What about that stuffed footer?
-
Whether you look at zappos.com, bol.com, or other e-commerce websites you will almost always see a footer that is full of links to categories & subcategories.
These elements aren't really attractive, and to be honest, I don't think I ever clicked on one of those links because most of the time I don't reach the bottom of such pages.
Why do these companies use these kinds of footers? Is it for SEO purpose,? Are those links passing juice? Aren't those links at the bottom of the page and therefore not that relevant as other links used in paragraphs? Aren't they contributing to too many on-page links? Maybe only use it on homepage?
I'm really looking forward to the opinions of the experts here at the forum...
-
SEO for large websites is different than SEO for small or mid-sized websites. Zappos.com has over 6 million pages indexed by Google. Having 200 footer links is very helpful for the search engines in this situation.
Go back to the days of, "every page in 3 clicks". It's still a sound policy as it makes it easier for the search engines to not only find pages, but the pages can still have enough Page Rank to be viable and not supplemental.
I picked several unusual shoes (well, at least unusual to me). For each shoe I was able to get to it's specific product page in 3 or 4 clicks. Even though some shoe brands or styles have paginated listings going 30+ deep - Zappos.com has found a way to provide a much quicker path to the product pages.
Rottentomatoes.com also has a slick footer navigation that gets to any movie within 3 clicks.
-
For those two particular websites they have so much content that the stuffed footer although not high on design attractiveness makes the site more usable for humans.
If you see a stuffed footer with a site with less than 100 pages; then it is an SEO tactic...an outdated one at that.
-
Anchor filled footers are a traditional SEO strategy usually to create links with the anchor text that the site owner is seeking to boost rankings for various site pages, although their effect is questionable now-days. They're also used for navigation purposes, but I think the key here is relevancy; if the links are relevant and add to the user experience, then thumbs up, otherwise, small links tucked away at the bottom of the page look a bit dodgy, to us and the search engines.
The links pass juice internally (or externally if they're not nofollowed) and they probably won't have as much weight as a link higher up the page used in a relevant sentence.
Try reading this article by Rand on the subject, I got some good tips from it;
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/footer-link-optimization-for-search-engines-user-experience
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Am I accidentally Keyword Stuffing?
Hey Guys, So I updated some copy on my site recently and noticed that whatever slender rankings I had (often on page 😎 have completely disappeared. The copy was the only change I have made. Now I haven't intentionally keyword stuffed however I have noticed that there happens to be a lot keywords in there. For example on my PPC page I use the phrase PPC 16 times however it has just naturally fallen into the content as that is what I'm writing about. I'm wondering if there are maybe too many mentions here? 16 repeats of the word PPC and on the page there are 490 words. Does that feel like too much repetition or am I barking up the wrong tree? Thanks, Matt
On-Page Optimization | | MattStott40 -
Site wide content like "why choose us" just above the footer on every single page
Hi Guys, I know that is not good having any kind of duplicate content on your site, but SEO is above all "competition", so I have to see what my competitor are doing to find the best way to outrank them. So this is my question: is it good or not having site wide content like "why choose us" just above the footer on every single page? At the moment, I can see many - too many - of my client competitors having the "Why choose us" as site wide content above the footer. The funny thing they don't use a couple of sentences, they have placed many words and 10/20 internal links, in other words, they have enough stuff to put down a stand alone page. What do you think: this is just a bad SEO practice or it may work, as I can see so many sites ranking well with this kind of piece of junk on each page. I am not going to recommend this to my client, but as am trying to detail every decision I make showing what the competitors are currently doing, my concern is that my client finds it and therefore will ask to have the same shiny piece of garbage above the footer. Thanks, Pierpaolo
On-Page Optimization | | madcow780 -
Can Your Site Get Penalized For Keyword Stuffing On An 'Untarged' Keyword?
My site has dropped since the EMD/Panda 20 roll out and I am looking for reasons why. I am looking at Keyword Stuffing as one potential problem. My web site is on the topic of WordPress Security with that being the main keyword I want to target. Now I can limit the number of occurrences of 'wordpress security' to below the recommended 15, but it is impossible to do this for 'wordpress' without severely compromising the user experience. I've got other content on topics such as WordPress Backup and WordPress Security Plugins etc, so obviously the word 'wordpress' is bound to appear frequently. Is there a risk that Google will penalize me for Keyword Stuffing on 'wordpress' and thus pull down the site or page for other keywords? Or would it simply mean I won't be able to rank for 'wordpress' (which I am quite happy about)? Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | andersvin0 -
Thoughts on these footer links
I have a site that has about 20 footer links. A main Category and 4-5 links under each. The site is very large, so I feel they do have some value for navigation, and they don't blend in with the background at all. I know penguin was cracking down on footer links, but I don't feel theses are "spammy" links. Will it hurt long-term to leave these links, or should we pull them?
On-Page Optimization | | netviper0 -
Avoid Keyword Stuffing in Document
Hello is there some way to avoid this? <dl> <dt>Occurrences of Keyword</dt> <dd>45</dd> <dt>Explanation</dt> <dd>We've seen evidence that excessive use of keywords can negatively impact rankings and thus suggest moderation.</dd> <dt>Recommendation</dt> <dd>Remove instances of the targeted keyword(s) from the document text of this page to bring it below 15</dd> <dd>I don't want to get slapped by the big G, bing, yahoo, ask, aol, etc. I currently show 2 posts on my main webpage.
On-Page Optimization | | 678648631264
</dd> </dl>0 -
Footer link to home page?
Quick question - is it a best practice to add a footer link on each page of a website that points back to your home page, with the anchor text being your official brand name?
On-Page Optimization | | Bandicoot0 -
Footer Navigation
We have links to our key pages at the top of the website:- Home Our Services Work Examples About Us But we have many more pages than this. In the footer of the website we have additional links to the individual services and pages such as FAQs and Customer Feedback. Does having the links here lessen their effectiveness in terms of SEO?
On-Page Optimization | | AndieF0 -
Navigation Links in Footer
What are your thoughts about navigation links in the footer? For example: www.chasepaymentech.com - good, bad, or indifferent for SEO?
On-Page Optimization | | kasi0