Does SEO_SPONSORED_LINKS affect my score?

No. It is a detection rule: it runs, appears in your report and never penalises you. "Sponsored link attribution detected" is information about the page rather than a defect - most pages are not expected to satisfy it.

What does SPECIFICATION confidence mean?

A standard says so: HTML, WCAG, an RFC or Google's own documentation. Confidence is a declared tier rather than a per-rule number, so every rule backed by the same class of evidence carries the same weight - which is what makes the score reproducible instead of hand-tuned.

How do I check SEO_SPONSORED_LINKS on my own site?

Paste your URL into the box above and it runs only this rule, usually in a couple of seconds. It is also included in the SEO checker and in a full scan.

SEOLow Detection only

Sponsored link attribution detected

SEO_SPONSORED_LINKS

Paid and affiliate links must be marked rel="sponsored" - failing to do so is a link-scheme violation in Google's guidelines.

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How this rule is weighted

Importance: 1 / 10; How much this matters relative to other rules.
Confidence: SPECIFICATION; A standard says so: HTML, WCAG, an RFC or Google's own documentation.
Severity: info; How the finding is presented when it fails.
Scoring: Excluded; Reported in the report, never penalised.

Impact is importance multiplied by the confidence tier’s weight — SPECIFICATION 1.0, RESEARCH 0.7, EMERGING 0.3, EXPERIMENTAL 0.1. Two rules backed by the same class of evidence therefore always carry the same weight, which is what makes the score reproducible rather than hand-tuned.

Questions about this rule

Does SEO_SPONSORED_LINKS affect my score?: No. It is a detection rule: it runs, appears in your report and never penalises you. "Sponsored link attribution detected" is information about the page rather than a defect - most pages are not expected to satisfy it.
What does SPECIFICATION confidence mean?: A standard says so: HTML, WCAG, an RFC or Google's own documentation. Confidence is a declared tier rather than a per-rule number, so every rule backed by the same class of evidence carries the same weight - which is what makes the score reproducible instead of hand-tuned.
How do I check SEO_SPONSORED_LINKS on my own site?: Paste your URL into the box above and it runs only this rule, usually in a couple of seconds. It is also included in the SEO checker and in a full scan.

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