undefined
Skip to content
Moz logo Menu open Menu close
  • Products
    • Moz Pro
    • Moz Pro Home
    • Moz Local
    • Moz Local Home
    • STAT
    • Moz API
    • Moz API Home
    • Compare SEO Products
    • Moz Data
  • Free SEO Tools
    • Domain Analysis
    • Keyword Explorer
    • Link Explorer
    • Competitive Research
    • MozBar
    • More Free SEO Tools
  • Learn SEO
    • Beginner's Guide to SEO
    • SEO Learning Center
    • Moz Academy
    • SEO Q&A
    • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
  • Blog
  • Why Moz
    • Agency Solutions
    • Enterprise Solutions
    • Small Business Solutions
    • Case Studies
    • The Moz Story
    • New Releases
  • Log in
  • Log out
  • Products
    • Moz Pro

      Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

    • Moz Local

      Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

    • STAT

      SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

    • Moz API

      Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

    • Compare SEO Products

      See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

    • Moz Data

      Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
    Moz Pro

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

    Learn more
  • Free SEO Tools
    • Domain Analysis

      Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

    • Keyword Explorer

      Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

    • Link Explorer

      Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

    • Competitive Research

      Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

    • MozBar

      See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

    • More Free SEO Tools

      Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

    What is your Brand Authority?
    Moz

    What is your Brand Authority?

    Check yours now
  • Learn SEO
    • Beginner's Guide to SEO

      The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

    • SEO Learning Center

      Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

    • On-Demand Webinars

      Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

    • How-To Guides

      Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

    • Moz Academy

      Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

    • SEO Q&A

      Insights & discussions from an SEO community of 500,000+.

    Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
    Moz API

    Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

    Find your plan
  • Blog
  • Why Moz
    • Small Business Solutions

      Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

    • Agency Solutions

      Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

    • Enterprise Solutions

      Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

    • The Moz Story

      Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

    • Case Studies

      Explore how Moz drives ROI with a proven track record of success.

    • New Releases

      Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

    Surface actionable competitive intel
    New Feature

    Surface actionable competitive intel

    Learn More
  • Log in
    • Moz Pro
    • Moz Local
    • Moz Local Dashboard
    • Moz API
    • Moz API Dashboard
    • Moz Academy
  • Avatar
    • Moz Home
    • Notifications
    • Account & Billing
    • Manage Users
    • Community Profile
    • My Q&A
    • My Videos
    • Log Out

The Moz Q&A Forum

  • Forum
  • Questions
  • Users
  • Ask the Community

Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

  1. Home
  2. Digital Marketing
  3. Web Design
  4. Footer backlinks for sites I've developed

Moz Q&A is closed.

After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

Footer backlinks for sites I've developed

Web Design
6
10
2.8k
Loading More Posts
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as question
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
  • sanchez1960
    sanchez1960 last edited by Jan 24, 2012, 9:47 PM

    I link back to my website via my company name on the footers of sites I develop.  Lately I've been changing this to my keyword and mixing and matching.  This has been done for new sites I create and old sites

    I've not seen any benefit so far after a couple of months.

    Most my clients are hosted on the same server as my main site that it links back to.

    1. Is this a bad idea to link back on the same IP?
    2. Is footer backlinks to the main developer going to annoy Google?
    3. Should I change my main site's server, will it help?

    All my competitors seem to do it and as far as I can tell they seem to get better results than I do.  Because I'm now changing them the reason I see no benefit?

    Thanks

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
    • AnthonyMangia
      AnthonyMangia last edited by Jan 25, 2012, 3:14 AM Jan 25, 2012, 3:13 AM

      Will it cause harm?  Not likely.  If Google suspects the links aren't kosher, it will probably just ignore (or "devalue") the links.

      As to whether it is a shady or manipulative practice - debatable.  From my perspective, I don't quite see how it is all that different from a company linking to its partners, suppliers, or customers.  The link represents a business relationship, and that relationship has value.  If I have a client in the position to get these kinds of links, for me it's a no brainer - get 'em.  At the very worst, they have no impact SEO-wise, but help with branding and referral traffic.  Google's perspective may differ.

      As to why the practice might not be working out so well for you - do you run linkbuilding campaigns for the websites you develop?  Does anybody?  Do many of the websites share a C class address?

      A bunch of links from websites with weak backlink profiles or the same C class addresses won't take you very far.

