Internal nofollow use by platform and site type
| Group | Sites | Any internal nofollow | Over 1% nofollowed | Over 10% nofollowed | Share of internal links nofollowed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All sites | 293 | 61.1% | 37.9% | 6.1% | 2.9% |
| Shopify | 70 | 78.6% | 54.3% | 5.7% | 2.5% |
| WordPress | 126 | 64.3% | 38.9% | 4.0% | 3.3% |
| Other platforms | 97 | 44.3% | 24.7% | 9.3% | 3.2% |
| Stores | 100 | 73.0% | 47.0% | 5.0% | 2.6% |
| WordPress sites | 95 | 64.2% | 41.1% | 4.2% | 3.4% |
| Business sites | 98 | 45.9% | 25.5% | 9.2% | 3.1% |
Source: PageSpeed Matters, Oct 2026. Platform rows (Shopify, WordPress, other) and site-type rows (stores, WordPress sites, business sites) are separate groupings of the same 293 sites.
Summary
A nofollow attribute on a link asks search engines not to follow it or pass signals through it. It was designed for links to other sites, such as paid or user-submitted links. Using it on links to your own pages is a different matter: it can hide parts of a site from crawlers or weaken the internal links that help pages get found.
We crawled 293 ranking sites, up to 1,000 pages each, and checked every internal link. 179 of them, 61.1%, nofollow at least one internal link, and 2.9% of their 17,374,383 internal links are nofollowed. Shopify stores do it most often, while business sites that do it tend to go further.
What we measured
We crawled 293 sites that rank in Google, up to 1,000 pages each: 100 stores, 95 WordPress sites and 98 business sites, for 195,708 URLs in total. For each site we counted its internal links and how many carry a nofollow flag.
We report the results two ways. By platform, the sites split into 70 on Shopify, 126 on WordPress and 97 on other platforms. By site type, they split into 100 stores, 95 WordPress sites and 98 business sites. The two splits use different groupings, so their counts do not line up and should not be added together.
To see where nofollowed links point, we sorted 424,365 listed nofollowed internal links by their target URL. Many of these are login, account and cart links that themes add with nofollow by default, so a nofollowed internal link is not always a mistake.
Most crawled sites nofollow some internal links
61.1% of the 293 crawled ranking sites, 179 in total, nofollow at least one internal link. And 37.9% of all 293 sites nofollow more than 1% of their internal links, so for many it is more than a stray link or two.
Across all 17,374,383 internal links on those sites, 2.9% are nofollowed. That is a small share of links overall, but it is spread across a majority of sites, and on some sites it is far higher, as the table shows: 6.1% of all sites nofollow more than 10% of their internal links.
61.1%
Share of 293 crawled ranking sites that nofollow at least one internal link.
Shopify stores nofollow internal links most often
By platform, Shopify stores are the most likely to nofollow internal links. 78.6% of the 70 Shopify stores do it, against 64.3% of 126 WordPress sites and 44.3% of 97 sites on other platforms.
Shopify stores also lead on the over 1% measure, at 54.3%. Yet their overall share of nofollowed internal links is the lowest of the three, at 2.5%. That pattern fits theme defaults: a small number of nofollowed links, such as login, account or cart links, repeated on every page of many stores.
Business sites that do it go further
By site type, the same order holds. 73.0% of 100 stores, 64.2% of 95 WordPress sites and 45.9% of 98 business sites nofollow at least one internal link.
But business sites that use nofollow tend to use it heavily. 9.2% of the 98 business sites nofollow more than 10% of their internal links, against 5.0% of stores and 4.2% of WordPress sites. That level is unlikely to come from a theme's login and cart links alone. It more likely points to a deliberate choice, such as nofollowing whole menus or footer links, or an old attempt to steer how link signals flow through the site.
Where nofollowed internal links point
Of 424,365 nofollowed internal links listed, 14.6% point to search, filter or sort URLs. 10.9% point to login or account pages and 6.3% to cart or checkout. The other 65.0% point elsewhere, a group that can include ordinary content, product and category pages.
The first three groups are the expected ones. Search and filter URLs can multiply into many near-duplicate pages, and login and cart pages have no search value, so many themes and plugins nofollow them by default. The 65.0% that point elsewhere is where it is worth checking whether the nofollow is intentional.
What this means for your site
Google treats nofollow as a hint rather than a strict rule, so a nofollowed internal link is not a reliable way to keep a page out of search. It can still make an important page harder to discover or weaken the links pointing to it.
- Crawl your site and list every internal link with a nofollow attribute. Most site crawlers can filter for this.
- Leave nofollow on login, account, cart and checkout links if your theme adds it. It does no harm there.
- Remove nofollow from links to pages you want found, such as products, categories, articles and service pages.
- To keep a page out of search, use a noindex tag on the page itself. To manage crawling of filter or search URLs, use robots.txt rules or canonical tags rather than nofollow on every link.
- If a large share of your internal links are nofollowed, look for a menu, footer or plugin setting that adds it site-wide.
Sources
- PageSpeed Matters crawls of 293 ranking sites up to 1,000 pages each, October 2026
- Google Search Central, qualify your outbound links to Google: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/qualify-outbound-links
Embed this research
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<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/internal-nofollow-usage">Internal Nofollow Usage: 61.1% of Crawled Ranking Sites - PageSpeed Matters</a></p>
Frequently asked questions
How common are nofollow internal links?
Very common. 61.1% of 293 crawled ranking sites nofollow at least one internal link, and 37.9% nofollow more than 1% of their internal links. Across 17,374,383 internal links, 2.9% are nofollowed.
Should internal links be nofollow?
Usually not for pages you want found. In our crawl, 10.9% of listed nofollowed internal links point to login or account pages and 6.3% to cart or checkout, where nofollow is harmless, but 65.0% point elsewhere.
Do Shopify stores nofollow internal links?
Often. 78.6% of 70 crawled Shopify stores nofollow at least one internal link, against 64.3% of 126 WordPress sites and 44.3% of 97 sites on other platforms. Their overall share of nofollowed internal links is lower, at 2.5%.
How do I find nofollow internal links on my site?
Crawl your site with an SEO crawler and filter internal links for the nofollow attribute. Then check where they point: login, cart and checkout links are fine to leave, while links to products, categories and articles should usually be followed.
Stray nofollow attributes usually come from one menu, footer or plugin setting, and removing them helps crawlers reach the pages you want found. Need help with this? See our technical SEO services.