In September 2019 Google announced a major change: nofollow was no longer a single attribute but split into three separate ones β rel=\"nofollow\", rel=\"sponsored\", and rel=\"ugc\". It significantly changed the nofollow strategy used for 14 years and required site owners to revise their link practices. The new tags give Google more precise information, and you can build a finer SEO strategy.
Why Google made the change
Since 2005 nofollow had been a single generic attribute used the same way for sponsored links, user comments, and links to low-quality sources. Google could not distinguish: was this nofollow for ad use, for UGC, or for a suspicious site?
In 2019 Google aimed to give itself clearer information. Now as a site owner you can say precisely: \"this is sponsored\", \"this is user-generated\", \"this is plain nofollow\". Google can use that to make finer ranking decisions. Google also declared nofollow a \"hint\" rather than a \"directive\" β meaning it may now count some nofollow links in ranking.
rel=\"sponsored\" β for paid and advertising links
Sponsored is for paid or compensated links: ads, affiliate marketing, sponsorship deals, links earned in exchange for products. HTML: <a href=\"https://example.com\" rel=\"sponsored\">product</a>.
Sponsored tells Google clearly: the link was placed via a commercial relationship, not naturally. Google does not treat it as a ranking signal. Sponsored is full compliance with Google's rules and protection from affiliate-manipulation penalties.
rel=\"ugc\" β for user-generated content
UGC stands for User-Generated Content: blog comments, forum posts, reviews, user-profile links. HTML: <a href=\"https://example.com\" rel=\"ugc\">text</a>.
UGC tells Google the link is outside your control. It protects you from low-quality or spammy user links. WordPress and Drupal since 2020 add rel=\"ugc\" automatically in comments.
rel=\"nofollow\" β the old generic option
The old nofollow still works and is used for generic cases β a sketchy source, a low-quality site. HTML: <a href=\"https://example.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">link</a>.
Using the old nofollow is not an error. If your site predates 2019 and everything is tagged with plain nofollow, Google still understands it. But for new links the more specific tags are strategically more useful.
Combining tags
You can combine values in one link: rel=\"nofollow sponsored\" β both nofollow and sponsored. Useful for extra clarity. Google treats each value separately.
How important these tags are for SEO
The real SEO impact of the new tags is modest β Google already analysed these links separately. But for compliance the tags matter. Affiliate, sponsored posts, paid ads must use rel=\"sponsored\" or you risk a penalty.
UGC can help with Helpful Content evaluation. If your site has lots of low-quality UGC but it's tagged rel=\"ugc\", Google does not count it in site-wide quality scoring.
Implementation step by step
Audit all your site's links using Screaming Frog or Ahrefs Site Audit. Tag each one. Set up automatic rules for new links β WordPress through a plugin, custom platforms through the admin. Every 6 months β re-audit.
Sayt.uz strategy
Sayt.uz blog posts are 100% original β no sponsored posts, so sponsored is not used. External links to trusted sources are dofollow, to questionable ones nofollow. There is no UGC yet, but if added the system will automatically apply rel=\"ugc\".
This is fully compliant with Google's rules and adds no negative signal. Sayt.uz audits its link profile every 6 months.