rel="sponsored"

rel="sponsored" is a value of the HTML rel attribute that marks a link as advertising, sponsorship or another kind of compensated placement. Google introduced it in 2019 and asks site owners to use it on paid or traded links so they are not treated as attempts to manipulate rankings.

Updated: 2026-10-16 · Glossary: Links and link building

The three link qualifiers

• rel="sponsored": links that are ads, sponsorships or other compensation agreements.
• rel="ugc": links in user-generated content such as comments and forum posts.
• rel="nofollow": other cases where you do not want to associate your site with the target or pass ranking signals.

Both Google's guide to qualifying outbound links and the 2019 announcement describe these values; values can be combined, for example rel="sponsored nofollow". Google treats them as hints. Its spam policies say that paid links are not a violation when they are qualified with rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow".

Why it matters for small sites

If you host a sponsored post, a partner article or any link you received something for, marking it protects your site: you are telling search engines it is advertising, not an editorial vote. Disclosure to readers is a separate obligation; see Sponsored content disclosure rules. The differences between the attributes are covered in Nofollow vs sponsored vs UGC.

How Satelo uses it

Every exchange article in Satelo is sent to the host with rel="sponsored" on its links, and the WordPress plugin applies it by default together with a visible “Partner content” label. This is why Satelo does not promise dofollow links or a transfer of ranking credit: the value of a placement is readers, a labelled mention on a related site and a signal that other sites write about you. See How Satelo works.

Related terms

• Reciprocal link: A reciprocal link is a pair of links where site A links to site B and site B links back to site A, usually by agreement (“link to me and I'll link to you”).
• Backlink exchange: A backlink exchange is any arrangement in which websites trade links instead of earning them independently: direct reciprocal swaps, three-way loops, link-exchange platforms or article exchanges.
• Guest post: A guest post is an article written by someone outside the site and published on that site under the author's or a partner's name.
• PBN (private blog network): A PBN (private blog network) is a group of websites controlled by one person or company and used mainly to link to a “money site” in order to raise its search rankings.

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