We have been talking about blogs, blogging and branding for a long time. Now let’s talk about SEO (white hat obviously) of static websites.
For quite a long time, SEOs had some favorite on-page optimization spots like meta data optimization (title, keywords, descriptions…), content optimization, navigation pattern optimization (keywords in internal link’s anchor text, breadcrumb…) etc. Some over enthusiasts also optimized footer links with keyword rich anchor texts.
Now, in this post we would like to talk about footer link optimization practices.
A few months back, Google somewhat declred that they would bring down the value of site wide links. And in the last update, we have seen some changes in PR (perhaps your site’s PR dropped due to huge number of links from different blogrolls). So, do you really think that site wide links in the footer section are really helping you in case of SEO?
As far as my experience and observations are concerned, I don’t think it is of any good in respect to SEO. On the contrary for a developed site (with lots of pages 3 or 4 clicks away from the home page), if you use keywords in the footer links, this may hinder user experience. You cannot deny that, over use of keywords in anchor text, makes things look clumsy for a reader to easily find the content.
What do I do!
1. I try to keep the anchor texts in the footer as simple as possible.
2. I do not use same links in the footer section of all pages.
3. Once the main landing pages are identified, I try to focus on which pages the reader may look for more information on the topic (the connected pages). Analytics report is good enough to tell you these details. You can also look for where the visitors are going from those pages. If it does not serve any purpose, you can try to navigate the readers via those links. Don’t forget to call for action.
4. In SEO, every little bit counts. Do not completely ignore keywords in the anchor text. But use them sensibly to help the visitors.
5. Some links like Home, About Us, Contact Us, Privacy Policy, Terms & Conditions etc. are stapled links. I always keep them as they are in the footer links.
Do you have any other suggestion? Please share them here:
10 Comments
Add your commentAgreed. Trying to game the search engines with footer links smacks of amateur web development. Flooding your footer with focused links tells me you aren’t good enough at developing your brand…you have to try to fool Google into thinking you are worth a darn.
You may achieve some short term gains with this technique. However, why not focus on building a long term brand?
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Aside from the fact that Google has publicly stated that sitewide links have less value, we should try to make our links on our blog look as natural as possible. Stuffing lots of footer links does not seem natural and does not give the blog a professional look.
Peter Lee
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Great article. Stuffing lots of footer links does not look good. The Keysearch Analytics blog has tips, tricks, advice and case studies for the search marketing industry.
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The footer is definitely part of the page that Google place emphasis on.
Placing links in the footer is not just for Google but is an obvious location for navigational links for the user.
Do it for the users and Google will respect it!
Stan
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Footer is the important part of the google page.mostly links are added on the footer and it,s give the correct way of the links to the user.
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yes footer link have a great impact on SEO it make easy to find any site which the users not directly. due this your site gain more traffic.
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By using footer link,
my blog’s theme maker was successfully destroy my PR.
It bring it into 0, and also affect my other free blog that previously have 5 of PR because they are linking to each other tight.
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Very good writing style
GOOD WORK
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I’ve been using footer links to optimize keywords and this method is one of the most helpful one for me.
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Here are a few suggestions.
•Avoid keyword stuffing in anchor text
•Make the links relevant and useful by organizing them in a smart way
•Organize links into groups.
•Cross link naturally.
•Use no follow for pages that are not important, in order to pass page rank to the most important pages of your web site.
•Avoid using anchor text in a way to manipulate users.
•Make your footers look good, functional and style them appropriately.
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