a paid advertisement? To clarify this, Google introduced two new attributes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is the breakdown of the three attributes and exactly when you should use them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. rel=”sponsored” (For Paid and Affiliate Links)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If money, products, or services changed hands in exchange for a link, you must<\/strong> use the rel=\"sponsored\"<\/code> attribute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n