Semrush Newsroom logo
  • Features
  • Pricing
  • Resourcesarrow icon

    • Blog

      Read the industry's latest thoughts on digital marketing, content strategy, SEO, PPC, social media and more.

    • Help Center

      Learn how to use Semrush with user manuals, how-to’s, videos and more!

    • What's New

      Keep track of the newest Semrush features and improvements.

    • Webinars

      Register and take part in educational webinars conducted by the best digital marketing experts.

    • Ebooks

      A range of downloadable guides in PDF format that can help you broaden your knowledge and improve your skills.

    • Hire a Trusted Agency

      Pressed for time? Need rare skills? Get help from a trusted agency. Our experts work with marketing projects of all kinds and budgets.

    • Academy

      Get vital SEO skills, learn how to use our toolkits and get official certificates of your proficiency in SEO and Semrush.

    • Top Websites

      Discover the most visited websites. Analyze their traffic and search rankings. Choose country or industry to find out who currently leads the market.

  • Companyarrow icon

    • About Us
    • Newsroom
    • Careers
    • Success Stories
    • Data Studies
    • Affiliate Program
    • For Investors
    • Partner Integrations
    • Contacts
    • Stats and Facts
  • Marketplace
Menumenu icon
user icon
menu icon
  • News
  • Data & Insights
  • Company News
  • Product News
  • Press Kit
Search icon
  • Features
  • Pricing
  • Resourcesarrow icon

    • Blog
    • Help Center
    • What's New
    • Webinars
    • Ebooks
    • Hire a Trusted Agency
    • Academy
    • Top Websites
  • Companyarrow icon

    • About Us
    • Newsroom
    • Careers
    • Success Stories
    • Data Studies
    • Affiliate Program
    • For Investors
    • Partner Integrations
    • Contacts
    • Stats and Facts
  • Marketplace
Semrush Newsroom logo
  • News
  • Data & Insights
  • Company News
  • Product News
  • Press Kit
✕
Main page /Product News

Backlink Tools: New Rel Attributes are On

October 15, 2019
Backlink Tools: New Rel Attributes are On
Google has released new rel-tags which may affect your SEO. As “Nofollow Evolution”, the new Sponsored and UGC (User-Generated Content) tags are designed to identify the origin of links. It means that from now on you can use these tags to mark your content.

How it works 

Rel-attributes are designed to specify the relationship between your website and other websites you are linking to. Rel tags have three different values : “nofollow”, “sponsored”, and “ugc”. Each of them is used for a particular purpose: rel="sponsored" is used for links involving advertisement, sponsorship or any other paid activity, whereas rel="ugc" is used for links within content created by a user.
For do-follow links, there is, still no need to add a rel-attribute, though.
From March 1, 2020, Google will start considering the new attributes as hints and may use them for crawling purposes, which may affect ranking positions.

What now

As Google says officially, you don’t have to change the attributes of your current nofollow links.
From now on, however, you can apply these attributes to freshly created content. Given rel=”nofollow” is still acceptable, Google recommends switching over to the new tags, if possible.
For example, you can implement rel=”nofollow ugc”, if you want to mark user-generated content, but still want it to be backwards-compatible with other services which don’t support the new rel-tags, so far.
You likewise can use rel=”nofollow” along with rel=”sponsored” or use all three at once: rel="nofollow sponsored ugc".

How to check new rel-attributes

SEMrush allows you to track links marked with new tags. In Backlink Analytics and Backlink Audit, you can now find two additional attributes in the “Link Attributes” section: Sponsored and UGC. It looks like this:
tt.png
Now you can track the way your rivals use new rel tags in Backlink Analytics, and carry out in-depth analysis of your own backlinks containing them with the help of Backlink Audit. 
Check your rel-tags now! Backlink Audit

Download as

PDF
DOCX

Share

Relevant news

Site Intelligence: Power Discoverability in AI Search With Enterprise Site Health

As enterprise websites continue to grow in size and complexity, the traditional approach to technical SEO is starting to break down. Google is raising the bar—tightening requirements around crawl budgets, structured data, and Core Web Vitals—while AI-powered search and i...
Product News
August 11, 2025

Track AI Mode in Position Tracking

Semrush has added AI Mode as a new search engine option within its Position Tracking tool. Marketers can use this feature to track how their domains show up in Google’s recently launched generative AI experience.
Product News
July 22, 2025

Semrush Named Leader in SEO Solutions Analysis

New analyst report recognizes Semrush’s competitive intelligence, robust analytics, and vision for SEO as the “engine of digital discoverability”
Product News
July 2, 2025
twitter iconfacebook iconlinkedin iconinstagram iconyoutube iconpinterest icon

location iconUSA, 800 Boylston Street, Suite 2475, Boston, MA 02199

mail iconContact us
USA, 800 Boylston Street, Suite 2475, Boston, MA 02199

or see our plans & pricing

Semrush
  • Features
  • Pricing
  • Success Stories
  • Stats and Facts
  • Insights
  • News
  • Custom Report
Help
  • Knowledge Base
  • Academy
  • Semrush API

Community
  • Semrush Blog
  • Webinars
More Tools
  • Analytics Reports
  • Projects
  • Content Marketplace
  • Agency Partners
  • Affiliate Program
  • SEOquake
  • Sensor
  • Prowly
  • Kompyte
  • App Center
Company
  • About Us
  • Newsroom
  • Careers
  • Partners
  • Legal Info
  • Privacy Policy
  • Security Info
  • Do not sell my personal info
  • For Investors
  • Contact us
Follow Us
  • menu icon
    Twitter
  • menu icon
    Facebook
  • menu icon
    LinkedIn
  • menu icon
    Instagram
  • menu icon
    YouTube
  • menu icon
    Pinterest
Language
  • English
  • Español
  • Deutsch
  • Français
  • Italiano
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Русский
  • 中文
  • 日本語
© 2008 - 2023 Semrush. All rights reserved.