      BONUS - a few linkbuilding tactics guaranteed to work:

      • Submitting your website to high quality, relevant directories
      • Running a guest blogging campaign on a number of influential web design blogs
      • Creating TRULY engaging and unique content and promote it via social media
      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • RyanKent
        RyanKent @RyanKent last edited by Jan 25, 2012, 12:53 AM Jan 25, 2012, 12:51 AM

        @EGOL, I wholeheartedly agree. If it is an expectation, it should be shared in advance with the quote.

        @Kiran, there is not necessarily anything to do other then have your expectations set these links offer little if any value.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • kiranbajpe
          kiranbajpe @RyanKent last edited by Jan 25, 2012, 12:34 AM Jan 25, 2012, 12:34 AM

          What will best solution in this case. i have 400 link back from same IP. many from footer

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • GCSMasone
            GCSMasone @RyanKent last edited by Jan 25, 2012, 12:23 AM Jan 25, 2012, 12:23 AM

            I think that if done in a large scale these could provide a bit of value for a website if you could do it to a scale as GoDaddy recently has. Otherwise it is generally not going to add much value.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • EGOL
              EGOL @RyanKent last edited by Jan 25, 2012, 12:21 AM Jan 25, 2012, 12:21 AM

              Thanks!

              That's why designer/developer links will never appear in the footer of any of my sites.

              If the designer/developer expects these links it should be part of the discussion before any design contract is written... and they should feel free to quote a higher priced option for the work being done without the expectation of a link in the footer.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • RyanKent
                RyanKent @EGOL last edited by Jan 25, 2012, 12:15 AM Jan 25, 2012, 12:15 AM

                Under anything remotely normal, it is highly unlikely a search engine would consider a "website developed by EGOL Design" as a paid link. If a site owner tried a footer of "[website development], [website design], [graphic artwork], [seo] and other work performed by ABC Enterprises" where each term in brackets was a link, that clearly steps to the spammy side.

                Even then I wouldn't necessarily call it paid links, but manipulative links which falls into the same category.

                EGOL GCSMasone kiranbajpe RyanKent 4 Replies Last reply Jan 25, 2012, 12:51 AM Reply Quote 1
                • EGOL
                  EGOL last edited by Jan 25, 2012, 12:09 AM Jan 25, 2012, 12:09 AM

                  Do you think that keyword links in the footer of a site might look like paid links?

                  RyanKent 1 Reply Last reply Jan 25, 2012, 12:15 AM Reply Quote 0
                  • kiranbajpe
                    kiranbajpe last edited by Jan 24, 2012, 11:58 PM Jan 24, 2012, 11:58 PM

                    Can we have keyword at footer to link back to our site devolved.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • RyanKent
                      RyanKent last edited by Jan 24, 2012, 11:52 PM Jan 24, 2012, 11:52 PM

                      It is a common practice for a site's developer to provide a self-promoting footer link in the site's they develop. There is no harm in doing so. You should not expect any noticeable value from the link either.

                      The entire concept of a valued link is an "independent vote". More specifically, it is a natural link which a user chose to provide. Links from sites you develop or host on your server are not chosen by the site owner. You choose to place the link. You could argue the site owner could choose to opt-out, but that is a another matter.

                      Google offers very low value to links in footers. Google also offers a lower value to site-wide links. Google also devalues links from sites on the same server. The bottom line is these links are not earned and you should not expect any value from search engines for them. If you build a high quality site then adding a footer link may occasionally earn your site a visit from someone interested in having their site developed. That needs to be enough for you.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                      • 1 / 1
                      1 out of 10
                      • First post
                        1/10
                        Last post

                      Got a burning SEO question?

                      Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                      Start my free trial


                      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.

                      • See all categories

                      Related Questions

                      • PabloCulebras

                        Can I safely asume that links between subsites on a subdirectories based multisite will be treated as internal links within a single site by Google?

