Footer links bad for SEO?

hans007 · Share | #1 (**permalink**) 05-31-2012, 08:32 PM

Ok so I am looking for an experienced opinion.

Someone who has had experience with this.

I run a web development firm.

We tag our work by posting a link to our site with "web development by XYW company" and the name of our company is a link back to our site.

Some websites we develop are Magento Commerce sites.

Surprisingly when I look at Webmaster Tools one of our clients Magento sites has 140,000 back-links to our site.

We have been doing good SEO, wiring quality content on our blog and building links.

My question is this, does this hurt our SEO?

Greenbreez · #2 (**permalink**) 05-31-2012, 09:24 PM

Google penguin is looking for this. Avoid using anchor text for your website in the footer. After penguin update, google likes if you link it with your brand name.. Also it looks for the IP address..

**snakeair** · #3 (**permalink**) 05-31-2012, 09:30 PM

Google is starting to crack down on this promotional method. My advice is create a small image with "created by url.com" in the image but don't make the URL/image clickable. The visitor or client can still see this little image and type the URL in.

Here some links to checkout.

http://www.seomoz.org/q/google-pengu...e-footer-links (I hope that wasn't you asking this question)

http://www.webpronews.com/google-pen...eators-2012-05

akasheg · #4 (**permalink**) 05-31-2012, 10:02 PM

Ya avoid them unless you wanna get penalized. Do as snakeair has advised to, if you want to promote your website on the sites you have developed.

kgntechnologies · #5 (**permalink**) 05-31-2012, 10:46 PM

No,In My Openion Footer Links is No Bad For SEO.
For Ex:- If You Target All Country or Cities And Your Website Footer is same for all pages than you write all country and cities name in your website footer so its a very effective for Improve Keyword Ranking.

[removed]

jeffsmith · #6 (**permalink**) 06-01-2012, 03:55 AM

Well i don't think so that it is a bad practice but check for the keyword density and don't use too many anchor text.

Turkey Property · #7 (**permalink**) 06-01-2012, 05:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hans007

My question is this, does this hurt our SEO?

We've had the original Penguin update and the refresh, have you seen any adverse effects?

Manish Pandey · #8 (**permalink**) 06-01-2012, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hans007

Ok so I am looking for an experienced opinion.

Someone who has had experience with this.

I run a web development firm.

We tag our work by posting a link to our site with "web development by XYW company" and the name of our company is a link back to our site.

Some websites we develop are Magento Commerce sites.

Surprisingly when I look at Webmaster Tools one of our clients Magento sites has 140,000 back-links to our site.

We have been doing good SEO, wiring quality content on our blog and building links.

My question is this, does this hurt our SEO?

The best person to answer this question would be you! If you're seeing significant decrease in your rankings/google traffic then yes, it's harming you.

If you're asking about my opinion, I've always been a critic of using that kind of link. Why should you put your link on the clients' website and that too for sole SEO purposes? If you want to tell others about your services then just put your company's name and make it nofollow, non-clickable etc.

ourscompany · #9 (**permalink**) 06-01-2012, 08:35 AM

I agree with snakeair to use small image and link there. Some of our client site get suffered for this footer link so we highly recommended not to use keywords rather than your business name and make it nofollow.

indybail · #10 (**permalink**) 06-01-2012, 10:00 AM

I understand you want the traffic from these links, so consider marking them as "nofollow" to avoid the Penguin penalty.

That action tells Google the links are not intended to manipulate PR rank and still permits the folks that want to learn more about your products and services can still navigate to your site.

C.Rebecca · #11 (**permalink**) 06-01-2012, 10:38 PM

Yes, after penguin update, Google has confirmed that footer links are bad for SEO. Your website may considered as over optimized, which may hurt your rankings.

annaharryson2 · #12 (**permalink**) 06-02-2012, 12:01 AM

i dont think that footer link is bad for SEO.

mit · #13 (**permalink**) 06-02-2012, 12:09 AM

If we talk about bottom navigation, then I would say its a concern of usability instead of SEO. Think if you really need it, best is to see and check in-site analytics stats (from Google analytics) for every link you have on your website.

You can judge it whether you should have it or not.

tanya.dimple · #14 (**permalink**) 06-02-2012, 01:11 AM

Hi

Can you please help me in same issue. Where can i place the footer links for more effect?

**snakeair** · #15 (**permalink**) 06-02-2012, 06:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by annaharryson2

i dont think that footer link is bad for SEO.

Why don't you think they bad for SEO? Did you read any posts in this thread or follow the Google Penguin update?

Quote:

Originally Posted by tanya.dimple

Hi

Can you please help me in same issue. Where can i place the footer links for more effect?

What footer links you talking about?

Tiggerito · #16 (**permalink**) 06-02-2012, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tanya.dimple

Hi

Can you please help me in same issue. Where can i place the footer links for more effect?

I can't resist.

Not in the footer!

proptiger · #17 (**permalink**) 06-04-2012, 06:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hans007

Ok so I am looking for an experienced opinion.

Someone who has had experience with this.

I run a web development firm.

We tag our work by posting a link to our site with "web development by XYW company" and the name of our company is a link back to our site.

Some websites we develop are Magento Commerce sites.

Surprisingly when I look at Webmaster Tools one of our clients Magento sites has 140,000 back-links to our site.

We have been doing good SEO, wiring quality content on our blog and building links.

My question is this, does this hurt our SEO?

Footer links are bad for seo according to SEO moz blog post...it may be bad but not sure...

iSynergy Media · #18 (**permalink**) 06-04-2012, 10:43 AM

first of all where you have link back to your site? its good to have link back to your site at top of site than at footer because links in top of site gets noticed easily than at footer.

**snakeair** · #19 (**permalink**) 06-04-2012, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iSynergy Media

first of all where you have link back to your site? its good to have link back to your site at top of site than at footer because links in top of site gets noticed easily than at footer.

Wouldn't Google still slap you with a penalty if you put your link on all your clients websites? Footer or not, it's still a bad way to drop your link these days as a designer.

I'm still going with my original idea. If your client loves your work so much, he will recommend your design business to friends anyways.

austinbrook · #20 (**permalink**) 06-04-2012, 08:57 PM

i would suggest u not to use footer links unless u want to get penalized.
u may post links at the bottom or may be in the body itself..