UGC Link: Meaning of rel=ugc for Comments and Community Posts
A ugc link is a link inside content that a visitor wrote, such as a comment, a forum post or a profile, marked with rel="ugc" so search engines know the site owner did not write it. Google recommends marking such links this way. If you run a community or board, you should use it. If you are a maker posting a link in one, expect it to carry it.
What is a ugc link, and who is it for?
UGC stands for user-generated content: anything on a page that a visitor, not the publisher, wrote. Comments, forum threads, reviews, wiki pages and profile bios all qualify. A ugc link is a link inside that kind of text, marked rel="ugc". The mark says one thing to a search engine: the site owner did not choose this link, a visitor did.
Google Search Central recommends marking such links with the value, and describes it in its guide to qualifying outbound links, which we read on 13 November 2026. The value exists because publishers who accept open posting inherit whatever their visitors choose to link to. Marking those links lets the publisher say so without taking down the whole discussion.
The attribute serves two audiences. If you run a place where others can post, it protects your site. If you post a link in such a place, it explains why the link behaves the way it does.
If you run a board or a community, how should you apply it?
Google’s guidance on preventing abuse of a platform gives a short recipe, and most of it is cheap to build. It suggests recording signals such as form completion time and requests from the same IP range, using the noindex robots tag on posts from new users with no reputation, adding a nofollow or ugc attribute to links in untrusted content, using manual approval for suspicious interactions and keeping a blocklist so one spammer’s siblings can be removed together.
- Mark every visitor-written link from day one. Retrofitting is harder than starting with the attribute on.
- Combine values when you want both.
rel="ugc nofollow"is valid, and Google lists it as an example. - Treat the attribute as a lever. Google notes you can remove it from links posted by members who consistently contributed high-quality material, which turns the link into a reward for good behaviour.
- Do not mark your own links. A link you place yourself is not user content, so leave the ugc value off it.
This board follows the first and last points. The outbound link on a launch page goes to the product’s own website and is a normal followed link. Links inside text people write, such as descriptions, threads and comments, are marked nofollow ugc.
If you post a link in someone else’s thread, what should you expect?
Expect the link to be marked, and plan the comment as if it will be. That removes the only reason to drop links into discussions as a ranking tactic. Google’s spam policies give an example of what it counts as a problem: forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature. A reply that says “great info, visit best-pizza-in-town” earns nothing and may get the account removed.
The honest use of a link in a thread is to help the reader. Answer the question, then mention the product only if it solves the reader’s exact problem, and say you built it. Readers who click from a ugc link are the same people who click any other link, and they can be the best first users you meet. The how to respond to launch comments answer covers how to reply in your own thread without sounding like an advert.
Example: a Q&A page for a pet-sitting app
A maker adds a questions page to an invented pet-sitting marketplace so owners can ask each other for advice. The first month brings real questions and two spam posts selling watches. With nothing marked, the page would link to the watch seller as though the maker had chosen it. With ugc marked on every link in an answer, the page still hosts the discussion, and the spam earns nothing. Moderation then removes the two accounts, and the blocklist makes the next ones cheaper to clear.
Later the maker notices three long-standing members who answer well, and decides to drop the attribute on their links as a thank-you, as Google’s guidance allows. That is the lifecycle of the attribute in one small site. The pet app ideas on the board show the kind of product that needs a community.
How do you check and what goes wrong?
Open a page where a visitor has posted a link, view its source and look at the anchor tag. If there is no rel at all, your platform is not marking visitor links, and a settings option or a plugin may add the value. Check again after software updates, because a theme change can drop it.
The common mistakes are leaving the attribute off an open comment form, marking your own editorial links and expecting link credit from the threads you post in. If you want a page of your own with a followed link to your product, launch your product free on this board, and keep your thread replies for being useful.
Related terms: a nofollow link is the general value ugc was split from, a backlink is any link pointing at you and an anchor text is what the link says.
Frequently asked questions
What does rel=ugc mean?
It marks a link as user-generated content, meaning a visitor wrote it and the site owner did not choose it. Google recommends the value for links in comments, forum posts and similar places. It lets a publisher host open discussion without vouching for every link in it.
Is a ugc link the same as a nofollow link?
No, though they are close. Nofollow is the general value for links you would rather not vouch for. Ugc names the reason, a visitor wrote it. Google accepts both, and you can combine them as rel="ugc nofollow". The specific value gives search engines more context.
Do links in comments help my ranking?
You should not count on it. Most sites mark visitor links, and Google’s spam policies list forum comments with optimized links as a problem. Write comments to help readers. Any ranking effect is something nobody can promise, and the visitors who click are the real value.
How does this site mark links?
Links inside text that people write, such as launch descriptions, threads and comments, are marked nofollow ugc. The outbound link on a launch page to the product’s own website is a normal followed link. The site makes no promise about ranking or traffic from either kind.
Can I ever remove ugc from a link?
If you run the site, yes. Google notes that you might remove the attribute from links by members who have consistently made high-quality contributions, as a reward. Do it only for people you know and trust, and keep marking everyone else’s links.
Written by Post your build ideas with AI assistance and edited for this site. Where a page names another product, the facts came from that product’s own pages on the date shown above; terms change, so check them before you rely on them. About the publisher.