Link rel attributes on Wix: nofollow, sponsored, UGC, noreferrer and noopener

Each outbound hyperlink on your website carries meaning for search engines. Unless you tell them otherwise, every link acts as a vote of confidence for the destination page. Rel attributes are your way of qualifying that vote, letting you distinguish editorial endorsements from paid placements, user submissions, and everything in between.

Why Qualifying Your Outbound Links Matters

Without any rel attribute, a hyperlink passes ranking equity to the page it points at and signals that you stand behind that content. That works well for genuinely recommended resources. The problem arises when the same treatment is applied to paid placements, affiliate partnerships, or links dropped by visitors in comment sections. Search engines expect site owners to label these relationships honestly, and failing to do so can attract manual penalties that tank your organic visibility.

Getting this right is straightforward once you understand the five rel values at your disposal and when each one applies.

Understanding the Five Rel Values

1. nofollow

Adding nofollow tells crawlers that you do not wish to transfer ranking credit through this particular link. It is treated as a suggestion rather than a hard rule, so engines may still discover the destination, but they will not factor the link into their authority calculations. Reach for nofollow when you mention a site for context without wanting to boost its standing.

• Pages you cite for reference but do not personally endorse
• External sites whose trustworthiness you cannot verify
• Links in areas where editorial oversight is limited
• Situations where you prefer to retain equity on your own domain

2. sponsored

The sponsored value is reserved for any link that exists because of a commercial arrangement. If money, products, or services changed hands in exchange for the link, this is the correct label. Search engines treat undisclosed paid links as a manipulation attempt, which can lead to penalties that far outweigh any short-term benefit.

3. ugc (User-Generated Content)

The ugc value flags links that were submitted by your audience rather than your editorial team. Blog comment sections, community forums, user profiles, and discussion boards are the typical contexts. Tagging these links correctly tells crawlers that you did not place them and cannot fully vouch for where they lead.

4. noreferrer

This attribute strips the referring URL from the HTTP request header when someone follows the link. The destination site will not see your domain in its traffic analytics. It is a privacy-oriented setting rather than an SEO signal, useful when you need to reference a resource without revealing your site as the traffic source.

5. noopener

When a link opens in a new browser tab, the destination page can technically access your original tab through JavaScript. Adding noopener closes this security gap. The Wix editor applies noopener automatically to new-tab links, but it is worth understanding for any links you add through custom code blocks.

Applying Rel Attributes Inside the Wix Editor

How to set link attributes on any element

• Select the text block, button, or image that contains the hyperlink
• Open the link settings by clicking the chain icon in the toolbar or right-clicking and choosing the link option
• Expand the section labelled "Rel" or "Link attributes" at the bottom of the dialogue
• Tick the checkboxes that match the link relationship: Nofollow, Sponsored, UGC, Noreferrer, or Noopener
• Multiple values can be selected simultaneously, for example both Nofollow and Sponsored for a paid affiliate link
• Confirm the changes and publish your site so the updated HTML goes live

How to Add Rel Attributes to Affiliate and Sponsored Links in the Wix Editor

How to correctly configure rel attributes on paid or affiliate links anywhere in the Wix Editor

• Log in to your Wix dashboard at manage.wix.com and click Edit Site to open the Wix Editor.
• Navigate to the page that contains the affiliate or sponsored link you want to configure. If the link is inside a blog post, open the blog post in the Blog editor instead.
• Select the text, button, or image element that contains the hyperlink by clicking on it in the editor canvas.
• Click the link icon in the text toolbar (the chain link symbol) or right-click the element and choose Link Settings.
• In the link settings panel, locate the section labelled Rel Attributes or Link Type at the bottom of the dialogue. If you cannot see it, look for an Advanced Options toggle.
• Tick the Sponsored checkbox for any link where money, free products, or services were received in exchange for the link. This applies to affiliate programme links, paid brand partnerships, and product-gifting arrangements.
• Tick the Nofollow checkbox alongside Sponsored to prevent ranking equity from flowing through the paid link. Both values can be selected simultaneously.
• If the link appears in a user-submitted area such as a blog comment or forum post, also tick the UGC checkbox to indicate the link was placed by a site visitor rather than your editorial team.
• Click Apply or Done to save the rel attribute settings for that link.
• Publish the updated page and verify the link HTML by right-clicking the page in a browser, selecting View Page Source, and searching for the link to confirm rel="sponsored nofollow" or the correct combination appears in the source code.

Practical Scenarios and the Correct Attribute

• An authoritative industry study you genuinely recommend to readers: leave the link unmodified so it passes full equity
• An Amazon Associates or ShareASale affiliate link: apply sponsored and nofollow together
• A hyperlink placed inside a paid brand collaboration article: apply sponsored
• A URL dropped by a reader in your blog comment section: apply ugc and nofollow together
• A reference to a competing service you are discussing objectively: apply nofollow
• Your own social media profile links: no attribute needed
• Links within press releases where editorial independence is uncertain: apply nofollow
• Government or university reference pages: no attribute needed

Reviewing Links Already on Your Site

If your site has accumulated outbound links over months or years, some are almost certainly missing the correct rel value. Run a crawl with a tool like Screaming Frog (free for sites under 500 pages) to export every outbound link alongside its current attributes. Sort for links with no rel value and assess each one against the criteria above.

Key Takeaways

• Apply sponsored to every link that involves a financial or material exchange
• Tag audience-submitted links with ugc so crawlers know you did not place them
• Use nofollow for citations where you want to withhold ranking endorsement
• Values can be stacked on one link when multiple relationships exist
• Periodically crawl your site and audit outbound links for missing attributes
• Leaving high-quality editorial links unmodified is healthy and expected