guide · 2026-08-01
Dofollow vs Nofollow vs UGC vs Sponsored: The rel Attribute Guide
The four link types every SEO needs to know, what each passes (or does not), and why Google introduced sponsored and ugc in 2019.
Every outbound link on a page carries a rel attribute that tells search engines how to weigh it. There are four types that matter for link building. Knowing which is which decides whether a link you earned actually counts.
The four types
- dofollow — the default when no
relis set. Passes link equity (ranking power). This is the one you want. - nofollow (
rel="nofollow") — a hint not to pass equity. Historically for paid or untrusted links. - sponsored (
rel="sponsored") — introduced 2019 for paid placements, ads, and affiliate links. - ugc (
rel="ugc") — user-generated content: comments, forum posts.
Why Google added sponsored and ugc
In 2019, Google split the single nofollow into three hints so it could understand why a link should not pass equity — because it was paid (sponsored) or because anyone could have written it (ugc). All three are now hints rather than directives, but for link builders the practical rule is unchanged: only dofollow reliably passes the equity you are building for.
Why this matters for tracking
A "backlink" count is meaningless without the type mix. 100 nofollow links count for far less than 20 dofollow ones from similar domains. A tracker that classifies each link into the right bucket — by reading the rel on the live page — turns your backlog from a number into a quality-adjusted picture.