Verified Confidence: high
Primary source found; it says the same thing, the scope matches, and it is reasonably current.
Safe rephrasing
Google asks that ads and paid placements be marked rel="sponsored"; rel="nofollow" is still accepted for them.
What the source says
Mark links that are advertisements or paid placements (commonly called paid links ) with the sponsored value.
Google Search Central — Qualify your outbound links to Google
- Commonly cited as
- "Do paid links need nofollow?"
- True origin
- Google Search Central — Qualify your outbound links to Google
- Type
- Reference fact: A frequently needed number or rule taken directly from a primary source (e.g. Pew, Census, IAB/PwC, FTC), with its as-of date.
- Year
- Current documentation
- Data as of
- Documentation read on 2026-10-17
- Last checked
- Method & sample
- Official Google documentation (current version read Oct. 17, 2026).
- Drift between quote and source
- nofollow remains an acceptable alternative for paid links, per the same page
- Interest
- Google operates Google Search and documents its own systems.