Dofollow vs Nofollow vs UGC vs Sponsored: Which Photo-Credit Links Actually Move Rankings
You finally get a site to credit your photo. They add "Photo by [Your Name]" with a link to your portfolio. Win, right?
Maybe. It depends on one thing most photographers never check: the link's rel attribute. Two credits can look identical on the page—same anchor text, same position, same wording—and pass completely different amounts of ranking value to your site. One might lift your search position over the next few months. The other might do nothing for rankings at all.
This is the part of SEO that sounds like alphabet soup—dofollow, nofollow, UGC, sponsored—but it's worth understanding, because it changes which backlinks are actually worth chasing.
Here's the plain-English version, with our honest take on which ones matter for photographers.
First, What Is a rel Attribute?
When a website links to you, the underlying HTML looks something like this:
<a href="https://yourportfolio.com" rel="nofollow">Photo by Your Name</a>
That rel="nofollow" part is invisible to readers. It's a quiet instruction to search engines about how to treat the link. There are four values you'll run into, and Google uses them as hints when deciding how much—if any—ranking credit to pass through the link.
The four you care about: dofollow (the default, no special attribute), nofollow, ugc, and sponsored.
Let's take them one at a time, then rank them by what they're actually worth to a photographer.
Dofollow: The One You Actually Want
A dofollow link is just a normal link with no restricting attribute. It's the default. If someone adds your credit and does nothing special to the code, you get a dofollow link.
This is the link that passes what SEOs used to call "link juice"—the endorsement signal that tells Google another site vouches for yours. When a respected site links to you with a dofollow link, it's the digital equivalent of a professional reference putting their name behind you.
For photographers, this is the prize. When a well-run blog, a brand site, or a publication credits your photo with a plain dofollow link, that's the credit that builds your domain authority and helps your portfolio rank for "[your specialty] photographer."
The good news: most photo credits in the wild are dofollow by default. A busy content manager adding your credit isn't going to bother typing rel="nofollow" into a caption. They just paste the link. So the standard attribution credit you earn from outreach is usually the kind worth having.
Nofollow: Looks Like a Credit, Doesn't Build Authority
A nofollow link tells search engines "don't pass ranking credit through this link." It originally existed to fight comment spam—so people couldn't game rankings by dropping links in blog comments.
A nofollow credit still has real value, just not the ranking kind:
- Referral traffic. A reader clicking your credit lands on your portfolio regardless of the
relattribute. A nofollow link from a high-traffic page can still send you real visitors and real clients. - Brand visibility. Your name appears on a respected site. That's worth something even if Google ignores the link for ranking.
- A more natural profile. A backlink profile that's 100% dofollow looks unnatural. A healthy mix that includes some nofollow links looks like the organic pattern Google expects.
Where you'll commonly run into nofollow as a photographer: large platforms and user-generated areas. Many big sites apply nofollow site-wide as a blanket policy. Social media profile links are almost always nofollow. Some publications nofollow all outbound links by default.
Our take: don't refuse a nofollow credit, but don't break your back chasing one either. It's a "nice to have," not a ranking driver. If a high-traffic publication will only credit you with a nofollow link, take it for the traffic and the brand exposure—just don't expect it to move your search rankings.
UGC: The Newer Cousin of Nofollow
In 2019, Google introduced two more specific attributes to sit alongside nofollow. rel="ugc" is the first. UGC stands for user-generated content—links inside comments, forum posts, and other areas where the site's own editors didn't place the link.
The idea: instead of one blanket nofollow for everything, a site can tell Google "this link came from a user, not from us." It's a more honest signal about where the link originated.
For ranking purposes, treat UGC roughly the way you treat nofollow. Google describes these attributes as hints, not strict rules—it reserves the right to consider them—but you should plan as if UGC links pass little to no ranking value.
Where photographers hit this: if your photo gets credited inside a forum thread, a comment section, or a community post, that link may carry the UGC attribute. It can still send curious clickers your way, but lean toward treating it as traffic and exposure rather than a ranking asset.
Sponsored: For Paid Placements (and a Compliance Line You Shouldn't Cross)
rel="sponsored" is the attribute for links that are paid for or part of an advertising or affiliate arrangement. If you pay for a placement, or it's part of a sponsorship deal, the link is supposed to carry this attribute.
Two things matter here.
First, sponsored links don't pass ranking credit, by design. That's the whole point—Google doesn't want paid links manipulating search results.
Second, and more important for photographers: buying links to fake authority is the wrong game entirely. Google's guidelines are explicit that paid links meant to pass ranking value are a violation, and getting caught can hurt your site. The entire premise of photo-credit backlinks is that they're earned—your photo was genuinely useful, the site genuinely used it, so the credit is genuinely deserved. That's exactly the kind of link Google wants to count. Don't trade a clean earned-link strategy for a risky paid-link one.
The sponsored attribute mostly matters to you in reverse: if a brand pays you to feature their product and links to your work, that link is theirs to mark, not yours to worry about.
The Ranking, From Most to Least Useful
Here's how the four attributes stack up specifically for a photographer building authority through photo credits:
| Attribute | Passes ranking value? | Sends traffic? | Worth chasing? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dofollow | Yes | Yes | Yes—this is the goal |
| Nofollow | No (or minimal) | Yes | Take it, don't chase it |
| UGC | No (or minimal) | Yes | Take it, don't chase it |
| Sponsored | No | Yes | Not for SEO—earned links only |
The pattern is simple: a plain dofollow credit from a relevant, well-run site is the one that builds rankings. Everything else is a bonus channel for traffic and visibility, not a ranking lever.
What This Means for Your Outreach
The practical upshot changes how you think about which credits to prioritize.
Prioritize the sites where credits land as dofollow by default. That's most editorial blogs, brand sites, and independent publications—exactly the audience that tends to use higher-quality platforms like Unsplash. When a normal content team adds a credit, you typically get a clean dofollow link without asking for anything special.
Don't over-engineer the ask. You don't need to email someone requesting "a dofollow link, please." That sounds transactional and slightly spammy, and most people won't know what you mean. A friendly, specific attribution request gets you a normal credit—which is usually dofollow anyway. Keep the outreach human; the link attribute tends to take care of itself.
Check before you celebrate—occasionally. If a credit really matters to you (a high-authority site you specifically targeted), it's worth confirming the link is dofollow. You can right-click the credit, choose "Inspect," and look for a rel attribute on the link. No rel="nofollow", rel="ugc", or rel="sponsored"? It's a dofollow link doing real work for you.
Value variety. A backlink profile that mixes dofollow editorial credits with the occasional nofollow social or forum mention looks natural and healthy. You're not trying to manufacture a perfect 100%-dofollow profile—that pattern itself can look engineered. Earn real credits from real usage and the mix sorts itself out.
The Bottom Line
Not every photo credit is worth the same to your rankings, and now you know why. Dofollow is the link that builds authority. Nofollow and UGC still send traffic and exposure—take them, but don't chase them. Sponsored is for paid placements and has no place in an earned-link strategy.
The reassuring part for photographers: the credits you naturally earn from sites genuinely using your work are usually dofollow by default. You don't have to game anything. You just have to find the sites using your photos and ask, politely, for the credit you already deserve.
Backlink Harvest finds the sites using your photos so you can turn downloads into earned credits. Join the waitlist to be first to know when we launch.