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Learn when to use normal, nofollow, sponsored, and UGC links, how they affect crawling, indexing, and ranking, and how to audit link attributes.
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Updated on Sep 10, 2026
A “dofollow” link is simply a normal link without a qualifying relationship value; there is no useful rel="dofollow" attribute. Use rel="sponsored" for paid or affiliate links, rel="ugc" for user-added links, and rel="nofollow" when you do not want to associate your site with a destination. Google treats these values as hints, not absolute crawl or ranking commands.
| Relationship | Recommended markup | Appropriate use | What it does not do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal editorial | <a href="URL">Text</a> |
An editorial source you choose to reference | Guarantee ranking credit |
| Nofollow | rel="nofollow" |
You do not want to imply association or endorsement | Reliably block crawling or indexing |
| Sponsored | rel="sponsored" |
Ads, sponsorships, affiliate and compensated placements | Make a paid link editorial |
| UGC | rel="ugc" |
Comments, forums, profiles, community posts | Prove every user link is safe |
A nofollow link contains rel="nofollow". It qualifies the relationship between the publishing page and destination. Google introduced it to address comment spam and now treats nofollow, sponsored, and UGC as hints when deciding how to analyze links.
<a href="https://example.com" rel="nofollow"><strong>Example</strong></a>This does not guarantee that a search engine will never discover, crawl, or index the destination. It also does not make the destination untrustworthy. It describes this publisher's relationship to this particular link.
“Dofollow” is informal SEO language for an ordinary hyperlink without nofollow, sponsored, or ugc.
<a href="https://example.com">Example</a>Do not add rel="dofollow"; it is unnecessary. A normal editorial link can be considered by ranking systems, but no individual link guarantees a position increase.
Use the relationship that accurately describes why the link exists:
rel="sponsored" for advertising, sponsorship, affiliate commissions, gifts tied to coverage, or other compensation.rel="ugc" for links placed by users in comments, forums, profiles, and similar areas.rel="nofollow" when neither specific value fits but you do not want to imply association.rel="ugc nofollow".<a href="https://advertiser.example" rel="sponsored">Sponsor</a>
<a href="https://community.example" rel="ugc nofollow">Community link</a>For current guidance, see Google Search Central's outbound-link documentation.
Ask four questions:
Examples:
| Scenario | Recommended treatment | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Independent source cited in an article | Normal link | Editorial choice |
| Affiliate product link | Sponsored | Commercial relationship |
| Paid review or advertorial | Sponsored | Compensation affected placement |
| Comment/forum link | UGC or UGC + nofollow | User created it |
| Widget or embed distributed at scale | Nofollow or sponsored where applicable | Publisher did not make a normal editorial choice |
| Internal category or related-article link | Normal internal link | Helps navigation and site structure |
| Login/cart/admin URL | Use appropriate architecture/access controls | Nofollow is not reliable crawl control |
Link attributes are often misused because three separate questions are combined:
Nofollow is not a substitute for authentication, a correct robots.txt strategy, or a crawlable noindex directive. If a private page must remain private, protect it with access control. If a page should not appear in search, use the appropriate index-control method and verify it in Search Console.
Normal internal links help people and crawlers understand hierarchy, related topics, and important pages. Adding nofollow to ordinary internal navigation or contextual links can weaken that structure without guaranteeing crawl savings.
For example, this guide can naturally point readers to Dageno's articles about tracking AI citations and brand mentions and evaluating AI visibility checkers. Those are ordinary internal links because they help the reader continue the topic.
Use canonicalization, redirects, removal of duplicate URL paths, parameter handling, access controls, robots directives, and noindex according to the actual problem. Do not use nofollow as a universal technical-SEO shortcut.
Right-click a link, select Inspect, and check the final anchor element. A CMS or JavaScript component may produce different markup from what the editor shows.
Export source URL, destination URL, anchor text, status code, link placement, and rel values. Flag paid links without sponsored, user areas without UGC controls, and ordinary internal links carrying nofollow.
A wrong attribute in a header, footer, author box, product card, or affiliate component can affect thousands of pages. Fix the component rather than editing every page manually.
Check redirects, canonical targets, status codes, and whether the final destination differs from the linked URL. Relationship attributes remain important even when an affiliate or ad link redirects.
Re-crawl and inspect representative pages. Confirm the rendered DOM, not only the CMS record.
rel="dofollow" and assuming it creates extra value.noopener and noreferrer solve different browser/privacy concerns.Search link attributes do not provide a universal instruction to every AI system. AI products can use different indexes, retrieval partners, crawlers, and citation methods. A nofollow brand mention may still produce referral traffic and awareness, but it should not be presented as guaranteed AI-citation authority.
Dageno helps observe the evidence directly: which domains and URLs are cited in monitored answers, where competitors appear, and which source gaps deserve investigation. Botsight Analytics adds crawler and referral context, while a conventional backlink tool remains useful for link relationships and referring domains.
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Get started - it's free! >They can support discovery, referral traffic, awareness, and a natural link profile, but the attribute does not promise ranking credit. Evaluate the audience, placement, relevance, and actual business outcome.
No. Use a normal link for a genuine editorial reference you are comfortable associating with. Use sponsored for compensation, UGC for user-added content, and nofollow for other non-endorsement cases.
No. A destination may be discovered elsewhere. Use the appropriate indexing or access-control method for the real requirement.
Google recommends sponsored for advertisements and paid placements, including affiliate relationships. Nofollow remains acceptable where sponsored is not used, but sponsored describes the relationship more precisely.
Label the relationship honestly: normal links for editorial references, sponsored for compensation, UGC for user-added links, and nofollow for other non-endorsement cases. Keep ordinary internal links followed, and solve crawl/index problems with the controls designed for them.
Updated by
Ye Faye
Ye Faye is an SEO and AI growth executive with extensive experience spanning leading SEO service providers and high-growth AI companies, bringing a rare blend of search intelligence and AI product expertise. As a former Marketing Operations Director, he has led cross-functional, data-driven initiatives that improve go-to-market execution, accelerate scalable growth, and elevate marketing effectiveness. He focuses on Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), helping organizations adapt their content and visibility strategies for generative search and AI-driven discovery, and strengthening authoritative presence across platforms such as ChatGPT and Perplexity
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