What Is the rel="sponsored" Attribute?
Why it matters
It is the attribute Google asks publishers to use for paid placements, so it is the correct answer to "how should this link be marked". Knowing it exists also lets you read a listing accurately: a placement described as offering a "sponsored link" is telling you something specific.
Example
A compensated link to example.com can be marked with the sponsored relationship value. Sponsored can also be combined with nofollow on the same link.
Common misconception
That sponsored and nofollow are different in effect. For ranking purposes Google treats sponsored, ugc and nofollow the same way — all three are hints that the link should not be counted as a plain endorsement. The distinction is descriptive: it tells Google, and readers, why the link was marked.
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