The three values and when to use them

  • sponsored: ads, affiliate links and paid placements. Google prefers it over nofollow for paid links.
  • ugc: links posted by users in comments or forums. You can drop it for consistently trustworthy contributors.
  • nofollow: the catch-all when neither fits and you do not want to vouch for the destination.

A hint, not a command

Values can be combined, separated by a space or a comma, for example rel="ugc nofollow". Links carrying these attributes are generally not followed, but the destination may still be crawled if Google finds it through a sitemap or other sites. Nofollow is therefore not a way to keep a page out of the index: that takes a noindex tag.

Since introducing sponsored and ugc in 2019, Google has treated all three attributes as hints rather than strict directives, which means it may still use a nofollowed link to discover content.

When to use it on your site

Always qualify affiliate links, sponsored post links, links posted by your users and links inside widgets you distribute to other sites. Do not use nofollow on internal links to steer authority: for your own pages you do not want crawled, Google recommends a robots.txt disallow rule instead. A link to an official source you cite has no reason to be nofollowed, and disclosing affiliate relationships to readers is a separate FTC requirement that the attribute does not satisfy.

Yes, even without direct ranking credit. They send qualified traffic, build brand awareness and belong in any natural link profile: Wikipedia and many news sites nofollow their outbound links, so a site with none at all would look unusual. A newspaper article that cites you with a nofollow link can bring more customers than a followed link on a blog nobody reads.