Rank Math's external link tests and the end of PageRank sculpting

Two tests, one after the other

The first test counts external links in the post content. One is enough: "Great! You are linking to external resources." Its tooltip gives the reason Rank Math cares: "It helps visitors read more about a topic and prevents pogosticking," the term SEOs use for a searcher bouncing back to the results to try another page.

The second test looks at those external links and passes if at least one of them is followed: "At least one external link with DoFollow found in your content." Rank Math's knowledge base notes that it depends on the first test, so a post with no external links fails both.

"DoFollow" is SEO shorthand, not an HTML attribute. A link is followed by default. It only stops being followed when it carries rel="nofollow", rel="sponsored" or rel="ugc". You do not need to add anything to make a link followed.

Rank Math has a separate test, Linking to Internal Resources, for links to your own site; the logic and pitfalls are similar to Yoast's internal links check.

Both tests read only the post content. Links in your theme's footer, sidebar widgets or author box are not counted, so a site-wide "Resources" menu will not pass them.

What PageRank sculpting was

When Google introduced nofollow in 2005, it was meant to fight comment spam. Site owners soon found another use: if nofollowed links did not pass PageRank, then adding nofollow to some links on a page might push more PageRank through the remaining ones. Marking outbound links, login links and tag pages as nofollow became a common tactic, known as PageRank sculpting.

In 2009 Google explained that it had changed how nofollowed links were handled, so the PageRank they would have passed was no longer redistributed to the other links on the page. Sculpting stopped working. In 2019 Google went further, introducing rel="sponsored" and rel="ugc" and saying it would treat all three attributes as hints rather than strict directives.

Rank Math's test exists to discourage the leftover habit of nofollowing every external link "just in case". There is no ranking value being protected by it.

When all-nofollow is the right answer

Google's link guidance asks for specific attributes in specific cases:

An affiliate roundup whose only external links go to merchants will fail the followed-link test, and should. Removing sponsored to pass it would conflict with Google's rules on paid links. Keep the attributes and accept the result, or add a followed link to a genuinely useful non-commercial source, such as the manufacturer's documentation, if the post benefits from one.

A post with no reason to cite anything, like a product announcement or a contact page, can fail the first test without harm.

If you need a followed link, the best candidates are primary sources: specifications, official documentation, original research and government pages that support what you wrote. A followed link to a relevant page on another business's site is not a gift of rankings to a competitor; it is a citation, and readers treat it as one.

Outbound links in Hydrogen SEO

Hydrogen SEO's per-post SEO score asks for at least one external link as part of full link points, alongside three or more internal links. It does not look at nofollow or other attributes. Its site audit concentrates on internal link health, such as broken internal links and orphan pages. For the attributes themselves, see nofollow and sponsored and UGC links.