Authority and distribution, control 2 of 12
A-02 Qualify paid and user-generated outbound links
Use link relationships appropriate to the actual relationship. Do not blanket-nofollow ordinary editorial references solely from fear of sharing authority.
- Priority
- High priority.
- Hard gate
- No
- Change class
- AUTO_WITH_TEST: A candidate requiring relevant tests.
- Quality bucket
- Authority and distribution readiness
Why it matters
Unmarked paid or user-posted links pass on endorsement the site never intended to give, which breaks Google's spam policies on link schemes. Marking everything nofollow causes the opposite problem by hiding genuine editorial links. Correct qualification tells search engines honestly how each link came about.
Evidence to review
- Rendered link attributes and commercial relationship records.
How to implement
- Identify paid or affiliate placements and UGC surfaces.
- Apply sponsored, ugc or nofollow where appropriate.
- Test the rendered link output, including content inserted by plugins.
- Keep disclosure and link qualification as separate checks.
How UltimateSEO checks this
Automated. A check in the scan sets PASS or FAIL for this control, and reports UNKNOWN or BLOCKED when its input is missing.
States used: PASS, FAIL, UNKNOWN, NOT_APPLICABLE or BLOCKED. UNKNOWN is never shown as a pass. How states work.
Sources
Part of The UltimateSEO Framework v4.3, catalogue dated 2026-10-14. Evidence states, control states and the publish gate are explained on the hub.