Remove the Spammy Anchor Text from your Footer Links
Let me preface this by saying, I do not have any moral or ethical issues with the “SEO Tramp Stamp”.
Just to clarify, I am referring to the link the many SEO’s place in the footer of their client’s site, which links back to their company’s site.
These links are acceptable because 1) they allow a visitor to a site, who likes the site, to find out who is responsible for the site being the way it is, and 2) as long as the SEO gets permission from the client to insert the link, explaining clearly why that link is being placed there, there is no intentional exploitation or manipulation happening. Full disclosure; I link to my company’s site from the footer of our client’s websites.
All that being said, if you also link to your site from the footer of your client’s sites, DON’T USE SPAMMY ANCHOR TEXT. I say this for 2 reasons; the first is that it is ineffective. If your site is properly optimized for the keyword phrases you are targeting, you do not need to utilize keyword-rich spammy anchor text. Google will be able to tell what your site is about and index it accordingly. The value of these links is in the trust factor they display and the passing of domain authority. Second, it makes your client look bad, and it does nothing for establishing your brand. Below back-up these 2 statements with some details.
Spammy Anchor Text is Ineffective in Footer Links
**I personally think that anchor text as a ranking factor is the father of most link SPAM. I realize that it is still a ranking factor, but it seems that it has be devalued since Penguin, which I am a fan of.
Shortly after Penguin, I began changing all of the anchor text in our client footer links from “Denver SEO” to my company’s name, “Ethical SEO Consulting”. On April 30th, 2012 (about 6 days after penguin), we held the number 8 ranking for “Denver SEO”. Since then I have removed this spammy anchor text from most of my client’s footer links. As of today (June 27th, 2012) we are ranked #6 for “Denver SEO”.
So, rather than having any negative ranking effect, removing the Spammy anchor text from these links actually caused a moderate ranking increase.
It Looks Bad on your Client’s Site and It’s Bad for your Branding
Just a bit of common sense here; does this look natural, appealing, useful, not manipulative?:
This spammy anchor text makes your client’s site look worse. Reason enough to remove it.
If you need further reason, anyone who actually sees this link will have absolutely no idea what company is behind it. They will tell their friends, coworkers, family, or anyone else, “Hey I found this awesome site today. It was powered by Denver SEO.”
Wouldn’t you rather them say, “Hey, I was on this awesome site today. The SEO and Design work was done by Ethical SEO Consulting, a company right here in Denver. Their link didn’t look spammy so I clicked on it to learn more about them. They are super awesome!” This conversation is much better for brand awareness! Here is what most of our footer links now look like now:
Whether you agree with me, disagree or think I’m a moron, please leave a comment below to tell me about it.
Author Bio:
Matt Green is a SEO Strategist for Ethical SEO Consulting. He loves search, baseball, his dog, and of course, peace. Follow him on Twitter @Mchuckgreen, and check out his blog.
Latest posts by DST Contributor (see all)
- Survival Guide to Multilingual SEO - May 14, 2013
- Five Killer Link Bait Tips That Can Provide You With ‘Passive Marketing’ - May 11, 2013
- 5 US SEO Events to Visit to Spend a One Month Vacation with Purpose - May 9, 2013
12 Responses to “Remove the Spammy Anchor Text from your Footer Links”
Newsletter
Join the Contest!
Tags
Our Projects
Hello Matt,
Nope that makes a lot of sense and certainly doesn’t help your client’s efforts with SEO “Douche” printed at the bottom… sure it’s on a few of my old sites that I run for family/friends. But overall I have removed it from many as it was usually the source of referral traffic that generate enquiries trying to sell me SEO outsourcing services.
The item that still shits me is when that link is part of a pyramid scheme that links between their other SEO clients… so they don’t actually do any link building just build up a house of cards between their clients using footer links.
Matt G Reply:
June 28th, 2012 at 8:09 am
Yea, exactly. Not only does that interlinking look bad, it’s lazy and short-sighted. I think all of us have (or hopefully will) come to a point where we understand that, while spammy, manipulative, links still work sometimes, it pays to do things the right way, both as far as ranking results and your own reputation.
I saw one company had the following footer links from an SEO company the other day “SEO | Web Designer | Website Builder | iphone Application Developers | Web Developer | ” Over kill that is for sure it looked shocking, and this was not a small time business.
One of the first things I do as an SEO is remove or nofollow footer links back to the developer of the site, and I never add my own. I think it’s amateurish. Unless you developed the site for free or have some deal where you’re using their site to advertise your services for a reduced fee, I think it’s wrong.
It’s the same reason I insist car dealers remove their dealer badges from a new car before I drive it home… Ok so maybe I’m just weird.
Matt G Reply:
June 28th, 2012 at 8:12 am
Nope, not weird. I know many who feel the same way. For me, the the ethics of it hinges on explaining clearly to the client what you are doing and why you are doing it, and then getting their approval to move forward. Still, I can see why some don’t do it.
Thanks for commenting!
Olaf Reply:
June 29th, 2012 at 4:49 am
I agree, Aaron! Not weird at all, but just providing good service. Besides, a developer logo distracts from the real website goal, which (usually) is to generate leads or sales. I’d leave a developer logo on the “about us” page (or a similar page) for courtesy and for those people that really like the design and want to find out who the developer was.
What about the title in the correct ancor link? Do you think keywords in the title of the link to the company are treated as “bad” as the ancor text itself?
Matt G Reply:
June 29th, 2012 at 9:28 am
Do you mean using the page title of the page that you are linking to as the anchor text for the link? If so, if the title is anywhere near the 70 character best practice limit, that’s going to be a helluva big link!
Petra Reply:
June 30th, 2012 at 1:59 am
Sorry to confuse you.
I meant this title:
Denver Seo
I advise clients to keep these “ads” off of their website. As long as the service is paid for the web developer, designer, SEO, etc. has no right to expect a link in the footer. It has nothing to do with the website itself and is simply an added distraction.
Matt G Reply:
July 3rd, 2012 at 3:50 pm
Thanks for commenting, Nick.
One philosophy is that effective link building = effective relationship building. It follows that, if you have a good relationship with your clients and ask them for a link on their site, you are simply leveraging your relationship into a good link.
Say your client had a storefront, and you asked them to put some of your business cards next to their check-out counter. Most likely, your services have little to do with theirs, just as a link to your site has little to do with their website. However, you certainly wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to have a client promote your services if they are happy to do so.
great article. That is the exact thing that I noticed as a pattern on the case study that I did on the cognitiveSEO blog here http://cognitiveseo.com/blog/803/google-penguin-case-study/