Linking Out To External Sites
-
Hi, All
If I have created a (website, logo, email campaign) for a client and written an article about it with screen shots on my website and link to them with a (do-follow) link how does Google see the (do-follow) link?
Regards to the sites they have one link in the footer on the home page, which is a (do-follow) back to our site. Also, the websites are not in my Niche.
-
Hey Chris,
Don't get me wrong, I am with you in leaving behind the high risks, my frustration comes more from Google's SERP results and behavior on spam sites than what you say, but I dont think a footer link for a web design company produce any sort of threat or places a site on a "churn and burn" status or even high risk. Then again I bring MNS, quick cash in, affiliates and spam in mind when I see "churn and burn" so it might be me.
-
Yiannis, I agree with you that anchor text has a lot to do with tripping the filter and that some industries are cesspools of spam. But, as a replay to a new SEO practitioner's question, I'll stand by what what I said--it won't get anyone in trouble algorithmically. Yes, I know I sound like Jill Whalen (and Matt Cutts) but the longer I'm in this business, the less I have a problem with that and the more I'm willing to leave the higher risk stuff to those who still have a few sites they're willing to churn and burn.
-
Hi, Yiannis
The anchor text for linking out to the clients is either (visit brand name or visit the website here) . For linking back to my site it is (website by brand name).
-
Hi, Chris
What you said makes sense and if I am reading your post correctly I am better of making all the sites I build (no-follow) back to me because as you said it is a link I am in control of and if I had 100 sites that is 100 (do-follow) links, which if they gain trust and Authority, could make up a part of my link profile.
In theory is this manipulating the search result having links from my clients as a (do-follow), because I am gaining a (do-follow) link with the only purpose of helping my site and in my control?
Also I will make all my internal links (no-follow) to my clients.
-
Sorry to break the Matt Cutts buble here but while I agree with you Kered, this is more theory than practise...or to be precise, it leans more towards the exception than the rule.
For me it always depends on the keyword, the niche and which keywords you target. i have seen industry sectors (for example: "web design" related keyphrases) where indeed what you say is true and others (such as "pest control" related keyphrases) where black hat, 2003 SEO and corruption are present to such an extend it makes me sick. And I am not talking about sort term, unless sort term is 1 year and 7 months I am monitoring this industry and counting, on a sector where top 10 makes thousands of dollars per month.
I wouldn't nofollow any of the links or if I had to I would nofollow the link I send to the client web site. I would keep the footer link and bear in mind 2 things. 1) If you use anchor text you play with the keyword % ratio so be careful or put your brand name there 2) its a footer link, thus not much value.
but nofollow it? No i wouldnt.
-
Hi, Martijn
So I am better of making all links to my work (no-follow) from my website and just leave the link in the footer of the sites I build as a (do-follow) or (no-follow)?
-
Kered,
Just nofollow them and you'll be OK. Don't look at links that you control as an option to help you build your domain authority. Agencies, tend to lean heavily on the sorts of links your talking about because they're so easy to acquire over time. But let me tell you, I've seen hundreds of agencies briefly rise to the top of the search results on the strength of back links from clients, only to fall off the cliff once some threshold has been passed.
You're not going to get dinged for the kind of link you're talking about if it is a singular occurrence or if they make up a small percentage of your total link profile. The problem tends to be though, that one leads to two; two leads to four; four leads to eight and eventually they outweigh all your other links and then, boom, you take the fall.
-
It probably will be seen as a low quality link back to your site and to their site as it probably will be seen as reciprocal. Not sure for what kind of advice you are looking here.
