UGC Link

Written by Cobus van der Westhuizen, reviewed by Wynand van der Westhuizen, fact-checked by Lenata Oosthuizen. Last reviewed July 2026. Editorial policy.

What Is a UGC Link?

A UGC (user-generated content) link is a hyperlink marked with rel="ugc" in its HTML anchor tag. This attribute was introduced by Google in September 2019 specifically to identify links that originate from content created by website visitors rather than the site's editorial team. It covers links submitted in blog comments, forum replies, community posts, product reviews, and any other section of a website where the public can add content that includes hyperlinks.

The ugc attribute is part of a family of rel values that help Google understand the context and trustworthiness of links. Before 2019, publishers were required to use rel="noopener" to cover all non-editorial links, including both paid placements and user submissions. The introduction of ugc allows for more precise communication with search engines. A site that marks its comment links with ugc is clearly indicating "these links come from our users, not from us" which helps Google build a more accurate picture of the web's link graph.

Like sponsored and nofollow attributes, Google treats ugc as a hint rather than a hard directive. The search engine may choose to crawl pages linked from UGC content and, in some cases, may consider these links as part of a broader set of relevance signals. However, for SEO purposes, ugc links do not pass PageRank in the same way dofollow links do.

Managing UGC links is also a practical security concern. Sites that do not apply ugc or nofollow to user-submitted links are potentially enabling comment spammers to place dofollow links, which can cause search engines to associate the host site with low-quality or spammy destinations. South African businesses running WordPress sites, community forums, or product review platforms should ensure their user-submitted content sections handle outbound links appropriately.

UGC Links In Practice

A South African travel blog that allows readers to comment and share links to their own travel experiences needs to ensure those comment links carry the ugc attribute. Without it, any link posted by a commenter would appear as a dofollow editorial endorsement from the travel blog. Spammers frequently target open comment sections precisely to gain dofollow links, and sites that fail to restrict these can find themselves associated with low-quality link networks.

For South African e-commerce businesses running product review sections, applying rel="ugc" to all reviewer-submitted links is straightforward best practice. Major e-commerce platforms and content management systems handle this automatically, but custom-built sites need to implement it at the code level. Checking that your CMS applies the correct rel attributes to user submissions should be part of any technical SEO audit.

From a link building perspective, earning UGC links from active community sites like Reddit or South African forums such as MyBroadband can still generate meaningful referral traffic even without passing PageRank. High-quality, useful contributions to relevant communities build brand awareness and can lead to organic dofollow mentions elsewhere on the web.

What a UGC link is

A UGC link is a link marked with the rel="ugc" attribute, which identifies it as coming from user-generated content, such as a blog comment, forum post, or other content contributed by users rather than the site's own editorial team. The rel="ugc" value is one of the link attributes Google introduced (alongside rel="sponsored" for paid links and the general rel="nofollow") to let sites label the nature of their outbound links more precisely. The ugc attribute specifically tells search engines that a link was placed within user-generated content, which is useful because sites cannot vouch for links their users add, comments and forum posts can contain links a site did not editorially choose and may not endorse or trust, so marking such links as ugc signals to search engines that they come from user contributions and should be treated accordingly. This helps sites handle the links in user-generated areas appropriately (not passing full editorial endorsement to links they did not vet), and helps search engines understand the context of those links. Like nofollow, Google treats the ugc attribute (and the others) as a hint rather than a strict directive for ranking and indexing purposes, meaning it informs how the link is considered rather than absolutely dictating it. Understanding UGC links matters both for sites that host user-generated content (which should mark such links appropriately) and for understanding link value: links from user-generated content, marked as ugc, are generally not strong endorsement signals, so knowing what UGC links are helps a business manage its own user-generated areas correctly and set realistic expectations about the SEO value of links gained from comments, forums and similar user-generated placements.

Using the ugc attribute and link value

Using the rel="ugc" attribute correctly, and understanding the SEO value of user-generated links, are the two practical aspects of UGC links. On usage: sites that host user-generated content, such as blog comments, forums, reviews or other user contributions containing links, should mark those user-contributed links with the ugc attribute (or nofollow), because the site cannot vouch for links its users add, and labelling them as ugc correctly signals their nature to search engines, which is good practice for handling user-generated areas and for staying aligned with Google's guidance. Many platforms and content management systems apply nofollow or ugc to user-generated links automatically (for example, links in comments), so on such systems this is often handled for you, though it is worth confirming that your comment or forum links carry the appropriate attribute. Applying ugc (or nofollow) to genuinely user-generated links is sensible; you do not need to apply it to your own editorial links, which should generally be followed where genuine. On value: links from user-generated content, marked as ugc, are generally weak or non-endorsement signals for SEO, since they come from user contributions the host site does not vouch for, so the common tactic of dropping links in blog comments and forum posts to build backlinks is largely ineffective for SEO value, because such links are typically marked ugc or nofollow and are not treated as strong endorsements (and mass, spammy comment/forum linking is a discredited, spammy practice to avoid). This does not mean user-generated links are worthless in every sense, genuine participation in relevant forums and communities can drive referral traffic and build presence, but the SEO link value is generally low. For a South African business, the practical guidance is two-fold: on your own site, ensure user-generated links (in comments, forums, reviews) are marked with ugc (or nofollow), which most platforms handle automatically but is worth checking; and in your own link building, do not rely on dropping links in comments and forums for SEO value, since such links are generally marked ugc/nofollow and carry little ranking weight, and mass comment/forum linking is spammy. Instead, focus on earning genuine, quality editorial links, while participating authentically in relevant communities for the referral and presence value rather than for backlink strength. Understanding UGC links thus helps a business both manage its own user-generated content correctly and avoid wasting effort on low-value user-generated link tactics.

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