Link types: dofollow, nofollow, sponsored, ugc
A link can carry a rel attribute that tells search engines how the linking site relates to the page it links to. The panel shows a ? next to each type with the same short explanation as this page.
Short answer
dofollow passes ranking credit. nofollow says "we do not vouch for this". sponsored marks a paid or exchanged placement and is the type Google asks for when money changes hands. ugc marks links in user content such as comments. Google treats nofollow, sponsored and ugc as hints, not commands.
What each type tells Google
| Type | Markup | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| dofollow | no rel, or a rel without the values below |
A normal editorial link. It passes PageRank. |
| nofollow | rel="nofollow" |
The site does not vouch for the target. |
| sponsored | rel="sponsored" |
The link is part of an advert, sponsorship or other paid arrangement. |
| ugc | rel="ugc" |
The link sits in user-generated content: comments, forum posts, reviews. |
"Dofollow" is not an attribute of its own; it is the name for a link with none of the three values.
Which one for a paid post
Google's position is that a link placed in exchange for money, goods or services should be marked sponsored (or nofollow). A paid link that passes PageRank — a paid dofollow link — is against Google's spam policies on link spam. How to mark links is described in Google's guide to qualifying outbound links.
What they still give you
Since 2020 Google reads nofollow, sponsored and ugc as hints: it may still use such a link to discover the target page or as a signal. A marked link can also bring visitors, brand searches and mentions on a site your audience reads. Google does not publish how much weight a hint carries, so no tool can give you a reliable number for it; Glimana does not.
Risk
- Paid dofollow links are what Google's link spam policy targets. The possible outcomes Google describes are that the links are ignored, or, in a pattern, a manual action against the site.
- Marked links (
sponsored,nofollow) do not carry that policy risk. - Whichever type you choose, the decision and the risk are yours. Glimana explains the types; it does not promise a ranking effect for any of them.
Check your own outbound links
Glimana's crawl reports internal links that carry nofollow (see the guide Nofollow on internal links). Outbound paid links on your own site should carry sponsored.