Does CSS position effect the value of a link?

[adriandg]

For example, take a look at http://www.dueds.com and scroll all the way to the bottom of the page.  See the link in the bottom left?  Does the fact that it is pushed all the way down to the bottom make the link worth less than if it was directly under the social media buttons?

[RobertFisher]

Links in footer is probably the worst place to put them. Links in sidebar are also of less value. Links are best in the content of a page.

There is a body of evidence that for links based in the content portion of a page, the higher the link the more value it has. Such that, if the content is 3 paragraphs, P1 is better than P2 and P2 is better than P3.

I know there is a good evaluation on this I read about 5 - 6 months ago and if I can find in under 5 minutes, I will edit in the url.

[sesertin]

Here's a piece of authentic information if you like videos and Matt Cutts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0fgh5RIHdE. Just as miss M. -J said, links in footer do carry less value.

[mjtaylor]

What I do believe I know about link position is that the first link on a page has more value than the second, etc. The principle upon which Google's "link popularity / PageRank" algo was based on the 'random surfer model. So a link that is more likely to be clicked is more valuable. This is not to say that Google's PR algo has not evolved, but I am sure this principle is still in significant play.

I think most professional SEOs would also agree that footer links have less value than other links - though I am less certain of that than my first point.

I think Matt Cutts would say, try to think like the user. Is your visitor less likely to find and click on the link than if it were near the social media buttons? If so, it is likely to get less traffic.

Not all links can be the first link, but I would be sure to have any important link be "above the fold" and barring that, with a feature that would be likely to attract the eye of the user.

Hope that helps.