Dofollow, Nofollow, Sponsored and UGC Links: What Changes

"Dofollow" is not an official attribute: it is the nickname for a backlink with no label at all, which Google can follow normally. nofollow, sponsored and ugc, on the other hand, are labels of the rel attribute that tell Google the link is of a special kind. Google treats all three as hints, not commands, and asks for sponsored on paid links.

Quick summary

• There is no rel="dofollow". What people call dofollow is an ordinary link with no attribute.
• sponsored marks paid links and ads, ugc marks links in user-generated content (comments, forums) and nofollow is the generic label for when you do not want to endorse the destination.
• Since 2019 (and 2020 for crawling), Google treats all three attributes as hints. A labeled link can still be discovered and crawled.
• To check a link, inspect the page's HTML: the rel attribute shows up in the <a> tag.
• Paid links should use sponsored. Buying links to manipulate rankings is still a violation of the spam policies.
• A natural profile mixes types. A labeled link can bring visits and mentions, even if it helps less with ranking.

How to read this guide

If you are a beginner, read the first table, the example and the step-by-step, and save the "For SEO professionals" blocks for later. If you already work in SEO, go to the sections on hints, edge cases and command-line checks.

What do dofollow, nofollow, sponsored and UGC mean?

They are four situations a link can be in. Three of them are official labels in the rel attribute of the <a> tag; the fourth, "dofollow", is just the popular name for a link with no label.

Name	How it appears in HTML	When to use	What Google says
"Dofollow"	No rel	An ordinary editorial citation	Not an official value. With no label, Google may use the link to discover the destination
nofollow	rel="nofollow"	When no other value applies and you prefer Google not to associate your site with the destination	General-purpose value
sponsored	rel="sponsored"	Ads and paid placements	Preferred value for paid links
ugc	rel="ugc"	Links posted by users, such as comments and forums	Value for user-generated content

The values appear in Google's documentation on qualifying outbound links. It says that nofollow used to be the recommended value for paid links and is still acceptable, but that sponsored is preferred. It also allows combining values, separated by a space or comma, such as rel="ugc nofollow". And it states that Google may stop requiring ugc on links from members who consistently contribute quality.

<a href="https://yoursite.com/guide">Ordinary, no label</a>
<a href="https://yoursite.com/guide" rel="sponsored">Paid link</a>
<a href="https://yoursite.com/guide" rel="ugc nofollow">Comment link</a>

In plain English: think of a shop sign. A spontaneous recommendation ("check out Ana's bakery") is an ordinary link. A paid ad ("check out Ana's bakery, brought to you by Ana") is a sponsored. A note on the neighborhood bulletin board, written by any resident, is a ugc. And nofollow is "I don't vouch for it, I'm just showing it."

For SEO professionals: rel accepts several values. In practice, use the most specific one (sponsored or ugc); some people add nofollow out of habit, which the documentation allows. Values such as dofollow, follow or index inside rel are not in Google's documentation and should not be used.

Does Google obey these attributes?

It treats them as hints, not commands. In September 2019, Google announced, in the post Evolving nofollow, two new attributes (sponsored and ugc) and began using all three as hints for ranking. From March 1, 2020, nofollow also became a hint for crawling and indexing. Anyone who already had nofollow links did not need to change anything.

What does this mean in practice? A labeled link can still be crawled and used to discover the destination page. Google's own documentation says links with these values "generally will not be followed," but they can be discovered by other paths, such as sitemaps or other sites.

There is also a difference between a link label and a page-level rule. The robots meta tag with nofollow applies to every link on that page, not just one. If the source page of your backlink uses that tag, the link will not be followed, even with no rel on the <a>.

For SEO professionals: three edge cases to check in an audit. First, a meta robots tag or an X-Robots-Tag header with nofollow on the source page. Second, links built by JavaScript without <a href>: according to Google's link best practices, only links in <a> with an href are reliably crawled. Third, tracking links: check that the href really leads to your URL and not to an intermediate address.

Which attribute should you use on your site's links?

Use sponsored for what is paid or exchanged, ugc for what users post and nofollow for what you do not want to endorse. Everything else, no label. Google's spam policy considers buying or selling links, exchanging goods or services for links and publishing advertorials with links that pass ranking to be link spam, and says it is not a violation to have such links if they are qualified with nofollow or sponsored.

Situation	Recommended attribute
Ad or sponsored text	sponsored
Paid post where you keep the link to the advertiser	sponsored
Product or service received in exchange for a review with a link	sponsored
Affiliate link (commission per sale)	sponsored (our interpretation: Google does not detail affiliates on that page)
Comment, forum, user profile	ugc
Site you mention but do not want to endorse	nofollow
Source you genuinely recommend	No label

The opposite mistake exists too: tagging every external link nofollow out of fear. You lose the chance to credit good sources, and Google does not ask for it. Use the label for what is paid, from users or not endorsed.

How do you check which attribute a link has?

Open the HTML of the page where the link sits and look for rel in the <a> tag that leads to your site. In a browser it takes under a minute, and you can repeat it in bulk with a command line.