                        I am building a multisite network based in subdirectories (of the mainsite.com/site1 kind)  where the main site is like a company site, and subsites are focused on brands or projects of that company. There will be links back and forth from the main site and the subsites, as if subsites were just categories or pages within the main site (they are hosted in subfolders of the main domain, after all). Now, Google's John Mueller has said: <<as far="" as="" their="" url="" structure="" is concerned,="" subdirectories="" are="" no="" different="" from="" pages="" and="" subpages="" on="" your="" main="" site.="" google="" will="" do="" its="" best="" to="" identify="" where="" sites="" separate="" using="" but="" the="" is="" same="" for="" a="" single="" site,="" you="" should="" assume="" that="" seo="" purposes,="" network="" be="" treated="" one="">></as> This sounds fine to me, except for the part "Google will do its best to identify where sites are separate", because then, if Google establishes that my multisite structure is actually a collection of different sites, links between subsites and mainsite would be considered backlinks between my own sites, which could be therefore considered a link wheel, that is, a kind of linking structure Google doesn't like. How can I make sure that Google understand my multisite as a unique site? P.S. - The reason I chose this multisite structure, instead of hosting brands in categories of the main site, is that if I use the subdirectories based multisite feature I will be able to map a TLD domain to any of my brands (subsites) whenever I'd choose to give that brand a more distinct profile, as if it really was a different website.

                        Web Design | Aug 7, 2020, 2:18 PM | PabloCulebras
                        0
                      • jcobo

                        Making html table as 'seofriendly' as possible

                        Hi, On my website I have a table with a list of products, on every row I have a different product and a different property on each column. The table is made with css so the html code is clean. The problem is (I guess) that google doesn't 'understand' what its inside on the table. So if I do a google search that page appears on the page 87, there is any way to improve my SEO without changing the table? Or to improve my SEO I must change the format of my content? In resume, I want to improve the SEO page of a page that contains information organized inside a table. I don't know if there is a specific answer to this question. Any help is welcome. Regards

                        Web Design | Apr 23, 2018, 3:42 AM | jcobo
                        0
                      • Myles92

                        Is having a site map page necessary?

                        Hello all! So I know having a sitemap XML file is important to include in your robots.txt file.  I also know it is important to submit your XML sitemap to Google and Bing.  However, I am wondering if it is beneficial for your site's SEO value to have a sitemap page displayed on your website? Or is this just a redundant action if you have already done the above two actions with your XML sitemap? Thanks in advance!

                        Web Design | Oct 5, 2019, 8:23 AM | Myles92
                        0
                      • BearPaw88

                        Is it against google guidelines to use third party review sites as well as have reviews on my site marked up with schema?

                        So, i look after a site for my family business. We have teamed up with the third party site TrustPilot because we like the way it enables us to send out reviews to our customers directly from our system. It's been going great and some of the reviews have been brilliant. I have used a couple of these reviews on our site and marked them up with: REVIEW CONTENT We work in the service industry and so one of the problems we have found is that getting our customers to actually go online and leave a review. They normally just leave their comments on a job sheet that the workers have signed when they leave. So I have created a page on our site where we post some of the reviews the guys receive too. I have used the following: REVIEW TITLE REVIEW Written by: CUSTOMER NAME Type of Service:House Removal Date published: DATE PUBLISHED 10 / 10 stars I was just wondering I was told that this could be against googles guidelines and as i've seen a bit of a drop in our rankings in the last week or so i'm a little concerned. Is this getting me penalised? Should I not use my reviews referencing the ones on trust pilot and should i not have my own reviews page with rich snippets?

                        Web Design | Apr 5, 2016, 11:40 AM | BearPaw88
                        1
                      • monicapopa

                        Help with error: Not Found The requested URL /java/backlinker.php was not found on this server.

                        Hi all, We got this error for almost a month now. Until now we were outsourcing the webdesign and optimization, and now we are doing it in house, and the previous company did not gave us all the information we should know. And we've been trying to find this error and fix it with no result. Have you encounter this issue before? Did anyone found or knows a solution? Also would this affect our website in terms of SEO and in general. Would be very grateful to hear from you. Many thanks. Here is what appears on the bottom of the site( www.manvanlondon.co.uk) Not Found The requested URL /java/backlinker.php was not found on this server. <address>Apache/2.4.7 (Ubuntu) Server at 01adserver.com Port 80</address> <address> </address> <address> </address>

                        Web Design | Nov 21, 2014, 8:03 AM | monicapopa
                        0
                      • Kingalan1

                        Lots of Listing Pages with Thin Content on Real Estate Web Site-Best to Set them to No-Index?

