My warning report says I have too many on page links - 517! I can't find 50% of them but my q is about no follow

[SarahinSuffolk]

if we put 'no follow' on some of these links does that mean

1. the search engines won't index the no follow pages even if those pages are linked to from elsewhere?

2. no link juice will flow from the page with the (no follow) links on?

Just trying to understand why my rankings have dropped so dramatically in the last 6 weeks or so since we redesigned the site, and it might be that now we have too many links on the homepage. This is the page http://www.suffolktouristguide.com/

All suggestions appreciated!

[Martijn_Scheijbeler]

Hi Sarah,

You're right about the 517 links, the SEOMoz toolbaar shows around 517 internal links. But there can't be found more than ±130 links on the page itself. However hopefully this answers your questions.

1. No, if the page is still linked from other pages without the nofollow this won't help.

2. Yes. The link won't be followed by Google.

[Horizon]

Hi Sarah,

1. the search engines won't index the no follow pages even if those pages are linked to from elsewhere? - Incorrect. The search engine will index the pages if the crawler reaches them from another link, provided this other link is followable. Assuming the page you are linking to does not meta rel nofollow, noindex.

2. no link juice will flow from the page with the (no follow) links on? - Correct. Link juice will only flow through links if they are followable.

With regards to your general statement about why your rankings have dropped since the redesign - have you changed the overall architecture of the site? Change the URL structure? Or is it simply a refresh, moved a few bits around, prettied up the pages, etc?

Matt