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
      • MozCon
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • 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.

      Enhance Keyword Discovery with Bulk Analysis
      Moz Pro

      Enhance Keyword Discovery with Bulk Analysis

      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.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • 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.

      • MozCon

        Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

      Access 20 years of data with flexible pricing
      Moz API

      Access 20 years of data with flexible pricing

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers

        Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

      • 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.

      • 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. SEO Tactics
    3. Link Building
    4. Web Designers and SEOs using backlinks from client sites

    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.

    Web Designers and SEOs using backlinks from client sites

    Link Building
    3
    7
    2755
    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.
    • littlesthobo
      littlesthobo last edited by

      What are your thoughts on SEOs and web designers putting their own links in the footers of client sites.

      For the sake of argument, lets assume that the client is happy for the link to be there. I'm referring to the SEO merits of the link being there from an 'irrelevant' website.

      My belief is that this goes against what Google is looking for and that these are irrelevant links and likely to be picked up and penalised.  That's what I believe!

      However, I see lots of sites offering SEO services that have dofollow links from their client sites, using exact match anchor text and they are all ranking highly.

      Is it just a matter of time before Google sniffs them out and penalises them for it?  Or should I be going through my client sites and adding myself a dofollow link in the footer? (with their permission of course).

      The highest ranking sites in any UK city do this.  If you search SEO Manchester, SEO Leeds etc and find the top ranking sites and check them out on opensite explorer, they are all using a disproportionate amount of dofollow backlinks form client sites.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • ChristopherGlaeser
        ChristopherGlaeser @Mark_Ginsberg last edited by

        Excellent point on the anchor text.  I reviewed a number of high ranking sites with DA of 95+ that use these links in the footer and they only use the site name in the anchor text.

        Best,
        Christopher

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • Mark_Ginsberg
          Mark_Ginsberg @littlesthobo last edited by

          I don't think there's no reason to nofollow this branded link - you built their site, they chose you and have kept that link on there - that's a pretty good signal that they are endorsing your work. If they want it removed, by all means they'll remove it, or ask you to remove it, or replace you with someone else and remove it. So I'd leave it as followed - but definitely go with branded.

          You may also want to consider creating a page of clients you've worked with in the past/portfolio type page, and then link to that page instead of the homepage. If you get hit, you can always kill that page and start another internal portfolio page. With the homepage, that's much harder to do.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
          • littlesthobo
            littlesthobo @Mark_Ginsberg last edited by

            Thanks Mark - Would you be happy with a dofollow branded link, or err on the side of caution with a nofollow link?

            Mark_Ginsberg 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • Mark_Ginsberg
              Mark_Ginsberg last edited by

              I'd be very hesitant to add target anchor text in these links - I've seen sites that had built links like Web Design and SEO services by Company X - web design points to the webdev page, seo points to the seo page on the company website. These sites got rocked by Penguin - footer site wide links with keyword rick anchor text pointing to target pages leads to heavily overoptimized backlink profiles that are awesome penguin food. Don't do it! Just use a branded link or a naked anchor link (www.companyx.com) as the link back, otherwise you're just asking for trouble.

              littlesthobo ChristopherGlaeser 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 2
              • littlesthobo
                littlesthobo @ChristopherGlaeser last edited by

                I agree I like to see them there, but I'm wondering how Google would view these links given the irrelevance of them on the actual site?

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • ChristopherGlaeser
                  ChristopherGlaeser last edited by

                  What are your thoughts on SEOs and web designers putting their own links in the footers of client sites.

                  When considering actual number of links, this practice is perhaps even more common in online software suites (e.g. phpBB) and online services (e.g. Volusion eCommerce), neither of which use nofollow.  Regarding user experience, I'm fine with these links if they are in the footer because there are times when I really do want to know how a particular site was built.  In other words, that's what good links are for--taking the user where they want to go.