                        Greetings Moz Community: As a commercial real estate broker in Manhattan I run a web site with over 600 pages. Basically the pages are organized in the following categories: 1. Neighborhoods (Example:http://www.nyc-officespace-leader.com/neighborhoods/midtown-manhattan)  25 PAGES Low bounce rate 2. Types of Space (Example:http://www.nyc-officespace-leader.com/commercial-space/loft-space) 
                        15 PAGES Low bounce rate. 3. Blog (Example:http://www.nyc-officespace-leader.com/blog/how-long-does-leasing-process-take 
                        30 PAGES Medium/high bounce rate 4. Services (Example:http://www.nyc-officespace-leader.com/brokerage-services/relocate-to-new-office-space)  High bounce rate
                        3 PAGES 5. About Us (Example:http://www.nyc-officespace-leader.com/about-us/what-we-do
                        4 PAGES High bounce rate 6. Listings (Example:http://www.nyc-officespace-leader.com/listings/305-fifth-avenue-office-suite-1340sf)
                        300 PAGES High bounce rate (65%), thin content 7. Buildings (Example:http://www.nyc-officespace-leader.com/928-broadway
                        300 PAGES  Very high bounce rate (exceeding 75%) Most of the listing pages do not have more than 100 words.  My SEO firm is advising me to set them "No-Index, Follow". They believe the thin content could be hurting me. Is this an acceptable strategy? I am concerned that when Google detects 300 pages set to "No-Follow" they could interpret this as the site seeking to hide something and penalize us. Also, the building pages have a low click thru rate. Would it make sense to set them to "No-Follow" as well? Basically, would it increase authority in Google's eyes if we set pages that have thin content and/or low click thru rates to "No-Follow"? Any harm in doing this for about half the pages on the site? I might add that while I don't suffer from any manual penalty volume has gone down substantially in the last month. We upgraded the site in early June and somehow 175 pages were submitted to Google  that should not have been indexed. A removal request has been made for those pages. Prior to that we were hit by Panda in April 2012 with search volume dropping from about 7,000 per month to 3,000 per month. Volume had increased back to 4,500 by April this year only to start tanking again. It was down to 3,600 in June. About 30 toxic links were removed in late April and a disavow file was submitted with Google in late April for removal of links from 80 toxic domains. Thanks in advance for your responses!! Alan

                        Web Design | Jul 3, 2014, 5:09 PM | Kingalan1
                        0
                      • jaychow

                        Does it do harm if you add a rel="canonical" tag on a page that doesn't need it?

                        If a page is clearly unique and there is obviously no canonical tag needed, does it hurt anything if one has been added?

                        Web Design | Feb 5, 2013, 6:55 PM | jaychow
                        0
                      • BobGW

                        How to put 'Link to this article' HTML code at bottom of article & is it helpful?

                        Hello, I was thinking about putting a box down at the bottom of my client's main articles that let's the reader easily copy the html code it takes to link to the article they're reading.  Maybe I'd put it after the author bio. Do any of you do this? If so, what format do you use? It has to look nice of course. This is a non-techie industry. Thanks.

                        Web Design | Jan 11, 2013, 4:26 AM | BobGW
                        0

                      Get started with Moz Pro!

                      Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                      Start my free trial
                      Products
                      • Moz Pro
                      • Moz Local
                      • Moz API
                      • Moz Data
                      • STAT
                      • Product Updates
                      Moz Solutions
                      • SMB Solutions
                      • Agency Solutions
                      • Enterprise Solutions
                      Free SEO Tools
                      • Domain Authority Checker
                      • Link Explorer
                      • Keyword Explorer
                      • Competitive Research
                      • Brand Authority Checker
                      • MozBar Extension
                      • MozCast
                      Resources
                      • Blog
                      • SEO Learning Center
                      • Help Hub
                      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                      • How-to Guides
                      • Moz Academy
                      • API Docs
                      About Moz
                      • About
                      • Team
                      • Careers
                      • Contact
                      Why Moz
                      • Case Studies
                      • Testimonials
                      Get Involved
                      • Become an Affiliate
                      • MozCon
                      • Webinars
                      • Practical Marketer Series
                      • MozPod
                      Connect with us

                      Contact the Help team

                      Join our newsletter
                      Moz logo
                      © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                      • Accessibility
                      • Terms of Use
                      • Privacy

                      Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.