The three attributes you will see
- Dofollow isn’t a real attribute — it simply means a normal link with no
relqualifier. rel="nofollow"tells search engines you don’t want to endorse or pass credit through the link.rel="sponsored"marks links that are advertisements or paid placements.
(There is also rel="ugc" for user-generated content such as comments.)
What Google recommends for paid links
Google’s documentation asks site owners to qualify links that are paid for with rel="sponsored" (or rel="nofollow"). Its spam policies describe buying or selling links to manipulate rankings as link spam.
Why publishers differ
Some publishers mark every paid link as sponsored; others treat a well-written contributor article as editorial content. That decision belongs to the publisher, which is why a trustworthy marketplace shows the link attribute on every listing.
Is a sponsored link still worth it?
Often, yes — when the placement is relevant. A link on a site your customers read can bring referral visits, brand recognition and future editorial mentions, which are valuable regardless of how the link is qualified.
How to decide
- Decide what you want from the placement: visibility, referral traffic, or both.
- Check the listing’s link attribute and labelling.
- Choose publishers whose readers match your audience.