                  Best,
                  Christopher

                  littlesthobo 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • 1 / 1
                  • First post
                    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

                  • arashsahraii

                    my website seo

                    seo link building

                    my web site is : sahraii and my category products descriptions are very long but not getting any results from google
                    any suggest?

                    Link Building | | arashsahraii
                    0
                  • haris313

                    Backlinking Strategy

                    link building link building whitehat

                    I am particularly new to the field of SEO and Backlinking and I have recently started my own blog feel free to have a look (https://thehorseradar.com/). What I wanted to find out is how can I achieve a DA of at least 30. What should be my link-building strategy? & what steps should I take first? With an abundance of overwhelming info available online I have gotten really confused about what would work and what would not. If someone would lay out the steps needed to be taken, I would be extremely grateful! Thank You

                    Link Building | | haris313
                    1
                  • NSnidhi

                    How you do guest posting on behalf of your clients? What do you use in the author bio - your name, client's name or a fake name?

                    I would like to hear from SEO agencies or link building teams - how you manage guest posting on behalf of your clients? 1. What is your outreach process - Do you pitch as a marketing manager or as a subject expert? 2. What do you mention in your author bio? Your name and your bio as outreach manager/ marketing manager? Your client's name and client's bio? A fake name - as a subject expertise? 3. Which email ID and contact details you use? - Your work ID/ client's ID/ Fake Gmail ID? I work for an SEO agency and I am interested in content and SEO related blog posts. But, I have many clients in the home improvement, real estate, food, fashion and other industries. I don't feel right to use my name when posting a guest blog on their behalf. What you guys prefer? Any thoughts?

                    Link Building | | NSnidhi
                    0
                  • cceebar

                    Do links from such sites as TripAdvisor give any weight or support for SEO

                    And what about other sites like quora or other niche forums/blogs where one might leave answers, with a link to their profile, which has a link back to the owner's website? _Cindy

                    Link Building | | cceebar
                    1
                  • neilhenderson

                    Does embedded content (from my site) help seo

                    hi i am creating a new accommodation site and will have some great videos on it (fly bys of local beaches and virtual tours of hotels etc). from an seo perspective i have two questions: 1. should i host on my own site or youtube/vimeo  - its a new site but in the long run i want my site to get the credit 2. i will be giving the hotels the chance to embed and video content i have on their own sites.  does this help my own seo juice and if so is there a particular way it should be done.  there will be around 90 well established local hotels in total so figured it should add up.

                    Link Building | | neilhenderson
                    0
                  • kirstyseo

                    Hidden Backlinks

                    Hi, I hope someone can help me with this. We have a competitor who appears to be ranking No1 for a competitive search term with a very lame site and above some authoritative sites. He has been here for some time as well. When we check out his back link profile through OSE, Majestic and Ahrefs they show as only 3 backlinks from no PR sites. However, someone pointed out that they could be using a link network that is blocking every crawler apart from Google, Yahoo and BIng. I would like to know if there is a way to confirm this. For instance I know that we can use screaming frog to mimic Googlebot, however, if there a way to reveal the real backlinks to a site like this using any tools. Thanks

                    Link Building | | kirstyseo
                    0
                  • MarkQJones

                    Listly and SEO

                    We use listly quite a lot. A few of our lists get embedded in other sites. A lot of the embedded lists have links back to us. Is there any seo benefit on this, or will just one of the sites count ? Isn't this just duplicate content ? Wondering what your thoughts are.

                    Link Building | | MarkQJones
                    0
                  • ScottBaxterWW

                    Having a link from a foreign site

                    I just ran an OSE on a competitor of ours that they have a few links from this website, http://www.tz-online.de/ would this not damage there site?

                    Link Building | | ScottBaxterWW
                    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
                  • Digital Marketers
                  Free SEO Tools
                  • Domain Authority Checker
                  • Link Explorer
                  • Keyword Explorer
                  • Competitive Research
                  • Brand Authority Checker
                  • Local Citation 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.