Google confirms: nofollow won’t help flow more PR to your other links

Earlier today, during the Q&A session of a live webmaster chat event hosted by Google Italy, a Search Quality Team member explicitly confirmed what Matt Cutts was heard saying at SMX Advanced day 2 about the “rel=nofollow” attribute and PageRank sculpting: nofollowing links won’t affect the amount of PR that flows to the remaining links.

Here’s a relevant excerpt from the chat transcript, followed by its English translation:

Mr. Everfluxx - 18:37
Q: Ho un sito di 3 pagine: la home page (A) linka due pagine, B e C. Se inserisco un attributo rel=nofollow sul link da A a B, il PageRank della pagina C ne beneficerà, oppure no?
Roberto Lattanzio - 19:00
A: Ciao Everfluxx, pagina C beneficiera' di PR a prescindere dal nofollow sul link verso B
Roberto Lattanzio - 19:02
A: beneficera', chiedo scusa
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Mr. Everfluxx - 19:08
Q: Ciao Roberto, grazie. Riformulo meglio la domanda: il PageRank della pagina C (linkata da A senza rel=nofollow) aumenterà in conseguenza dell'inserimento dell'attributo rel=nofollow sul link A->B?
Roberto Lattanzio - 19:12
A: Ciao, non c'e' conseguenza su C per l'inserimento del nofollow sul link da A verso B, spero si capisca ora

Mr. Everfluxx - 19:12
Q: Sì, ora è chiaro. Grazie.

English translation:

Mr. Everfluxx - 6:37pm
Q: [Let's suppose] I have a three-page site: the home page (A) links to two pages, B and C. If I add a rel=nofollow attribute to the link from A to B, will the PageRank of page C benefit from it?
Roberto Lattanzio - 7:00pm
A: Hi Everfluxx, page C will benefit from PR regardless of the nofollow on the link to B
Roberto Lattanzio - 7:02pm
A: [Corrects a spelling error]
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Mr. Everfluxx - 7:08pm
Q: Hi Roberto, thank you. I'll rephrase my question: will the PageRank of page C (linked from page A without rel=nofollow) increase as a consequence of adding the rel=nofollow to the link from A->B?
Roberto Lattanzio - 7:12pm
A: Hi, there is no consequence for C due to adding a nofollow to the link from A to B, hope that is clearer now

Mr. Everfluxx - 7:12pm
Q: Yes, it's clearer now. Thanks.

So, there you have it: an unofficial yet explicit confirmation coming from a trusted source. Hopefully further and more official confirmations will follow soon about a change which has been raising so many doubts in the SEO community. Stay tuned.