If you use affiliate links on your website, the short answer is this: affiliate links should usually be marked as either rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow", and in many cases both.
That’s because affiliate links are paid links. You’re sending people to a product or service in return for the possibility of earning commission, so search engines want to know that the link is commercial rather than purely editorial. If you’re building a blog, niche site or content site, getting this right is one of those small technical details that can save you headaches later.
The good news is that you don’t need to panic if every single affiliate link on your site isn’t tagged perfectly. But it does help to understand what these terms actually mean, when to use them and whether you need both.
What sponsored and nofollow mean
These are link attributes, which are small bits of code added to a hyperlink. They tell search engines more about the relationship between your site and the page you’re linking to.
Sponsored
rel="sponsored" tells search engines that the link is part of an advertising, sponsorship or affiliate arrangement. In plain English, it means the link is commercial.
This is the most direct way to label affiliate links because it describes exactly what they are.
Nofollow
rel="nofollow" tells search engines not to pass ranking credit through that link. It has long been used for affiliate links, sponsored content and any link where you don’t want to vouch for the destination in SEO terms.
People still use nofollow a lot because it’s familiar and widely supported, and many websites built their link policies around it before sponsored became the preferred label for paid links.
Can you use both?
Yes. It’s common to see affiliate links tagged as rel="nofollow sponsored". That makes it clear the link is commercial and also tells search engines not to treat it like a standard editorial recommendation.
If you’re wondering which one matters more, sponsored is the more specific label for affiliate links. Nofollow is still acceptable, and adding both is a safe, commonly used approach.
What you should use for affiliate links
For typical affiliate links, rel="sponsored" is the clearest choice. If your platform, plugin or theme automatically adds nofollow instead, that is usually fine too.
If you have the option, many site owners choose rel="nofollow sponsored" for affiliate links because it covers both bases without being complicated.
That usually applies to links inside blog posts, product round-ups, comparison posts, gift guides and resource pages where you earn commission if someone clicks through and buys. If you’re monetising content, this is the sort of setup you want from the start.
If you also run a site with email sign-up content, you may find it helpful to understand common mistakes with email newsletters, because affiliate promotion and email marketing often overlap.
Why this matters for search engines and readers
The main reason to mark affiliate links properly is transparency. Search engines don’t want paid links presented as if they were completely organic recommendations.
It also helps you keep your site tidy from a compliance point of view. If you’re in the UK and you earn commission from a link, readers should be able to tell that the content is commercially connected. The link tag is only one part of that, but it supports the wider picture.
For readers, the link attribute itself isn’t visible, but the principle behind it matters. If you’re recommending a product because it’s useful and you also earn commission if someone buys, that relationship should be clear somewhere on the page. The exact wording of your disclosure matters more to readers than the code, but both are part of running an honest affiliate site.
Do all affiliate links need to be marked this way?
In practice, yes, you should treat affiliate links as links that need a commercial attribute. The reason is simple: if you can earn money from a click, it’s not an ordinary editorial link.
That includes links in:
- blog posts
- product reviews
- gift guides
- comparison posts
- homepage banners
- sidebar widgets
- email newsletters
- landing pages
If a link is purely informational and there is no commission, sponsorship or paid arrangement behind it, then you don’t need to label it as sponsored. But if there’s any affiliate relationship attached, it should be marked appropriately.
What about Amazon affiliate links?
Amazon affiliate links are still affiliate links, so the same principle applies. They should be treated as commercial links, which means using nofollow, sponsored, or both.
Amazon also has its own programme rules, so if you use Amazon links, it’s worth checking the latest requirements in your associate account and making sure your disclosures match what Amazon asks for. That matters as much as the SEO tag.
If you’re building affiliate income alongside other side hustles, you might also like how to make money on Temu, which is another route some people explore when they want more than one online income stream.
How to add the tag in practice
If you’re using WordPress, the easiest way is often through your affiliate link plugin, SEO plugin or the block editor, depending on how your site is set up. Some plugins let you add link attributes automatically, while others only handle redirects or cloaking.
When you’re editing the HTML manually, the link might look like this:
<a href="https://example.com" rel="nofollow sponsored">Product name</a>
If your setup only allows one value, choose sponsored for affiliate links. If it allows more than one, using both is fine.
If you’re not sure how your current theme or plugin handles affiliate links, check a few published posts in the page source or test one link in a draft. It’s much easier to spot a pattern once you know where your site is adding attributes automatically.
Should every external link be nofollow?
No. That would be overkill and not particularly useful.
Regular editorial links, such as when you genuinely want to point someone to a helpful source, don’t need to be tagged as sponsored just because they go off-site. A normal external link is fine on its own unless there is a paid relationship behind it or you want to use nofollow for another reason.
The distinction is simple:
- affiliate or sponsored links, use sponsored, nofollow, or both
- ordinary editorial links, no special tag needed
- links you don’t want to endorse, nofollow can still make sense
That’s why it helps not to overcomplicate this. You do not need to plaster nofollow on every link you publish.
What to do if your site already has old affiliate links
If you’ve been blogging for a while, you probably have older posts where affiliate links were added before you knew much about link attributes. That’s normal.
You don’t need to sit there and rewrite every post in one sitting. A sensible approach is to review the pages that bring in the most traffic or contain the most affiliate links, then update those first. After that, you can work through the rest gradually.
If your site is small, it may be quicker to search for common affiliate destinations, update your templates and make sure future links are added correctly from now on. The aim is consistency, not perfection overnight.
And if part of your monetisation strategy includes building an audience around your content, a strong email list can help too, which is why it’s useful to avoid the typical mistakes people make with email newsletters when they start promoting offers.
What to remember if you just want the simple answer
If you’re adding affiliate links to your site, mark them as commercial links. In most cases, that means using rel="sponsored", or rel="nofollow sponsored" if you want to be extra clear.
You do not need to obsess over the wording of every single link tag, but you do need a sensible system. Once that’s in place, you can focus on what matters more, which is writing useful content that people actually want to read and click through from.
If you’re growing an affiliate site alongside other money-making projects, such as selling online, blogging or trying out new platforms, keep your link setup simple and consistent. The technical side should support your content, not get in the way of it.
