Nofollow Tag Test

Nofollow, sponsored, and ugc are rel attribute values that tell search engines how to treat the link equity flowing from your page to others. Editorial links to authoritative resources should pass equity normally, while paid placements need rel="sponsored", user-submitted content needs rel="ugc", and rel="nofollow" remains the catch-all when neither fits. Applying the right value on each link is part of complying with Google's link spam policy. This test reports the nofollow patterns it finds on your page so you can audit whether the signals match your intent.

Why nofollow attributes matter

Every outbound link from your page potentially passes some authority to the destination. For editorial links to high-quality resources, that flow is exactly what you want, citing authoritative sources strengthens the page's relevance signals and supports a healthy link ecosystem. For sponsored content, affiliate links, or user-generated submissions, however, you are essentially being paid (or used) to pass authority, and Google requires you to label those links so it can discount them appropriately.

Google introduced rel="sponsored" for paid links and rel="ugc" for user-generated content alongside the older rel="nofollow". The newer values are more specific and are preferred where they apply: sponsored for affiliate and paid placements, ugc for comments, forum posts, and review content, and nofollow as the catch-all when neither of the others fits. The values can also be combined (rel="sponsored noopener") when multiple apply.

Common nofollow patterns to verify

• Site-wide nofollow on every external link, which is overly aggressive and reserves a useful signal for nothing.
• Sponsored or affiliate content not labeled, which violates Google's link spam policy.
• User-generated content unmarked, where comments and forum posts should use rel="ugc".
• Trusted editorial links nofollowed, where they should pass equity.
• Internal links nofollowed, an outdated practice that no longer works for "PageRank sculpting".

This test reports the nofollow patterns it finds on your page so you can audit whether the signals match your intent. The fix guide below covers applying the right rel value per link, configuring CMS editors and Markdown renderers to default sensibly, and lint rules that enforce conventions in framework code.