Google rel sponsored, ugc and nofollow
Google rel sponsored, ugc and nofollow,
as documented
When to use sponsored, ugc and nofollow on a link and what they do and do not stop, in Google's own words. Verified from Google's pages on 2026-10-07.
Google says that for certain links you might want to tell it your relationship with the linked page, by using a rel attribute value in the a tag. This page lists what Google documents about those values, with the wording taken from its page.
What Google documents
| Topic | What Google says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Why qualify links | “For certain links on your site, you might want to tell Google your relationship with the linked page.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Regular links | “For regular links that you expect Google to fetch and parse without any qualifications, you don't need to add a rel attribute.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| sponsored | “Mark links that are advertisements or paid placements (commonly called paid links ) with the sponsored value.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| nofollow for paid links | “The nofollow attribute was previously recommended for these types of links and is still an acceptable way to flag them, though sponsored is preferred.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| ugc | “We recommend marking user-generated content (UGC) links, such as comments and forum posts, with the ugc value.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Rewarding contributors | “If you want to recognize and reward trustworthy contributors, you might remove this attribute from links posted by members or users who have consistently made high-quality contributions over time.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| 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.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Links within your own site | “For links within your own site, use the robots.txt disallow rule .” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Multiple values | “You may specify multiple rel values as a space- or comma-separated list.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Generally not followed | “Links marked with these rel attributes will generally not be followed.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Other discovery paths | “Remember that the linked pages may be found through other means, such as sitemaps or links from other sites, and thus they may still be crawled.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| Where they work | “These rel attributes are used only in <a> elements that Google can crawl , except nofollow , which is also available as robots meta tag .” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
| To prevent indexing | “To prevent Google from indexing a page, allow crawling and use the noindex robots rule .” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-07 |
Examples
Google's own examples of a regular link, a paid link, a user-generated content link, a nofollow link and combined values.
<p>My favorite horse is the <a href="https://horses.example.com/Palomino">palomino</a>.</p>
<a rel="sponsored" href="https://cheese.example.com/Appenzeller_cheese">Appenzeller</a>
<a rel="ugc" href="https://cheese.example.com/Appenzeller_cheese">Appenzeller</a>
<a rel="nofollow" href="https://cheese.example.com/Appenzeller_cheese">Appenzeller</a>
<p>I love <a rel="ugc nofollow" href="https://cheese.example.com/Appenzeller_cheese">Appenzeller</a> cheese.</p>
<p>I hate <a rel="ugc,nofollow" href="https://cheese.example.com/blue_cheese">Blue</a> cheese.</p>Rules to remember
- Google says to mark paid links with sponsored, user-generated content links with ugc, and to use nofollow when neither applies.
- Google says these links will generally not be followed, but the linked pages may still be crawled.
- Google says to use noindex, with crawling allowed, to keep a page out of the index.
Questions
When should I use rel=sponsored?
Google says to mark links that are advertisements or paid placements, commonly called paid links, with the sponsored value. It says nofollow was previously recommended for these and is still acceptable, though sponsored is preferred.
When should I use rel=ugc?
Google recommends marking user-generated content links, such as comments and forum posts, with ugc. It says you might remove the attribute from links by members who have consistently made high-quality contributions over time.
When should I use nofollow?
Google says to use nofollow when other values don't apply and you'd rather Google not associate your site with, or crawl the linked page from, your site. For links within your own site it says to use the robots.txt disallow rule.
Can I combine rel values?
Yes. Google says you may specify multiple rel values as a space- or comma-separated list, for example ugc nofollow.
Do these attributes stop Google crawling the linked page?
Not reliably. Google says links marked with these attributes will generally not be followed, but the linked pages may be found through other means, such as sitemaps or links from other sites, and may still be crawled.
How do I keep a page out of the index?
Google says that to prevent Google from indexing a page you should allow crawling and use the noindex robots rule. The rel attributes are not an indexing control.
How current is this page?
Every row was read from Google's page on 2026-10-07, which showed "Last updated 2025-12-10 UTC". Google can change its documentation, so treat the linked page as the final word.
Sources
- Qualify your outbound links to Google (Google Search Central), read on 2026-10-07
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