What is Sponsored Link Attribute?
The sponsored link attribute is an HTML attribute that specifies that a link is paid, sponsored, or included in the content as part of an advertisement. It is specified using the rel='sponsored' attribute.
<a rel="sponsored" href="https://yourdomain.com/">Your domain</a>
los rel="patrocinado" attribute allows search engines to distinguish between paid and organic links. This ensures search engines can:
- Combat black hat SEO practices like paid link schemes
- Apply appropriate weight to sponsored links in ranking algorithms
- Maintain search index quality by understanding the nature of link relationships
History of the Sponsored Link Attribute
Google introduced the sponsored rel="patrocinado" y user-generated content rel="ugc" link attributes in September 2019. Google clarified that bloggers should use the new attributes alongside the existing nofollow link attribute (rel="nofollow") to provide it with more specific information about their links.
Specifically, the sponsored link attribute indicates the link is part of a paid promotion. On the other hand, the user-generated content link attribute specifies that a visitor or user left the link, while the nofollow attribute is used when the blogger does not want Google to follow the link.
Before the September 2019 release, bloggers added the nofollow link attribute to sponsored and user-generated links. This indicated that the blogger did not want Google to follow the link. However, it does not provide additional information about the link.
However, with the introduction of the newer link attributes, Google has clarified that all three link attributes now hint at whether to consider or exclude them for its search results pages.
Sponsored Link Attribute Best Practices
los rel="patrocinado" attribute can have severe consequences for your SEO when misused. Google may penalize your site, demote your rankings, or even remove pages completely from search results. So, make sure to follow the below best practices when using it.
1 Separate Multiple Link Attributes With a Space
You can add multiple attributes to your link. In such cases, Google recommends separating them with a comma or a space. However, to prevent confusion, you should use a space. For example, the link below contains the sponsored and nofollow attributes.
<a rel="sponsored nofollow" href="https://yourdomain.com/">Your domain</a>
2 Only Use the Sponsored Link Attribute With the <a> Element
Google only supports the sponsored and user-generated link attributes when used with the <a> element. You cannot use the sponsored or user-generated link attributes in your meta tags. However, you can use the nofollow link attribute in your meta tags.
3 Use Noindex Robots Tag to Prevent Google From Indexing a Page
The sponsored link attribute will not prevent Google from crawling and indexing a page. So, if you do not want Google to index a page, use the noindex tag.
In cases where you want to disallow Google from fetching a link on a URL, disallow it using your robots.txt file. However, understand that Google may still discover such pages if you link to them from other content.