rel="nofollow"
A link attribute telling search engines not to pass ranking credit through a link; since 2019 Google treats it as a hint rather than a…
Crawling IndexingSponsored link attribute
rel="sponsored"
A link attribute introduced by Google in 2019 to identify links created as part of advertising, sponsorships or other compensation agreements.
In full
rel=sponsored is the correct qualification for any link where money, product or other consideration changed hands, including affiliate links and paid placements. Using it (or nofollow) keeps the link inside Google's link spam policy; leaving paid links unqualified is what triggers link spam enforcement. Combining values is allowed, e.g. `rel="sponsored nofollow"`.
Example
An affiliate review site marks every outbound merchant link `rel="sponsored"`.
Related terms
rel="ugc"
A link attribute marking links that originate in user-generated content such as comments, forum posts and profile fields.
Link spam
Google's spam policy category covering links intended to manipulate rankings: buying or selling links, excessive exchanges, automated link…
Affiliate SEO
Earning search traffic for content monetised through affiliate commissions; permitted by Google when the content adds substantial original…
Digital PR
Earning editorial coverage and links from media outlets through newsworthy assets (original data, expert commentary, campaigns) rather…