Do NoFollow links still split link equity?

[PageOnePowerGang]

So I realize that Google will split link equity between all links on any given page.  Example, if a landing page has 10 links then the authority from the landing page is split into 10 and each link given its own smaller amount of equity from that landing page.  My question is if I were to turn 9 of the 10 links on this page to NoFollow links would the equity still remain split 10 ways or would it simply pass all of it to the one DoFollow link left on the page?

[Cyrus-Shepard]

Hi Zach,

Good question. In the old days, this was referred to as "PageRank scuplting" - a process where you would place the nofollow tag on your unimportant links in order to pass more value to the links you wanted to count.

Then, in 2009, Google supposedly "plugged" the nofollow hole. Rand and team did a classic Whiteboard Friday on the topic. I still remember watching it the day it came out:

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/whiteboard-friday-how-do-we-plug-the-nofollow-leak

Today, you don't hear much about PageRank sculpting. Most SEOs don't bother with it, partly because of it's decreased effectiveness, but also in part because there are more effective ways of controlling the influence of links.

This is where the issue becomes more complex. Link "equity" or PageRank, (or MozRank), is only one small factor in the overall value of a link. Anchor text, position on the page, and a host of other factors all influence how much influence any given link can wield. Here's a good introduction on the subject (again from Rand)

Hope this helps! Best of luck with your SEO.

[Klarke]

As I understand it, the link equity is still spent evenly to all 10 links even if 9 of them are nofollow.

The 1 dofollow will receive its share, while the 9 nofollow will be sent it, but they won't receive the credit.

[NakulGoyal]

If you were to convert 9 of the 10 total links on the page into a nofollow, the only dofollow link will get all the link juice. I hope that clearly answers your question.

Edit: It looks like this changed a while ago (mid 2009) that if nofollow is added to 9 of the 10 links, the 10 links only get 10% of the link juice instead of the 100% and the 90% essentially gets lost.