Google: We Will Try To Treat Nofollow vs UGC vs Sponsored Link Attributes Differently

Jun 7, 2021 - 7:31 am 2 by
Filed Under Link Building

Google Different Rel Attributes

In 2019 Google came out with new rules and new types of link attributes, the new attributes were ugc and sponsored, to be companions with the nofollow link attributes. Google said back then it was to help Google understand links better and that we, SEOs, don't need to worry about it too much. Well, Google's John Mueller was asked about it on Friday and he said Google may try to treat them differently over time.

John was asked about this in the Friday SEO hangout at the 35:56 mark where the question was "From a ranking point of view does Google treat nofollow, ugc and sponsor rel attributes any differently?"

John responded "we do try to understand these and try to treat them appropriately so I could imagine in our systems that we might learn over time to treat them slightly differently." Then John added another line to downplay that difference, saying "but in general they're all with the same theme in that you're telling us these are links that are placing because of this reason and Google doesn't need to take them into account."

So yes, Google wants to treat them differently, over time, as they learn how it might benefit the search company to treat them differently but overall, they all say about the same thing - do not trust or follow this link.

You can listen to him say this here:

Now, remember, when Google launched this new change for the nofollow related link attributes, Google said we should not expect to see changes in search with this change. Currently, it seems like this is just a policy change and nothing was actually changed here - but it is hard to say. We know Gary Illyes of Google is working something up around this. There is still confusion with this change and I think that is because Google has not fully decided yet how to use it and apply those changes it announced as a policy change.

Forum discussion at YouTube Community.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Follow

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: October 11, 2024

Oct 11, 2024 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: DOJ May Breakup Google, Ranking Volatility, Quick View Theft, Google Web Creator Event, Google Ads & More Search News

Oct 11, 2024 - 8:11 am
Google Updates

Google Search Ranking Volatility Rumbling Again October 10th

Oct 11, 2024 - 8:01 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google AI Overviews Not Linking To Sites Hit By Helpful Content Update

Oct 11, 2024 - 7:51 am
Bing Search

Bing Tests Best List Of Carousel

Oct 11, 2024 - 7:41 am
Google

Google Search Missing Video Tab For Some Users - Bug?

Oct 11, 2024 - 7:31 am
Previous Story: Google: Multiple Anchor Text Links To Same URL On Same Page, The First Or Longer Doesn't Matter