Should you really enforce all your internal links as dofollow to rank?

Why does Google emphasize dofollow for internal links?

Google operates on a simple principle: the crawl follows links. When an internal link has a nofollow attribute, Googlebot can technically follow it, but the PageRank signal does not flow. The result: your strategic pages lose valuable juice, and the hierarchy of importance you want to establish becomes unreadable to the algorithm.

Mueller's statement specifically targets related articles within the same site. It's a clear signal: thematic silos, semantic cocooning, and content clusters need dofollow links for Google to accurately map your expertise on a given topic. A nofollow link breaks this relevance chain.

Does internal nofollow still have a purpose in 2025?

Technically, almost never. Legitimate cases are few and far between: login forms, post-conversion thank you pages, non-moderated UGC areas. Everything else falls under outdated practice, inherited from the time when some believed they could sculpt PageRank by blocking non-strategic areas.

On the ground reality? Audits regularly reveal sites that nofollow their own category pages, tag archives, or even pillar articles. It's counterproductive: you're sabotaging your own architecture while wasting crawl budget on URLs that you then disavow.

What actually happens when an internal link is nofollow?

Google still explores the target page if it's discoverable through other paths, but the contextual relevance signal disappears. If your article A on "optimizing Core Web Vitals" points to article B on "reducing LCP" with a nofollow, Google does not understand that B deepens an aspect of A. You lose the chance to reinforce your topical authority.

On the PageRank side, the flow stops entirely. On a site with 500 pages and a silo structure, a few misplaced nofollow links can lead to de facto orphan pages: technically accessible but lacking the juice needed to rank for their target queries.

• Crawl and indexing: internal nofollow complicates the discovery of deep pages, especially if they lack external backlinks.
• PageRank distribution: each internal nofollow represents a loss of juice to pages that need it.
• Thematic understanding: dofollow links between related contents strengthen cluster and topical authority signals.
• Site architecture: a coherent dofollow mesh facilitates the identification of pillar vs satellite pages.
• Crawl prioritization: Google allocates its budget to areas you value through your dofollow internal links.

Is this statement consistent with real-world observations?

Absolutely. A/B tests on sites that migrated their internal links from nofollow to dofollow show measurable gains in indexing of deep pages within 4 to 8 weeks. Pages that stagnated in positions 15-30 frequently bounce back into the top 10 once integrated into a strategic dofollow mesh.

However, beware of confirmation bias: it’s not the dofollow alone that drives ranking, it’s the coherence of the mesh. A random dofollow link brings no value. It’s the overall strategy – relevant anchors, semantic context, controlled click depth – that produces the effect.

What nuances should be added to this recommendation?

Mueller speaks about exploration and structural understanding, not about direct ranking. Internal dofollow is a necessary but not sufficient condition. If your content is poor, linking it as dofollow won’t save it. [To check]: Google has never published data on the isolated impact of internal dofollow on SERP positions.

Another point: the statement does not mention global navigation links (header, footer, sidebar). Technically, these should also be dofollow, but their individual weight is diluted by their presence on all pages. What truly matters are contextual in-content links between related articles.

In what cases might this rule not apply?

If you run a site with entire sections to be excluded from indexing (member areas, client spaces, internal tools), internal nofollow can serve as a safety net alongside a robots.txt or noindex tag. But let's be honest: in 95% of cases, it's an overcomplicated solution for a problem that is better solved upstream.

Massive e-commerce platforms (50,000+ URLs) sometimes need to juggle crawl budget by limiting crawl access to certain facets. But even then, nofollow is not the primary solution: canonicals, URL parameters in Search Console, and an architecture that avoids generating orphan URLs are preferred.

What actions should be taken to optimize internal linking?

First reflex: audit the existing setup. Use Screaming Frog or Oncrawl to extract all internal links and filter those with a nofollow attribute. You will be surprised by the number of hindered links without valid reason, often stemming from poorly managed CMS migrations or misconfigured third-party plugins.

Then, map your thematic clusters. For each content pillar, identify the 5 to 10 satellite articles that should point to it with dofollow using descriptive anchors. The goal: create clear crawl paths where each page reinforces the relevance of its cluster.

What mistakes should be avoided when redesigning the link structure?

Don’t fall into the trap of anchor over-optimization. Just because the link is dofollow doesn’t mean you should stuff the anchor with exact keywords. Google reads the context around the link: a natural anchor like "our complete guide on X" performs better than "best SEO agency Paris" in internal linking.

Also avoid systematic reciprocity. If article A points to B, it’s not mandatory for B to link back to A. A natural linking mesh respects a hierarchy: satellite pages link to pillars, not the other way around, unless the context truly justifies it.

How do I check that my site is properly configured?

Run a complete crawl and analyze the dofollow / nofollow internal link ratio. On a healthy site, this ratio should exceed 95% in favor of dofollow. If you are below 90%, you likely have a global configuration issue.

Also check the average click depth of your strategic pages. With an optimized dofollow mesh, no important page should be more than 3 clicks away from the home page. If some critical pages are at 5-6 clicks, it indicates that your architecture or linking is flawed.

• Crawl the site and export all internal links with their rel attribute
• Remove unjustified nofollow links, especially on contextual links between articles
• Map thematic clusters and create dofollow links between related contents
• Ensure that pillar pages receive dofollow links from their satellites
• Control the click depth of strategic pages (target: max 3 clicks)
• Audit internal link anchors to prevent over-optimization