diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/GeneratedLink.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/GeneratedLink.php
index a678e58..0941187 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/GeneratedLink.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/GeneratedLink.php
@@ -15,6 +15,11 @@
 class GeneratedLink extends BubbleableMetadata implements MarkupInterface, \Countable {
 
   /**
+   * HTML tag to use when building the link.
+   */
+  const TAG = 'a';
+
+  /**
    * The HTML string value containing a link.
    *
    * @var string
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/GeneratedNoLink.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/GeneratedNoLink.php
index 3c05e88..423e849 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/GeneratedNoLink.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/GeneratedNoLink.php
@@ -1,10 +1,5 @@
 <?php
 
-/**
- * @file
- * Contains \Drupal\Core\GeneratedNoLink.
- */
-
 namespace Drupal\Core;
 
 /**
@@ -12,4 +7,9 @@
  */
 class GeneratedNoLink extends GeneratedLink {
 
+  /**
+   * {@inheritdoc}
+   */
+  const TAG = 'span';
+
 }
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Utility/LinkGenerator.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Utility/LinkGenerator.php
index e1e0878..4118661 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Utility/LinkGenerator.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Utility/LinkGenerator.php
@@ -148,14 +148,12 @@ public function generate($text, Url $url) {
     unset($variables['options']['attributes']);
     $url->setOptions($variables['options']);
 
-    $tag = 'a';
     // External URLs can not have cacheable metadata.
     if ($url->isExternal()) {
       $generated_link = new GeneratedLink();
       $attributes['href'] = $url->toString(FALSE);
     }
     elseif ($url->isRouted() && $url->getRouteName() === '<nolink>') {
-      $tag = 'span';
       $generated_link = new GeneratedNoLink();
       unset($attributes['href']);
     }
@@ -173,7 +171,7 @@ public function generate($text, Url $url) {
     $attributes = new Attribute($attributes);
     // This is safe because Attribute does escaping and $variables['text'] is
     // either rendered or escaped.
-    return $generated_link->setGeneratedLink('<' . $tag . $attributes . '>' . $variables['text'] . '</' . $tag . '>');
+    return $generated_link->setGeneratedLink('<' . $generated_link::TAG . $attributes . '>' . $variables['text'] . '</' . $generated_link::TAG . '>');
   }
 
 }