1. Open the source page and locate the link.
2. Right-click the link and choose "Inspect". The panel shows the full <a> tag.
3. Read the rel attribute. If there is none, the link is ordinary.
4. Check the meta robots tag. Search for <meta name="robots" in the page code and see if there is a nofollow.
5. Confirm the link is in the HTML. If it only appears after the page loads with JavaScript, use Inspect, not "view source".

For static pages, this command shows the tags that point to your domain:

curl -sL "https://example-blog.com/post" | grep -io '<a [^>]*yoursite\.com[^>]*>'

Backlink tools, such as Ahrefs and Semrush, usually show whether a link is "dofollow" or "nofollow" in lists. Use them for triage, and confirm the links that matter in the HTML, because not all of them tell sponsored and ugc apart or recognize the page's meta robots tag.

What changes in practice for whoever receives the link?

For ranking, links with no label are the natural candidates to pass signal, and Google uses the labels as hints about which links to consider or exclude. But the value does not stop there: a labeled link can still generate visits, citations and discovery of your brand by new readers.

Platforms that publish user content (comments, forums, profiles) generally apply ugc or nofollow by default, and that is not a problem, because this type of link does not begin as an editorial referral. Outlets that charge to publish, on the other hand, should use sponsored.

That is why a healthy backlink profile mixes types. Demanding only unlabeled links from every partner is unrealistic, and a profile of 100% unlabeled links, all from paid publications, is the opposite of what looks natural. The post on the natural backlink profile shows how to assess that mix.

If you buy links, the tension with the rules is real: a paid link marked sponsored is in line with Google's guidance but should not pass ranking credit; a paid link with no marking is the scenario the spam policy describes as a violation. Ask the vendor, before paying, which attribute will be used, and decide knowingly. The full discussion is in is buying backlinks safe?.

In plain English: a link with sponsored is like a signed ad: honest, but no one expects Google to treat it like a spontaneous recommendation. A paid link with no signature is an ad disguised as a referral, and that is what the rules prohibit.

Hypothetical example: auditing five received links

The table uses a fictional site, and it is there to train your eye.

Link received	rel found	Reading	What to do
Citation in a niche blog post	None	Ordinary editorial link	Keep the relationship, say thanks
News article from a portal	nofollow	Normal at many outlets	Value the visit and the mention
Comment on a blog	ugc nofollow	Correct marking of user content	Little ranking value, no action
Clearly commercial "partner" post	None	Possible paid link without marking: risk for the site owner	Ask the partner, and consider requesting sponsored
Footer repeated across thousands of pages	None	Artificial link pattern	Do not depend on it. If the volume is large, see penalties for artificial links and disavow

If the volume of artificial links grows, Google may apply a manual action for unnatural links, which shows up in the Manual actions report in Search Console. In that case there is a reconsideration process, which can take days or weeks, and longer when links are involved.

Which mistakes should you avoid with link attributes?

• Thinking nofollow is worthless. It can bring a visit, a mention and discovery.
• Demanding an unlabeled link from every partner. It is unrealistic, and the profile looks odd.
• Writing rel="dofollow". That value does not exist in the documentation.
• Paying for a link and not marking it. It is the scenario the spam policy describes.
• Tagging everything nofollow out of fear. You lose the credit to good sources.
• Checking by tool only. Confirm the links that matter in the HTML.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a rel="dofollow"?

No. The rel attribute has no such value, and it is not in Google's documentation. "Dofollow" is only the nickname for an ordinary link, without nofollow, sponsored or ugc. If you or your vendor write rel="dofollow", there is no documented effect: treat the link as one with no label.

Does a nofollow link pass authority?

Google treats nofollow as a hint, not a rule, so it may or may not consider the link. Since there is no way to measure it from the outside, assume the direct ranking effect is smaller. Even so, the link can generate visits, mentions and discovery, which have value of their own.

Which attribute should I use on a paid link?

sponsored, which Google gives as preferred for ads and paid placements. nofollow remains acceptable. The spam policy allows paid links as long as they are qualified with one of these values. Buying a link to pass ranking without qualifying it violates the policy.

How do I know if one of my backlinks is dofollow?

Inspect the source page and look at the <a> tag: if there is no rel with nofollow, sponsored or ugc, and the page has no meta robots with nofollow, it is an ordinary link. Backlink tools show this in a list, but confirm the links that matter in the HTML.

Do I have to use ugc on comment links on my blog?

It is Google's recommendation for comment and forum links. You can remove the attribute for users who contribute consistently and with quality. Many content management systems already apply ugc or nofollow to comments by default, but it is worth checking your site's HTML.

Next step

Now that you can read a link's label, the next step is the clickable text: see anchor text: types, ratios and mistakes. If you are thinking of buying links, also read is buying backlinks safe? and only then look at Contentor's Brazilian backlinks: permanent, contextual links on Portuguese-language sites, from $49 per link in a white niche, with free replacement for 6 months. Decide with an awareness of Google's policy.

Read also:

• What backlinks are and why they matter for SEO and AI
• Natural backlink profile: what it looks like and how to build one
• Penalties for artificial links and how to use disavow