01 The Rule
Use rel="nofollow" for untrusted links, rel="sponsored" for paid links, and rel="ugc" for user-generated content links. These attributes control link equity flow and protect your site from link scheme penalties.
Nofollow, Sponsored & UGC
Last updated: 2025-10-01
02 Rationale
Outbound links pass authority signals. Linking to low-quality or paid sites without nofollow can associate your domain with link schemes. At scale, user-generated content (comments, forum posts) creates millions of uncontrolled outbound links that must be managed.
03 Implementation
- Apply rel="nofollow" to all links you don't explicitly endorse
- Use rel="sponsored" for paid placements, affiliate links, and ads
- Apply rel="ugc" to links in user-generated content (comments, forums, profiles)
- Do not nofollow your own internal links (wastes PageRank)
- Multiple values can be combined: rel="nofollow ugc"
04 Common Violations & Consequences
Violation
Paid links without rel="sponsored"
Consequence
Link scheme violation; manual action risk for both sites
Violation
UGC links without rel="ugc" or rel="nofollow"
Consequence
Passing authority to potentially spammy user-submitted URLs
Violation
Nofollowing internal links to 'sculpt' PageRank
Consequence
PageRank evaporates — the equity is lost, not redistributed
05 The Fix
Audit all outbound links for proper rel attributes. Implement automatic ugc/nofollow on user-generated content. Remove nofollow from internal links where present.