What Is Sponsored Link Attribute?
Written byFlavio Amiel Founder, Roborank
The sponsored link attribute is the rel=“sponsored” value used to mark a hyperlink as an advertisement, paid placement, or other compensated link. Announced by Google in September 2019, it tells search engines the link was created in exchange for payment so ranking credit should not pass through it. It is Google’s preferred way to disclose paid links.
- rel=“sponsored” marks links that are advertisements or paid placements — Google’s preferred value for any compensated link.
- Google announced sponsored alongside ugc on September 10, 2019, as a more specific alternative to plain nofollow.
- All three link attributes — sponsored, ugc, and nofollow — act as hints Google weighs rather than strict directives.
- You can combine values as a space-separated list, so rel=“sponsored ugc” validly marks a paid link that also came from user-generated content.
How the Sponsored Link Attribute Works
The sponsored link attribute is a value you place in a link’s rel attribute: <a href="https://advertiser.com" rel="sponsored">. It tells Google one specific thing — this link exists because of payment. Because search engines treat a link as a small vote of confidence that can pass link equity, a paid link would otherwise let advertisers buy ranking credit. The rel="sponsored" value closes that loophole by disclosing the commercial relationship, so Google withholds the credit.
Google’s documentation is direct about its purpose: mark links that are advertisements or paid placements, commonly called paid links, with the sponsored value. That covers display ads, sponsorships, paid reviews, and affiliate links — any hyperlink where compensation, not editorial judgment, is the reason it exists. Like its sibling attributes, sponsored functions as a hint rather than an absolute directive, one signal Google weighs when deciding how to treat the link.
Why It Exists
Before September 2019, publishers had one tool for every kind of link they didn’t want to vouch for: plain nofollow. That was blunt. A paid ad and a spammy forum comment got the same undifferentiated tag, which told Google nothing about why the link was being qualified. The sponsored attribute adds precision. By naming the commercial nature of a link explicitly, it lets Google understand the web’s linking patterns more accurately and gives publishers a cleaner, more defensible way to disclose paid placements.
That disclosure angle is the practical value. Google’s link-scheme guidance treats undisclosed paid links as a violation, so marking compensated links with rel="sponsored" is not just tidy markup — it is how a site stays on the right side of the rules while still running advertising and affiliate programs.
Where to Use rel=“sponsored”
- Display advertising — banner and native ads sold to advertisers.
- Affiliate links — product links that earn a commission on referred sales.
- Paid reviews and sponsorships — coverage published in exchange for payment or free product.
- Paid guest placements — any link inserted into your content as part of a paid arrangement.
Plain nofollow remains an acceptable fallback for all of these, but sponsored describes them more precisely, and combining values — for example rel="sponsored ugc" — lets you flag a link that is both paid and user-submitted in one attribute.
Example of the Sponsored Link Attribute
The attribute’s origin is a documented, dated event. On September 10, 2019, Google published “Evolving ‘nofollow’ — new ways to identify the nature of links,” introducing rel="sponsored" for advertisements and paid placements and rel="ugc" for user-generated content, to sit alongside the existing rel="nofollow". In that announcement Google stated the three attributes would work as hints for ranking purposes immediately, and that nofollow would additionally become a hint for crawling and indexing on March 1, 2020.
Two details from the announcement shape how sponsored is used today. First, Google recommended that publishers switch sponsored content to rel="sponsored" when convenient, while reassuring them that existing nofollow links did not need to change — nofollow remains an acceptable fallback for paid links, but sponsored is preferred. Second, Google confirmed that rel accepts multiple space- or comma-separated values, so a link that is both paid and user-submitted can validly carry rel="sponsored ugc". The example makes the attribute’s role concrete: it is a precise, Google-blessed disclosure that a link was bought, not earned.
The reason I push clients toward rel=“sponsored” over plain nofollow for paid links is that it is a disclosure, and disclosure is protection. Undisclosed paid links are one of the oldest ways to trip a manual action, and "we nofollowed it" is a weaker defense than "we explicitly told Google it was sponsored." The specific value signals good faith. It also future-proofs you: Google asked the ecosystem to move toward these granular attributes, and being early on the right side of that request costs nothing. If a link exists because money changed hands — an ad, an affiliate link, a paid review, a sponsorship — mark it sponsored and stop overthinking it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the rel="sponsored" attribute?
When should I use rel="sponsored"?
Is sponsored the same as nofollow?
Can I combine sponsored with other attributes?
The Bottom Line
The sponsored link attribute, rel=“sponsored”, is how you tell Google a link is an advertisement or paid placement so no ranking credit flows through it. Introduced in September 2019 as the preferred, more specific alternative to nofollow for compensated links, it doubles as a disclosure that helps keep a site clear of paid-link penalties. Reach for it whenever money created the link.
Sources
- Qualify your outbound links to Google — Google Search Central
- Evolving “nofollow” — new ways to identify the nature of links — Google Search Central Blog
Roborank scans your pages for paid or affiliate links missing the rel=“sponsored” attribute — so undisclosed placements don’t quietly put your site at risk.
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