WordPress 5.3 Introduces Rel UGC Nofollow Link Attribute

SEO September 30, 2024

0 3 2 minutes read

WordPress has announced that with the release of WordPress 5.3 next month, it will support Google’s UGC Nofollow attribute by default. Starting November 12, 2019, all links in the comments section will automatically use the UGC nofollow link attribute.

UGC Nofollow Attribute

The UGC nofollow link attribute, introduced by Google on September 10, 2019, indicates that a link is within user-generated content and should not be trusted.

Impact of Rel UGC on WordPress Sites

WordPress plugins involved with user-generated content and links may need to update their code to support the new attribute.

The old callback:

wp_rel_nofollow_callback()

has been deprecated in favor of a new callback:

wp_rel_callback()

The announcement did not clarify whether plugins using the old code would break the site or degrade gracefully.

Multi-Search Engine Compatibility

While Google plans to support rel=ugc, other search engines have not indicated similar support. To ensure compatibility with all search engines, WordPress will output the UGC nofollow attribute in a widely supported manner.

This is the code:

rel="nofollow ugc"

Does Rel UGC Help WordPress Publishers?

There is no ranking benefit to publishers for using the UGC nofollow attribute. This attribute helps Google understand that a link was created by someone outside of the publisher’s control and that the link should not be trusted.

WordPress Code Deprecation

This change is significant for WordPress developers as it involves a code update.

WordPress explained the change as follows:

"In WordPress 5.3, wp_rel_nofollow_callback() will be deprecated in favor of a more generic callback function, wp_rel_callback(), which is now used to add other rel attribute values to a specified link.

wp_rel_callback() is used by the existing wp_rel_nofollow() function to add a single ‘nofollow’ value, and with the new wp_rel_ugc() function, developers can add both ‘nofollow’ and ‘ugc’ values to the rel attribute."

Here is an example WordPress shared on how to use the new code:

$link = ‘<a href="example.com">User generated link example</a>’;
$ugc_link = wp_rel_ugc($link);
echo $ugc_link;
// output: <a href="example.com" rel="nofollow ugc">User generated link example</a>

Takeaways:

Change to the rel nofollow link attribute goes into effect with WordPress 5.3, scheduled for November 12, 2019.
The new UGC nofollow attribute will still work with other search engines.
The old nofollow callback has been deprecated.
The average WordPress user may not experience any inconvenience.