User-generated content (UGC) is anything published by people outside the brand: reviews, photos, videos, comments or forum posts. It should not be confused with the rel="ugc" attribute, which only marks links.
UGC is content published by customers and users: reviews, photos, forum posts. Its forms, rights when reusing it, moderation and how it differs from rel="ugc".
What user-generated content means
The abbreviation names two different things, and it helps to separate them from the start. This entry covers the content itself. The ugc attribute is something else: a value of the rel attribute that Google introduced on 10 September 2019 to mark links inside user content such as comments and forum posts. A site can host a lot of UGC without ever using the attribute, and the attribute says nothing about the quality of the content.
In April 2007 the OECD published a report on the participative web that proposes three characteristics. The content is made publicly available over the internet, it reflects a certain amount of creative effort, and it is created outside of professional routines and practices. The report itself admits that there is no widely accepted definition. Even so, the three characteristics help to sort cases: a spontaneous review meets them, a video commissioned and paid for by the brand fails the third.
How it works
UGC takes very different forms: - Reviews and star ratings in an online shop, on Google or on review platforms. - Customer photos and videos, posted on their own channels or sent to the brand. - Blog comments and posts in forums or communities. - Questions and answers between users on product pages. - Content from so-called UGC creators: people a brand pays to produce videos or photos that look like spontaneous customer content.
The last case changes what the content is. Once there is payment, the content fails the OECD's third characteristic and becomes commercial communication. In the United States, the FTC's Endorsement Guides (16 CFR Part 255, revised version published on 26 July 2023) require a connection between endorser and seller that might affect the weight of the endorsement, and that the audience would not expect, to be disclosed clearly and conspicuously; payment and gifted or discounted products count as such connections. In the EU, Directive 2005/29/EC on unfair commercial practices lists falsely representing oneself as a consumer among the practices that are unfair in all circumstances (Annex I, point 22). The rules for creators with large audiences are covered in the influencer marketing entry.
Platforms have their own duty. Under Article 26(2) of the EU Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065), online platforms must give users a functionality to declare whether the content they provide is or contains commercial communication.
Reuse needs permission. A customer's photo or video is usually protected by copyright, and the fact that it is public on a social network does not give a brand the right to copy it onto its website or into an ad. If a recognisable person appears in it, image rights come into play as well; in Spain, for example, Organic Law 1/1982 treats using a person's image for advertising without their express consent as an unlawful intrusion. Where the permission rests on consent to process personal data, the GDPR requires that withdrawing it be as easy as giving it (Article 7(3)).
Moderation is the other half of the work. The Digital Services Act requires hosting providers to offer an easy-to-access electronic mechanism through which anyone can report content they consider illegal (Article 16). Google, for its part, defines user-generated spam as spammy content added to a site by users through a channel intended for user content, with comment spam on blogs and spammy forum posts among its examples.
Where the content comes from decides the task
On your websitereviews, comments, forum posts, questions and answers on product pages
→
Moderationoffer an easy way to report illegal content, and remove comment spam and spammy forum posts
On the customer's channelscustomer photos and videos, public on a social network
→
Ask for permissionPublic is not permission: onto your website or into an ad only with permission. If a recognisable person appears, image rights apply as well.
Paid: UGC creatorsvideos or photos that look like spontaneous customer content
→
Label it as advertisingOnce there is payment, the content fails the OECD's third characteristic and is commercial communication, even if it looks spontaneous.
Who made the content and where it sits decides whether you moderate, ask permission or label it.
Why it matters
Reviews influence purchases, although the public data is limited. In 2017 the Spiegel Research Center at Northwestern University, working with the review software provider PowerReviews, published an analysis that found the purchase likelihood for a product with five reviews was 270% greater than for a product with no reviews. The figure comes from the data of a single high-end gift retailer, and the effect was larger for higher-priced products than for lower-priced ones. It does not transfer automatically to another sector.
Reviews are also where the rules are densest. Since the amendments made by Directive (EU) 2019/2161, Annex I of Directive 2005/29/EC treats as always unfair stating that reviews come from consumers who actually used or purchased the product without taking reasonable steps to check this (point 23b), and submitting or commissioning false reviews or misrepresenting real ones (point 23c). In the United States, the FTC's rule on consumer reviews and testimonials (16 CFR Part 465, published on 22 August 2024) prohibits, among other things, reviews that misrepresent that the reviewer exists, and paying for reviews that express a particular sentiment.
For SEO, UGC adds fresh text and real customers' vocabulary to a page, but also links that no editor chose. That is why Google recommends marking links in comments and forums with the ugc value, and why an unmoderated forum fills up with spam.
Best practices
Get written permission before reusing a customer's photo or video, and keep the record.
Label content from paid creators as advertising, even when it looks spontaneous.
Publish all reviews, including negative ones, and explain how you check that they come from real customers.
Offer a simple way to report content and review reports within a fixed time.
Mark links in comments and forums with rel="ugc".
Common mistakes
Confusing UGC with the rel="ugc" attribute.
Copying customers' Instagram photos onto the website because they were public.
Passing off videos commissioned from creators as spontaneous reviews.
Deleting negative reviews and keeping only the good ones.
Opening comments or a forum with nobody moderating them.
Manuel Riveiro RodriguezCEO & Digital Strategist
A technical audit covers this and everything else in one pass.
User-generated content is anything published by people outside the brand: reviews, photos, videos, comments or forum posts. The OECD described it in 2007 with three characteristics: publicly available, reflecting some creative effort of its own, and created outside professional routines. Content that a brand commissions and pays for therefore falls outside it.
Is UGC the same as the rel="ugc" attribute?
No. UGC is the content users publish. The rel="ugc" attribute is a value Google introduced in 2019 to mark links inside that content, such as comments or forum posts. A site can host a lot of UGC without using the attribute, and the attribute does not judge the content. They share an abbreviation, nothing more.
Can I use photos my customers post on social media on my website?
Only with permission. The photo is usually protected by copyright, and being public on a social network does not license you to copy it. If a recognisable person appears, image rights apply too; in Spain, using someone's image for advertising requires their express consent. Ask in writing and keep the record of that permission.
What is a UGC creator?
A UGC creator is someone a brand pays to produce photos or videos that look like customer content. Even if the format imitates UGC, there is payment, so it is commercial communication and should be disclosed. In the United States, the FTC's Endorsement Guides require material connections such as payment or gifted products to be disclosed clearly and conspicuously.
Do I have to moderate user content?
Yes. The EU Digital Services Act requires providers that host third-party content to offer a simple electronic mechanism for reporting illegal content. Google also treats spam that users leave in comments and forums as spam on the site. Setting a fixed time for reviewing reports helps with both, and keeps a forum from filling up with spam.
