UGC (user generated content): definition and uses

What is UGC (user generated content)?

UGC refers to any content created and published by the users of an online service, not by the brand.

The report accepts publication to a restricted group, but excludes email and instant messaging. It also acknowledges that no definition is agreed upon. In its view, the third criterion holds up poorly since content started being monetized.

A review of 61 academic articles (Santos, *Online Information Review*, 2022) proposes a broader definition. It covers any text, data or action published by a user, with an expressive or communicative effect.

UGC differs from brand content, which is produced by or for the brand. The two complement each other in a content marketing approach. In France, UGC is also the name of a cinema chain, unrelated to this topic.

What are the types of UGC?

UGC falls into six families. Each one appears in a specific place and raises its own legal or SEO questions.

Format	Where it appears	Watch point
Customer reviews	Product page, Google listing, review platforms	Explain how reviews are moderated
Customer photos and videos	Social networks, product gallery	Consent of the author and of any recognizable person
UGC video	TikTok, Instagram, ads	Creator’s permission, disclosure if there is compensation
Q&A and forums	Community space, product FAQ	Spam, links to qualify
Tutorials	Videos, blogs, forums	Copyright if reused
Testimonials	Sales pages, case studies	A commissioned testimonial is not a spontaneous review

The French Consumer Code (Article D111-9) defines an online review as a consumer’s opinion of their experience, expressed as a rating or a comment. Sponsorships and expert reviews are excluded. For a local business, also keep track of the reviews on your Google Business Profile.

UGC video

A UGC video is a video with a personal tone, shot by a customer or a creator, then shared on social networks or used in advertising.

TikTok Spark Ads turn an organic post into an ad (TikTok help, updated in June 2026). A brand can thus sponsor another creator’s video, with their permission. The creator generates a code and chooses a duration of 7, 30, 60 or 365 days.

At Meta, ads run with a creator are now called “co-publicités” in French, “partnership ads” in English. To choose a format, see our guide to social ads.

Organic UGC or UGC creator: what is the difference?

Organic UGC comes from a customer who posts of their own accord. Content from a UGC creator is commissioned and paid for: it is brand communication.

In the OECD sense, this second case falls outside UGC, because the third criterion requires creation outside a professional setting. The report does acknowledge, however, that this criterion becomes fragile with monetization.

Three consequences follow.

• Rights: without the author’s consent, any reproduction is unlawful (French Intellectual Property Code, L122-4). Plan for an assignment of rights and the consent of the people filmed.
• Disclosure: paid promotional content shows its commercial intent, unless it is clear from the context. On Instagram, the label is called “Paid partnership” (“Collaboration commerciale” in French).
• Honesty: presenting a commissioned video as a customer’s spontaneous review may count as fake reviews (French Consumer Code, L121-4, 28°).

Pay is negotiated case by case; our sources contain no official rate card. The contract should specify the deliverables, the uses, the duration, the assignment of copyright and image rights.

Influencers have a rule of their own. Since January 1, 2026, in France, their contract must be in writing above €1,000 excluding VAT per year for the same promotional objective (Service Public, December 3, 2025).

Why does UGC marketing work?

UGC marketing acts as social proof: it shows that others have bought, tried or recommended. Three studies illustrate this, each within a narrow scope.

The survey was conducted online in September 2021 among more than 40,000 consumers worldwide. It is self-reported, with no figure for France. It concerns people the respondents know, not strangers posting a review.

In its June 2017 report, the Spiegel Research Center (Northwestern University) studied a high-end gift retailer. There, a product with five reviews had a purchase likelihood 270% higher than a product with no reviews. Displaying reviews increased conversion by 190% for a lower-priced product, and by 380% for a higher-priced product.

These figures come from a single retailer, with PowerReviews data, for an unspecified year. Do not transpose them to French e-commerce in 2026.

PowerReviews, a vendor of review solutions, states that in June 2025, 95% of 21,279 consumers regularly read product reviews. The study is self-reported, and its author sells the tools it promotes.

How do you build a UGC strategy?

