Avoid nofollow on internal links
SkillDev toolsnofollow-internal is a skill for auditing internal link structure on sites that use rel=nofollow on links pointing to pages within the same domain. It checks whether internal website links correctly use the nofollow attribute, so an agent can review link attributes during a site audit.
Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.
No other account needed.
Have a site that uses rel=nofollow on links pointing to pages within the same domain.
Then ask your AI: use the Avoid nofollow on internal links skill
What your AI can do with it
- Audit internal link structure on a site
- Review link attributes across pages
- Check whether internal links correctly use rel=nofollow
- Apply to any site using nofollow on same-domain links
Getting started
- Have a site that uses rel=nofollow on links pointing to pages within the same domain.
- Add the nofollow-internal skill to the agent's available skills.
- Ask the agent to audit internal link structure or review link attributes on the site.
- Review the agent's findings on whether internal links use the nofollow attribute correctly.
What this skill tells your AI
The instructions your AI receives, as published by thedaviddias/front-end-checklist in skills/nofollow-internal/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.
Adding rel=nofollow to internal links prevents PageRank from flowing to those pages—reducing their ability to rank—while providing no benefit over simply omitting the attribute.
Quick Reference
- rel=nofollow on internal links blocks PageRank flow to your own pages
- Internal nofollow was once used for 'PageRank sculpting' but is no longer effective
- Use nofollow only on outbound links to untrusted or sponsored content
- If you don't want a page crawled or indexed, use noindex on the target page instead
Check
Scan all internal links ( tags pointing to the same domain) for the presence of rel='nofollow' or rel containing 'nofollow'. List each instance with its source page, anchor text, and target URL.
Fix
Remove rel='nofollow' from internal links. If the goal was to prevent indexing of the target page, add to the target page instead. If the goal was to prevent crawling, use robots.txt Disallow for that path.
Explain
The rel=nofollow attribute was originally designed for untrusted external links. When applied to internal links, it blocks PageRank from flowing to your own pages without any benefit. Google has stated that PageRank sculpting via nofollow does not work—the PageRank that would have passed is simply lost, not redistributed.
Code Review
Query all elements. For each link, check if rel contains 'nofollow'. Determine if the link is internal (same domain) or external. Flag every internal link with rel='nofollow'. Check if the flagged links are in navigation, header, footer, or body content. Look for rel='nofollow new-tab' patterns that may have been applied blanket to all links.
For full implementation details, code examples, and framework-specific guidance,
see references/rule.md.
Rule page: https://frontendchecklist.io/en/rules/seo/nofollow-internal
Signals
- GitHub stars
- 74k
- Forks
- 7k
- Last commit
- Aug 2026
Questions
- When should this skill be used?
- Use it when auditing internal link structure or reviewing link attributes on a site.
- Which sites does it apply to?
- Any site using rel=nofollow on links pointing to pages within the same domain.
- What does it check?
- Whether internal website links correctly use the nofollow attribute.
Advanced
- Item type
- skill
- Key
nofollow-internal- Source
- github.com/thedaviddias/front-end-checklist