How Nofollow Works
Search engines discover new pages by following links. When a search engine visits a page it reads the content and then follows the outgoing links to find other pages, both within the same site and on other sites. This process, called crawling, is how search engines map the web and determine which pages are connected to which.
A nofollow instruction on a page tells the search engine to stop at that page and not follow any of its links. The links still exist and visitors can still click them, but the search engine treats them as if they lead nowhere.
When Nofollow Is Used Correctly
Nofollow has legitimate uses on individual links, particularly for paid links, user generated content, or links to external sites the publisher does not want to vouch for. Applying nofollow to a specific link is a standard practice in responsible web publishing.
The problem occurs when nofollow is applied at the page level rather than to individual links, or when it is applied globally across an entire site through a robots meta tag. At that point the search engine cannot follow any link on the page to discover the rest of the site.
When Nofollow Causes Damage
A site wide nofollow tag means search engines visiting the homepage cannot follow the navigation links to find the services page, the about page, the contact page, or any other page on the site. Each of those pages must be discovered some other way or it may never be indexed at all.
Combined with a noindex tag, which prevents pages from being indexed, nofollow creates a complete blockade. The search engine is told not to index what it finds and not to follow links to find anything else. A site carrying both instructions on every page has effectively told every search engine to go away and come back with nothing.
This is the configuration a business gets when a website is built as an afterthought, launched without review, and maintained by no one. The Freebie Paradox at its most complete.
How To Check For Nofollow
The easiest way is to use our Domain Check tool. I added the functionality to read the Noindex and Nofollow information.
Also, you can right click any page on your website and select View Page Source. Search the source code for the word nofollow. If you find a meta robots tag that reads content equals noindex, nofollow, both instructions are active on that page simultaneously. If this tag appears on your homepage the damage is significant and immediate.
The Foundation Connection
A site wide nofollow tag means search engines cannot navigate between pages, cannot map the structure of the site, and cannot build an accurate picture of what the business offers or where it operates. A verified Google Business Profile, consistent NAP data, and a well written website all work together as a system. Nofollow on the wrong pages severs the connections that hold that system together, with no visible indication to the business owner that anything has been cut.
The damage does not announce itself. A business owner looking at their website sees pages, navigation, links, everything appearing to work. What they cannot see is that the search engine stopped at the door and went no further. The structure exists. The pathways are severed. Nobody checked whether the map was connected before they handed it to Google and asked to be found.