A UGC strategy comes down to seven steps. Permission and moderation come before any distribution.

1. Set the goal: choose a specific use, such as reassuring shoppers on a product page.
2. Take stock: list the reviews, photos, videos and discussions already published.
3. Ask: request a review after the purchase and disclose any incentive offered.
4. Get permission: collect written consent from the author and from any recognizable person.
5. Moderate: publish your rules, show the date of reviews and give reasons for rejections.
6. Distribute: reuse authorized content on your pages and in your social media strategy.
7. Measure: compare the conversion of pages with and without customer content, at comparable traffic.

Google’s guidelines on review snippets exclude undisclosed incentivized reviews, both on the page and in the markup (step 3). Article L111-7-2 of the French Consumer Code requires you to state whether reviews are checked (step 5). To fight spam, Google also suggests noindex for posts from new users without a reputation.

What legal rules govern UGC in France?

In France, five sets of rules apply to UGC. The ARPP, the French advertising self-regulatory body, adds a self-regulatory recommendation that does not have the force of law.

Rule	Reference text	What it implies
Copyright	French Intellectual Property Code, Art. L122-4	No reproduction or adaptation without the author’s consent
Image rights	French Civil Code, Art. 9; Service Public fact sheet (checked on May 6, 2022)	Written consent from any recognizable person: medium, purpose, duration
Online reviews	French Consumer Code, Art. L111-7-2 and D111-9 to D111-12	State whether reviews are checked, show their date, give reasons for rejections
Fake reviews	French Consumer Code, Art. L121-4 (27° and 28°)	Fake reviews, altered reviews or reviews called verified without checks: deemed misleading
Commercial influence	Law No. 2023-451, Art. 1 and 5-2	Disclosure of commercial intent, unless the context makes it clear
Self-regulation	ARPP, Digital Advertising Communication v5	Commercial nature instantly identifiable, explicit and legible

Article 5-2 of the law of June 9, 2023, in force since November 8, 2024, gives “publicité” (advertising) or “collaboration commerciale” (commercial collaboration) as examples of labels. An equivalent label adapted to the format is accepted. For fake reviews, Service Public reported in June 2022 a penalty of two years in prison and a €300,000 fine.

According to the DGCCRF 2024 annual report, published on March 13, 2025, more than 260 influencers were checked in 2024, 40% of them in breach. On fake reviews, nearly a third of the 397 businesses checked showed breaches. These targeted checks do not give a rate that is representative of the market.

Does UGC help SEO and visibility in AI?

Yes, provided it is managed. Google applies specific rules to user content, and AI search engines cite community platforms heavily.

Google recommends rel="ugc" for links in comments and forum posts (“Qualify Outbound Links for SEO” page, updated on December 10, 2025). The attribute can be removed for trusted contributors, or combined: rel="ugc nofollow". See our guide to link rel attributes.

Google’s spam policies, updated on August 28, 2026, also target user-generated spam. This unwanted content arrives through a channel open to users, often without the owner’s knowledge.

Since September 2019, Google does not show stars for LocalBusiness or Organization when the entity controls its own reviews, even through a third-party widget. The “Review snippet” documentation, updated on September 8, 2026, also excludes undisclosed incentivized reviews.

Your structured data must take this into account. DiscussionForumPosting markup is reserved for user posts on a forum, never for the publisher’s articles or product reviews.

On the AI side, Semrush analyzed 126 million prompts from the United States, from January to April 2026 (press release of June 26, 2026). ChatGPT cites an average of 15 sources per answer and relies heavily on Reddit. Wikipedia (21.8 million citations) and Reddit (21.1 million) come out almost level at the top.

Reddit is also the third most cited source in Google AI Mode. The study comes from an SEO tool vendor and covers the United States. For the method, see how to work on your visibility in AI.

To get started, begin with the UGC you already have: your reviews, your customers’ photos, your community’s discussions. Get permissions, publish a moderation policy, qualify links, then measure the effect on your pages. Without permission or moderation, user generated content exposes you to legal and SEO risk.