If you publish sponsored or affiliate links, chances are youâre familiar with rel="nofollow"
. Itâs the tag you add to the links to your posts to tell Google that youâre getting paid for putting that link on your blog.
Or at leastâŚit was.
Google recently introduced more specific values you can add to your rel
attribute so they know exactly what kind of link it is.
Here's what we're going to cover here:
- How does the
rel
attribute work? - Different values for the
rel
attribute - How do I add
rel
attributes and values to my links on WordPress? - More Questions About Outbound Links:
How does the rel
attribute work?
Fancy a refresher? Letâs do it.
While adding a link on a blog is typically as easy as highlighting the text you want to link, clicking a button, and pasting the link, that action actually surrounds the linked text in code like this:
<a href="https://www.wptasty.com/">This is a link to WP Tasty</a>
The <a>
tag defines a link, and you can customize that <a>
tag with different styles or attributes. One of which is rel
.
rel
stands for relationship, and when you add the rel
tag to your links, youâre telling Google, âHey, thereâs some sort of relationship between my blog and this resource Iâm linking to.â
But you canât just type rel
and expect Google to understand that; you need to assign a value to your rel
attribute like this:
<a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.wptasty.com/">This is a nofollow link to WP Tasty</a>
For a really long time, rel="nofollow"
was the way youâd tell Google you had a paid link on your page. But, as they always say, âtimes, they are a-changinââ and there are now a few different ways you can define your paid links.
An important thing to note: Not all links need rel
values. But there are certain circumstances where it makes sense to include a rel
attribute…
Different values for the rel attribute
According to Google, there are three main values for the rel
attribute:
Outbound Link rel="sponsored"
đ¤
As you can probably guess, you should use the sponsored
value when the link is an ad or sponsored link.
Another way to think about it: if youâre getting paid for the link on your site in any capacity â whether it be a sponsored link, an affiliate link, or some other paid link â youâd need to add the rel="sponsored"
attribute to your link.
So letâs say Iâm a WP Tasty Affiliate. I can talk about WP Tasty on my site, but Iâll need to appropriately add a rel
value to that link. It might look like this:
<a rel="sponsored" href="https://www.wptasty.com/">WP Tasty</a> is THE place I go to get all my favorite WordPress plugins!
So simple!
According to Google, you can still use rel="nofollow"
for paid links like this, but they do say sponsored
is âpreferred.â This is a big one because you can actually get penalized for not marking these links as paid links.
Outbound Link rel="ugc"
đŹ
This one is a little less straightforward, but you probably wonât need to worry about it too much. UGC stands for User-Generated Content, and youâd use rel="ugc"
on links in the comments section of your site or if your site has a forum.
Hereâs an example from Pinch of Yum:

Whenever someone leaves a comment on Pinch of Yum, and many other blogs, they can leave a link back to their own site. This 'ugc'
value is just telling Google, âThis link is in a comment, and it shouldnât contribute to the commenterâs PageRank or be crawled and indexed.â
Your theme should apply this tag automatically, and if youâre not sure, you can reach out to your theme developer.
Again, we have a little disclaimer here: Google says that you can actually remove the rel="ugc"
attribute from trustworthy contributors to reward and recognize them and to pass a little âlink juiceâ onto that person. But we donât think it makes sense to worry about this, especially in terms of comments.
Outbound Link rel="nofollow"
đ
The OG rel
value!
Now, Googleâs recommendations for rel=ânofollowâ
are as follows (lol):
âUse the
nofollow
value when other values donât apply, and youâd rather Google not associate your site with, or crawl the linked page from, your site.â
Letâs think of an exampleâŚ
Say youâre writing about a brand that you like, but youâre not getting paid for the links back to their site. You can link to that brand and include rel="nofollow"
so that your mention shouldnât contribute to their websiteâs PageRank.
One last note before we wrap up this section: You can combine these values. For example, rel="nofollow sponsored"
is valid. You might want combine these values for backwards compatibility, as the new sponsored
and ugc
values may not be accepted on all search engines just yet.
The March 1, 2020 Update
Google just announced yet another change to this rel
fun!
According to Moz, Google now treats these rel
values as âhints,â meaning that they can choose to use the sponsored
, ugc
, or rel
value as a âhintâ and actually use it for PageRank, crawling, and/or indexing in some cases.
In most cases, however, Google will continue to ignore these links.
How do I add rel attributes and values to my links on WordPress?
Back in the good olâ days, there was a simple box you could check to add rel="nofollow"
to your paid links and call it a day.
Now that the rel
attribute is a bit more customizable, there are a few more step you need to take.
Automatically with Tasty Links
If you're using Tasty Links to manage your affiliate links, we make it super simple. When you make a new link, you'll see the options to add rel=”nofollow” and rel=”sponsored.” Just select the options that work best for your product link.

Manually in the Gutenberg editor
In the new block post editor in WordPress, you can add a rel
tag by:
- Adding a link using the link button
- Clicking on the More Options button for the block your link is in
- Clicking âEdit as HTMLâ
- Adding your
rel
attribute and value - Optional: Switch back to the visual block by clicking the More Options button again and clicking âEdit visuallyâ

Using Yoast options in the Gutenberg editor
If you use Yoast on you site, you'll notice options for adding "nofollow"
and "sponsored"
attributes when adding new links to your posts. Just toggle those on and you're good to go. Too easy!

Manually in the Classic Editor
Still using the Classic Editor? No worries!
- Add the link using the link button
- Switch to the Text tab
- Find your link
- Add your
rel
attribute and values - Optional: Switch back to the visual editor by clicking the Visual tab
More Question About Outbound Links
What happens if my old links are all marked just rel="nofollow"
?
Itâs fine! In fact, Moz says, âGoogle offers no incentive for changing, or punishment for not changing.â
Translation: You can make it easy on yourself and keep those links exactly how they are. These new rel
values should just be used moving forward.
I see rel="noopener noreferrer"
(or some other rel
value) in my <a>
tag. Whatâs up with that?
Great question. The rel
attribute can actually have a lot of different values, "noopener noreferrer"
is an example.
These values add extra privacy protection and information to your links, but the nitty gritty of it all is for another blog post. đ
You probably wonât need to mess with these other values (in fact, WordPress may automatically add them for you!), but if thereâs a specific rel
value you want to learn more about, let us know in the comments.
And that's a wrap on outbound links! Hopefully you have everything you need to get your links tuned up, but if you have any lingering questions just hit us up in the comments. We're always happy to help!
Interested in Tasty Links? đ°
If youâve been tossing around the idea of giving Tasty Links a try, the ease of updating outbound links might just make you pull the trigger! Weâre always looking for new ways to improve Tasty Links, and you can be confident that weâll keep supporting you on your blogging journey.
Take a look at all Tasty Links has to offer here: https://www.wptasty.com/tasty-links
Also, donât forget about our 14-day money-back guarantee! Trying Tasty Links is risk-free, and we think youâll really like it!