Paid Links
Paid links are links placed on another website in exchange for money, products, services or any other form of payment. Google allows them for advertising, but if they pass ranking credit they break its spam policies, so they should carry a rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow" attribute.
What counts as a paid link
Payment does not have to be cash. Google’s guidance covers any exchange of value, such as:
- Money paid directly for a link or for a post containing a link.
- Free products sent in return for a review with a link.
- Discounts, services or gifts offered to a site owner for linking.
- Sponsored articles, advertorials and affiliate links.
- Paid insertions of links into existing articles, often called niche edits.
Why Google cares
Links act as votes. Google’s ranking systems, starting with PageRank, treat a link as a sign that one site trusts another. If those votes can be bought, they stop reflecting quality. That is why buying or selling links that pass ranking credit is listed as one of Google’s link schemes.
Google is not against advertising. Banner adverts, sponsored newsletters and paid reviews are all normal parts of marketing. The rule is narrow: the payment should not buy ranking credit as well as exposure.
How to tag paid links correctly
Google introduced extra link attributes in 2019 so publishers can describe links more precisely:
rel="sponsored": the preferred value for adverts, sponsorships and other paid placements.rel="nofollow": still accepted as a general way to say you do not vouch for a link.rel="ugc": for links in user-generated content such as comments and forum posts.
Tagged links can still bring referral traffic and brand exposure. They simply should not be used to pass ranking credit as dofollow links would.
The risks of untagged paid links
- For buyers: links may be ignored by Google’s spam systems, wasting the budget, or trigger a manual action for unnatural links to your site.
- For sellers: a site that sells followed links can receive a manual action for unnatural outbound links, and Google may stop trusting its links.
- For agencies: clients can be harmed by work they did not understand, which damages trust.
Dealing with existing paid links
- Run a backlink analysis and list links you know were paid for or arranged.
- Contact the site owners and ask them to add
rel="sponsored"or remove the link. - If that fails and the links are a real risk, consider the disavow tool.
- If you have a manual action, document the clean-up and submit a reconsideration request in Search Console.
Legal disclosure
Paid links are also an advertising issue. In the UK, advertising rules require paid content to be clearly labelled for readers. Correct link attributes cover Google’s side, but visible disclosure is still needed for people.
Key Takeaways
- A paid link is any link given in exchange for money, goods or services.
- Paid links are fine for advertising if they do not pass ranking credit.
- Use rel=sponsored for paid placements, or nofollow as a fallback.
- Untagged paid links can be ignored or lead to manual actions.
- Sites that sell followed links can be penalised too.
- Readers also need clear, visible disclosure of paid content.
Related Terms
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