Do links in footer help for seo

22 replies
  • SEO
  • |
Haai,

I have a question.

I am making a website for someone and I want to place a link to my website in the footer of that site.

Does this help for mu seo rankings? I think it might look spammy because the link wil appear on every page on that site. The link wil just be the name of my company so not with a real anchortext.
#footer #links #seo
  • Profile picture of the author Simon Nilsson
    From what I can tell this is an outdated practice in the web design industry.
    "made by awesomedesign" links was pretty popular back in the day I guess.
    For SEO they dont really help much, unless the site you made hits it big and starts bringing alot of link juice. And even then it might be seen as spammy by google or unrelated since the sites arent in the same niche.
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    • Profile picture of the author stephanreek
      Originally Posted by Simon Nilsson View Post

      From what I can tell this is an outdated practice in the web design industry.
      "made by awesomedesign" links was pretty popular back in the day I guess.
      For SEO they dont really help much, unless the site you made hits it big and starts bringing alot of link juice. And even then it might be seen as spammy by google or unrelated since the sites arent in the same niche.
      Exactly what I meant. Do you think it will hurt my site? It's oke if it isn't helping as much but if it hurts my site it would be worse
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      • Profile picture of the author PBMax
        Take a look at any big/popular/successful/etc site and see that they have TONS of footer links. It's not a spam or scam, it's a quick way for people to access other pages and/or sites.

        Like the web design? Click "made by XYZ designs" to get your own.

        Want to quickly find where to get more info or products? Click the "products" to get it.

        Footer links aren't bad. This is misinformation of the highest order.
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        • Profile picture of the author Simon Nilsson
          Hi PBMax

          I totally agree, using footer links to let people know where to get more information or who made the site can be great and I'm sure it brings business to many web designers/developers.

          But the question was about SEO, and I dont think these links get much google-love.
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          • Profile picture of the author stephanreek
            Originally Posted by Simon Nilsson View Post

            Hi PBMax

            I totally agree, using footer links to let people know where to get more information or who made the site can be great and I'm sure it brings business to many web designers/developers.

            But the question was about SEO, and I dont think these links get much google-love.
            As long as it isn't penelizing my site it's oke even if it helps just a bit for seo it's good
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            • Profile picture of the author Simon Nilsson
              Cool, go for it

              Make sure you ask your client though, they should be OK with you putting the link there.
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              • Profile picture of the author stephanreek
                [DELETED]
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                • Profile picture of the author PBMax
                  I think they actually DO help rank. Check out most car dealership sites. They have thousands of pages with footer links back to the home page (complete with keyword anchor text) as well as to other pages. Bonus, they never delete the page, even if the car sells.

                  Thousands of pages with anchor text that keeps people bouncing around the site helps to rank A LOT.
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        • Profile picture of the author yukon
          Banned
          Originally Posted by PBMax View Post

          Take a look at any big/popular/successful/etc site and see that they have TONS of footer links. It's not a spam or scam, it's a quick way for people to access other pages and/or sites.

          Like the web design? Click "made by XYZ designs" to get your own.

          Want to quickly find where to get more info or products? Click the "products" to get it.

          Footer links aren't bad. This is misinformation of the highest order.
          Exactly!

          People around here tend to do a lot of SEO blog reading & no testing.
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          • Profile picture of the author paulgl
            People mistake not helpful for being bad.

            To what degree they are helpful would be a better question.

            So many intangibles, hard to say without knowing other things,
            and even then it's very hard.

            But not helping is not the same as hurting.

            However, if I was making a website for someone I would most
            assuredly not put a link in the footer to my website. There's no
            need. If your website is for webdesign, a simple link on the first
            page "might" be appropriate.

            Did you ask the person, or are you just going to add it? Did they
            pay or, or are you doing it for free?

            Paul
            Signature

            If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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            • Profile picture of the author yukon
              Banned
              Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

              People mistake not helpful for being bad.

              To what degree they are helpful would be a better question.
              I'm using footer links on multiple domains right now (today) to rank a page on a new domain, it works, that's all I care about.
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              • Profile picture of the author deezn
                Originally Posted by yukon View Post

                I'm using footer links on multiple domains right now (today) to rank a page on a new domain, it works, that's all I care about.
                That's weaksauce Yuke. Put a link in the sitewide navi to rank the new domain. Moarrr powerrr!
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                • Profile picture of the author Rehmat
                  Originally Posted by deezn View Post

                  That's weaksauce Yuke. Put a link in the sitewide navi to rank the new domain. Moarrr powerrr!
                  What's the logic behind this?
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                  • Profile picture of the author elzorro2003
                    I'm no SEO expert, but I remember reading that if the link has your company name (brand) as the anchor text, then google actually likes that, because they like to promote brands. If it's spammy anchor text like "cheapest web design" then I believe it hurts. Again, i'm no expert, but that's what I remember reading. Plus, when I see a nice website, I like to go to the footer to see who designed it and go to their site to see their work.

                    Also, you would think that google is smart enough to know if you are a web designer, you are obviously going to have links of your client's work on your site and vice versa. You aren't trying to game the system, you are actually trying to show potential customers your work. I mean, if you get penalized for that, then we might as well throw darts blindly at the google algorithm and hope we hit some part of the board!
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  • Profile picture of the author alexiastukes
    Footer link is good for rankings but use it carefully anchor text must be generic.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rehmat
    It works perfectly but you must use your brand name (assuming that you have your main keyword in brand name) to rank safely. A single footer link is counted multiple times (with each page on the target site) and if you go out to target a specific keyword, it may bring penalty. (In case you get too many links from that particular website)
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  • Profile picture of the author wealth2010
    Hello I heard about footer before but don't know what it is. Can someone please explain to me what a footer is? Thanks
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    This Is The New Way Of Advertising In Network Marketing. Old School Methods Are Too Frustrating. http://www.abetter-life.com

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    • Profile picture of the author Tim3
      Originally Posted by wealth2010 View Post

      Hello I heard about footer before but don't know what it is. Can someone please explain to me what a footer is? Thanks

      Where you have pimped your sig is the footer of the post window, aka the bottom of a page or web page.

      Ye Gods <sigh>
      Signature

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  • Profile picture of the author johnben1444
    Build your site for humans and not search engine.

    Having link to your site in the footer is just fine.
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    Buy Spotify, Facebook Bot & IG M/S Method
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  • Profile picture of the author Alan208
    I think the best way to improve your SEO ranking is to make sure the links to your site are useful and helpful.
    If you just put a link to your site without any context then I don't think you'll find it overly beneficial however if you add some context to it then it would hold more weight.

    It would be even more beneficial to you if you had your link on a page that explained a little about your service but that depends on if that page would be of any benefit to the readers of the website they are on.

    You wouldn't be sending people from dog breeding to a web development site as it wouldn't be of use to them.
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  • Profile picture of the author TeKn1qu3z
    Their's no problem to have your link on client site, but it should have good backlinks and the niche should be as yours. If your client site is new, then don't link with them until it has ranking for some other keywords.
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  • Profile picture of the author dewalds86
    I also think that links in the footer still caries some value. I do not think that you will be penalized for leaving a link in the footer.
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  • Profile picture of the author Slade556
    If the website you're creating, with your link in the footer, will go viral, then it will probably help your ranking s and your business as well. But if this isn't the case, I'd still say you can leave your link in the footer. It's a possibility to gain another client or two, you never know.
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