No. Linking to good sources you stand behind is normal, and those links can stay followed. Search engines ask site owners to mark the links they do not vouch for, using sponsored for paid links, ugc for links written by visitors and nofollow for the rest. Link Signals reports how each link is marked. It does not add markers, and it does not speak for any search engine.
Which value fits which link
| Value | Use it when | Example |
|---|---|---|
rel="sponsored" | You were paid, or given something, to place the link. | Advertising, paid placements, affiliate links |
rel="ugc" | A visitor wrote the link, not you. | Comments, forum posts, reviews |
rel="nofollow" | You cannot or will not vouch for the site, and neither of the others fits. | A source you are criticising, or one you did not choose |
Values can be combined with a space, for example rel="sponsored nofollow". Link Signals shows the most specific one: sponsored, then ugc, then nofollow. Affiliate links are paid links and should be marked sponsored.
What Link Signals does with it
- Every outbound link is recorded with how it is marked. A
relon the link counts, and so does a page-wide<meta name="robots" content="nofollow">. - If a destination is linked from several pages, it counts as followed if any of those links is followed.
- For links with a real problem, a Followed label and a Passing credit filter show the ones nothing stops from passing credit, with a What to do note on each.
- A link whose marker was never recorded is never reported as followed.
Does nofollow clear a finding?
No. The row still lists the link and the points stay. A marker changes only the ranking credit panel. The risk to visitors is the same, because anyone who clicks still arrives at the destination. A marker does not make a bad link safe, and for a link you did not choose, removing it is the answer. That is why a hidden link or one to an expired domain is better removed than marked.
Whether a link is marked also does not change your LinkSignal, which is Link Signals’ own metric, based only on this tool’s findings and not connected to any search engine or third-party score.
Comments and guest posts
For links added by visitors, Google asks sites to use a marker, and ugc is the one made for it. That is a decision for you, not something Link Signals changes. See sites with comments and guest posts.
Where to read more
- Which rel should a link have: the three values, and how to fix a flagged link.
- Ranking credit: how Link Signals counts followed links to flagged sites.
- Do outbound links hurt my search rankings: what Link Signals does and does not say about rankings.
- Qualify your outbound links to Google: Google’s own guidance on these values.
- Google’s spam policies: what Google counts as link spam.
Questions
Does a page-wide nofollow count?
Yes. A robots meta tag with nofollow on the page marks every link on it as nofollow, and Link Signals reads it that way.
Will Link Signals add rel for me?
No. It reports how links are marked and suggests the attribute where one helps, but it never changes anything on your site.
Can Link Signals tell if a link was paid for?
No. Only you know that, so it never marks a link as paid. If a link was paid for, mark it sponsored yourself.
A scan lists how every outbound link is marked, and which flagged links still pass credit.
