Nofollow/Sponsored Tag Finder
Paste a page's HTML and see exactly which links carry a nofollow, sponsored, or ugc rel tag, including links that combine more than one.
About the Nofollow/Sponsored Tag Finder
Search engines treat a link's rel attribute as a space-separated list of tokens rather than a single value, so a real-world anchor can legitimately carry rel="nofollow sponsored" at once, an affiliate link a site also doesn't want to vouch for editorially. This tool parses pasted markup with the browser's DOMParser, reads each link's rel attribute, splits it on whitespace, and checks for the nofollow, sponsored, and ugc tokens independently, so a link with two or three of them gets every matching badge shown, not just the first one found. Links with none of those tokens are labeled Regular/Followed.
Three tags, three different reasons to use them
nofollow is the general-purpose tag, "don't treat this link as an editorial endorsement," historically used for anything from a link in a comments section to an untrusted external citation. sponsored was introduced specifically for paid or compensated links, affiliate links, paid placements, advertising, distinguishing "we were paid to include this" from a general lack of trust in the destination. ugc marks links inside genuinely user-generated content, a forum post, a comment, a review, content the site hosts but didn't write and can't fully vouch for. Using the more specific tag where it applies, sponsored for paid content and ugc for user content, gives search engines a clearer signal than defaulting to plain nofollow for everything.
These became hints, not absolute rules, in 2019
Google announced a real shift in how these tags are treated, moving from nofollow as an absolute "never pass any value through this link" directive to treating nofollow, sponsored, and ugc as hints it can factor into ranking and crawling decisions alongside other signals, rather than an unconditional instruction it always follows to the letter. In practice this changes less than it sounds for most sites, using the correct tag is still the right, expected thing to do, but it's worth knowing the tags are no longer guaranteed to behave as an absolute block the way "nofollow" was originally designed to work when it was introduced back in 2005.
Sponsored has a compliance angle beyond SEO
Marking paid or affiliate links with rel="sponsored" lines up with the same spirit as FTC-style disclosure requirements for paid endorsements and affiliate relationships, an unmarked paid link isn't just a missed SEO signal, it's the kind of thing that also matters for advertising disclosure compliance depending on jurisdiction. Auditing a site's outbound links after launching an affiliate program or accepting sponsored content is worth doing for that reason on top of the search-engine-facing one.
The "Multiple Tags" count catches a specific pattern
A link showing more than one badge, most often nofollow paired with sponsored, is worth a second look during an audit, it usually signals a link that's both paid and one the site doesn't want to editorially endorse, an affiliate placement rather than genuine editorial content. Seeing the multiple-tags count rise unexpectedly on a page that wasn't supposed to carry sponsored content is a useful early signal that something, an ad script, a plugin, an embedded widget, added markup the page's own author didn't write directly.
Why comment sections need ugc specifically
A site that allows comments or other visitor-submitted content has no real editorial control over what a link in that content points to, marking those links with ugc is how the site distinguishes "content we wrote and stand behind" from "content someone else submitted that happens to live on our domain." Without it, every link a random commenter posts is treated the same as a link the site's own writers deliberately included, which is a meaningfully different situation from a search engine's perspective, and from a plain trust perspective too.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between nofollow, sponsored, and ugc?
Nofollow is the general-purpose "don't treat this as an editorial endorsement" tag. Sponsored specifically marks paid or affiliate links. Ugc marks links inside user-generated content like comments or forum posts. Using the more specific tag where it applies gives a clearer signal than defaulting to plain nofollow everywhere.
Can a link have more than one of these tags at once?
Yes. The rel attribute is a space-separated list, so rel="nofollow sponsored" is valid and common for something like an affiliate link the site also doesn't want to vouch for editorially. This tool detects and displays every matching tag on a link, not just the first one found.
Does nofollow guarantee a link passes zero SEO value?
Not anymore. Google shifted in 2019 to treating nofollow, sponsored, and ugc as hints it factors into ranking and crawling decisions, rather than an absolute rule it always follows. Using the correct tag is still the right practice, it's just no longer a guaranteed hard block the way it originally worked.
Why does the sponsored tag matter beyond SEO?
Marking paid or affiliate links with rel="sponsored" aligns with the spirit of disclosure requirements for paid endorsements and affiliate relationships in many jurisdictions. An unmarked paid link is both a missed SEO signal and potentially a disclosure compliance gap.
What does it mean when a link shows more than one badge?
Most often it's nofollow combined with sponsored, signaling a link that's both paid and not editorially endorsed, typical of an affiliate placement. An unexpected rise in multi-tagged links on a page is worth investigating, it can indicate an ad script or embedded widget added markup the page's author didn't write directly.
Why should comment sections use ugc instead of nofollow?
Ugc specifically distinguishes content the site wrote and stands behind from content a visitor submitted that the site has no editorial control over. Without it, a link a random commenter posted is treated the same as one the site's own writers deliberately included, which is a meaningfully different situation.