This page describes the different link relations and how to set them, when linking to other pages, and thereby letting search engines understand, that the linking page is not trying to manipulate the ranking algorithms.

What is a HTML link relation?

The hyperlink tag <a> with the href attribute is used to link from one page to another page. The relation between these pages can be indicated with the rel attribute. There are many different kinds of relations, but the sponsored, ugc and nofollow are probably the most common.

The link relation are read by search engine crawlers and used by search engines for determining, how the relation should impact the search engine result ranking for each site. The ranking is based on complex mathematical algorithms, that are based on link distribution, domain authority and other factors. One of the more well known algorithms are PageRank, that is used by Google Search.

Presenting the website of Party Patrol member site in April of 1999. Search engines and ranked search results did not exist at the time. Back then, websites linked to each other and formed a natural web (of trust). Hence the website, that describes a site in the web of sites . Websites was manually submitted to indexes, that could be browsed by category.

Why use sponsored and nofollow link relations?

Because of the search engine algorithms, mentioned above, then links and domain authority directly affect the search engine ranking system. In order for search engines to return more relevant search results to search keywords, search engines has to disqualify sites, that tries to manipulate and abuse these algorithms by creating fake links from fake sites and thereby becoming part of link schemes. This kind of abuse is described in detail in Google’s quality guideles for advanced search engine optimization.

For that reason, any link should be qualified for being part of the current page and its theme, that is of interest to its readers and visitors. If not, the kind of relation should be indicated, such as a sponsored link, that is part of sponsored content or advertisement, or other kind of untrusted link, that is not a natural part of the page and its theme.

Which link relation should be used?

The following guidelines can be used to determine, which link relation should be used, when creating a link to another page. The link relation should be set, when used in sponsored content, user generated content or when linking to untrusted content.

  • If the link is to a trusted page with unique, authentic and valuable content, that falls in direct relation to the current page and its theme, and thereby of interest to its readers and visitors, then a normal link can be used. Setting a link relation is not necessary.
  • If the link is used in sponsored content and links to a product or service, that is mentioned in the sponsored content, then it is not a part of the page and might not be of direct interest to the readers and visitors. The link relation is sponsored and should be set to sponsored. Search engines will understand, that the linking page is not trying to manipulate the ranking algorithms.
  • Links, that are created by users. such as comments to blog posts, are not necessarily a part of the page theme nor trusted. The link relation is user generated and should be set to ugc. Search engines will understand, that the linking page is not trying to manipulate the ranking algorithms.
  • If the link is not directly related to the page its theme, or maybe even untrusted, then it might not be of much interest to its readers and visitors. The link relation should be set to nofollow. Search engines will understand, that the linking page is not trying to manipulate the ranking algorithms.

How to set link relations in WordPress.

When a link is created in WordPress, that has the Yoast SEO plugin enabled, then three options are presented below the URL field. If the link relation should be sponsored, then enable Search engines should ignore this link (mark as nofollow). If the link relation should be nofollow, then enable This is a sponsored link or advert (mark as sponsored). If Yoast SEO is not enabled, then link relation options will not be listed. The link relation can be set manually, but using Yoast SEO is recommended.

Example of normal HTML link with follow link relation.

The following HTML code is an example of a normal HTML link, that use the href attribute to set a normal link relation between the current page the external page.

<a href="https://www.micski.dk/">Micski</a>

Example of HTML link with sponsored link relation set.

The following HTML code is an example of a HTML link, that use the href and rel attribute to set the link relation between the current page and the external page to sponsored.

<a rel="sponsored nofollow" href="https://www.micski.dk/">Micski</a>

Example of HTML link with ugc link relation set.

The following HTML code is an example of a HTML link, that use the href and rel attribute to set the user generated content link relation between the current page and the external page to ucg.

<a rel="ugc nofollow" href="https://www.micski.dk/">Micski</a>

Example of HTML link with nofollow link relation set.

The following HTML code is an example of a HTML link, that use the href and rel attribute to set the link relation between the current page and the external page to nofollow.

<a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.micski.dk/">Micski</a>

More about link relations.

HTML <a> Tag and HTML <a> rel Attribute on W3 Schools. PageRank on Wikipedia. Link schemes in Documentation on Google Search Central. What link settings should I use? by Yoast. Sponsored Content Options on Micski’s Blog and Homepage.

Published by Micski

Micski lives in Copenhagen, which is the capitol city of Denmark, where he's a system administrator of information technology and a semi-professional poker player.