Should you really eliminate the nofollow attribute from your internal linking?

Why does Google emphasize the free flow of internal PageRank?

Internal PageRank acts like a voting system among the pages of the same site. Each link transmits a portion of the authority of the source page to the target page. When you add a nofollow attribute to an internal link, you create an artificial blockage in this flow.

Google considers this practice counterproductive. Unlike external links where nofollow can protect your site from bad neighborhoods, internally, you sabotage your own architecture. Strategic pages that should receive SEO juice end up isolated.

How does nofollow actually block PageRank?

Imagine a page A with a PageRank of 10 pointing to 5 pages. Normally, each target page would theoretically receive 2 points. If you put nofollow on 2 of those links, PageRank does not redistribute evenly across the remaining 3 links: you simply lose that link value.

The calculation mechanism has evolved since Google’s early years, but the principle remains the same. A nofollow link does not transmit authority. Worse, in some cases, it can create algorithmic dead-ends where entire sections of the site receive less attention from the crawler.

What common mistakes justify this recommendation?

Many sites add nofollow to secondary navigation links, footers, or areas considered 'less important'. This is a misconception. Even a legal notice page can serve as a navigation bridge to other critical sections.

Some CMS automatically add nofollow to dynamically generated links. Other times, it results from misunderstood SEO guidelines dating back to the time of PageRank Sculpting, a technique that has been obsolete for over 10 years.

• Internal nofollow interrupts the natural flow of PageRank and creates under-optimized areas
• This practice often stems from outdated SEO techniques that are now counterproductive
• Google prefers you to control your architecture through the structure of the site itself, not through link attributes
• Internal links are a free optimization lever that it's absurd to intentionally restrict
• The only valid exception concerns user-generated content (UGC) areas for anti-spam security reasons

Is this guideline consistent with observed on-the-ground practices?

On paper, Google's recommendation seems obvious. However, the reality of high-volume sites tells a different story. I have seen e-commerce sites with tens of thousands of pages where the systematic removal of internal nofollow led to a dilution of PageRank towards low value pages.

Google’s advice assumes that your architecture is already optimal. This is rarely the case. Many sites have entire areas they would prefer to see crawled less: faceted filters, proliferating tag pages, endless chronological archives. In these configurations, internal nofollow served as a safety valve.

In what cases should this rule be reconsidered?

Consider sites with a complex structure. A news site with 15 years of archives has thousands of old pages with nearly zero traffic. Letting PageRank flow freely to these areas wastes crawl budget and internal authority.

Google never specifies the context of application. This lack of nuance is typical of their official statements. [To verify]: does this rule apply uniformly to sites with 50 pages as it does to those with 500,000 pages? No official data supports a clear answer.

Situations where internal nofollow remains defensible include: links to conversion pages (cart, checkout) that you do not want indexed, member areas with dynamically personal content, and e-commerce filter systems generating duplicate content.

What is a concrete alternative to internal nofollow?

If you cannot use nofollow, you need to rethink your architecture. The robots.txt file and noindex tag become your main tools. But be careful: noindex does not prevent crawling, it prevents indexing. The crawl budget is still consumed.

The real solution involves drastically reducing the number of non-strategic internal links. Streamlined menus, controlled pagination, limited facets. This is infinitely more complex than simply applying a nofollow attribute, but it’s what Google actually expects of you.

Where to start the audit of internal nofollow links?

First instinct: a complete crawl with Screaming Frog or equivalent. Export all internal links and filter those with the rel="nofollow" attribute. You will likely be surprised: critical navigation links marked nofollow for no valid reason.

Classify these links by area: header, footer, sidebar, editorial content, menus. Identify the patterns. Often, it's a poorly configured template that propagates nofollow across hundreds of pages. Fix at the source rather than page by page.

Which pages truly deserve to receive internal PageRank?

Focus the flow towards your strategic pages: those that generate organic traffic, those that convert, those that rank for your priority keywords. Internal linking should be a tool for prioritization, not an anarchic network.

Use your Analytics and Search Console data. Pages with impressions but few clicks, those with a good conversion rate but low visibility, are your priority targets. Strengthen internal links to these pages and remove any nofollow that could deprive them of authority.

How to avoid mistakes after removing nofollow?

Do not remove all nofollow at once if your site exceeds several thousand pages. Proceed by thematic groups or by sections. Monitor your rankings and crawl after each wave of changes.

Some sites will see immediate improvement, while others will experience an adjustment period with fluctuations. Google needs to recrawl, recalculate, and redistribute. This takes time. Keep an eye on your crawl budget in Search Console: if the number of pages crawled per day skyrockets for no reason, it's a warning signal.

• Crawl the site and identify all internal links with nofollow
• Remove nofollow from main navigation links (menus, breadcrumbs)
• Review templates to prevent nofollow from propagating automatically
• Enhance internal linking towards strategic pages with high SEO potential
• Monitor crawl and ranking evolution over 4 to 6 weeks post-modification
• Consider architectural alternatives (noindex, robots.txt) for non-strategic areas