A link relationship attribute identifying links within user-generated content, such as blog comments or customer forum posts.
The ugc relationship value identifies links within user-generated content, such as comments or forum contributions. It gives a search engine context about who supplied the link. The site still hosts the surrounding contribution, but the relationship differs from a link deliberately chosen as part of the publisher’s own article.
This attribute is not a substitute for moderation. A comment can still mislead readers, contain abuse or point to an unsafe destination even when its link is qualified. Decide what contributions belong on the site and how they will be reviewed before treating markup as the entire spam-prevention process.
User-generated does not automatically mean low quality. A knowledgeable customer may contribute a genuinely helpful reference. The attribute describes origin, not a verdict on every contribution. Keep that distinction clear when designing comment policies and when interpreting an SEO tool’s report of qualified links.
Takeaway: Use appropriate relationship markup for user-supplied links, while continuing to moderate the content itself. Qualification provides context; it does not make every submitted link appropriate to publish.
Example
A repair forum allows members to reference manufacturer manuals when explaining a problem. The forum marks member-supplied links as user-generated and reviews submissions for relevance. It removes a promotional comment that adds no useful repair information rather than assuming the attribute makes the comment harmless.
What to check
Check the actual markup on published comments or forum posts, not only an administrator setting. Review how edited contributions, imported discussions and older templates behave. Keep your own editorial links distinguishable from links supplied by visitors.
For more detail, see Google outbound link qualification.