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
-
Custom site to Wordpress transfer
Hi all, Custom site to Wordpress transfer was done a week back. Exact same folder paths and URL's, Analytics/adsense/webmaster etc should be added right? Webmaster where can i get the new code and will all old history be gone from webmaster? Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | klambimut20 -
On Site Errors
HI Folks I'm monitoring a small Australian site bluetea.com.au . Currently I have a SEO specialist who does month onsite maintenance work for this site. However each month I continue to see errors in webmaster tools... as an example, currently webmaster tools suggest we have 21 short meta dic and 26 duplicate title tags..... Examples given are Short Meta Discp /cleaning-products-and-our-health/toxic-cleaners/ /colour-consultant/fushia-door/ /portfolio/parisian-apartment-black-kitchen/parisian-apartment-black-kitchen/ Duplicate title tags <a id="zip_0-anchor" class="zippedsection_title"></a>concrete-kitchen | Blue Tea Kitchen Designs /kitchen-trends-and-material-innovation/concrete-kitchen-2//kitchen-trends-for-2013/concrete-kitchen/<a id="zip_1-anchor" class="zippedsection_title"></a>Potts Point Kitchen | Blue Tea Kitchen Designs/portfolio/potts-point-kitchen//portfolio/potts-point-kitchen/pott-point-kitchen/My SEO tells me that he has solved all these issues but after one or two months they still remain in webmaster tools... can anybody help me understand why?Thank you
On-Page Optimization | | PHD0 -
Multilingual site with untranslated content
We are developing a site that will have several languages. There will be several thousand pages, the default language will be English. Several sections of the site will not be translated at first, so the main content will be in English but navigation/boilerplate will be translated. We have hreflang alternate tags set up for each individual page pointing to each of the other languages, eg in the English version we have: etc In the spanish version, we would point to the french version and the english version etc. My question is, is this sufficient to avoid a duplicate content penalty for google for the untranslated pages? I am aware that from a user perspective, having untranslated content is bad, but in this case it is unavoidable at first.
On-Page Optimization | | jorgeapartime0 -
Does Archive pages help in indexation of the site?
Hello, we have an argue internally regarding if we should keep the archive pages on a news site or not. Pro Archive pages help indexation of the news. although not all of us are sure about this. Con archive pages receive from none to little traffic archive pages are source of duplicate content, duplicate titles - which we can manage some how but does it worth? What is your opinion on this topic, should we keep it or not? thanks, Irina
On-Page Optimization | | InformMedia0 -
Site is not ranking for a particular keyword !!
One of my site is ranking for all the main keywords except one. This keyword is just a variant of those keywords which are all ranking in top 10 (page 1) in Google. Why is it happening? Does Google punishes site for one keyword. I know competition of keyword matters but other keywords with similar competition are ranking. And even the site is very well optimized for this keyword (titles and site copy without any stuffing) Any Solutions ?
On-Page Optimization | | Personnel_Concept0 -
My site has been dropping, not sure why!
My site has been dropping in the rankings, not sure - my metrics seem better than my competitors. Historically I have been a very stable #2 for my main term, but now it's down to 7! According to SEO Moz, my domain authority is 32, while my better performing competitors are are 26, 11, and 1! Have more links than they do. Trying to think it through, not sure what is happening. My home page bounces at a low 20%-ish, other Google Analytics are good. I have a company Facebook account, occasionally upload YouTube vids, do online press releases, etc. I do have to target several metros scattered across the state, while my competitors usually focus on one major metro. I do have some SEO Moz errors, which focus on dup content due to our web editor's naming system. An example would be domain.com/keyword-keyword-i-14 vs. domain/differnet keyword-different better keyword-i-14. 14 would be the actual page number. Our system lets me change the page title keywords, as I've added new links and pages over the years there are some dupes. The only major change is I've added a password protected section for sales rep materials. The hosting/web guru firm we use has assured me Google doesn't see pages behind the password portection. Not sure if Google is testing a new SERP formula. All social media or non-website results seem to have dropped out of search for my terms. Just local business sites like mine and some directory sites remain. Any advice or private consult would be greatly appreciated as I am a ... self taught 'OneManBand' for high tech marketing in our company. Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | OneManBand0 -
Internal linking
Background; selling childrens clothing (for norwegian market). main page is being optimized barneklær (children clothing) which is most used term. We ve been online for around 3 months and have gone from unranked to 25th spot on google for this term. We are selling clothes from 8 different producers which all have their own 'page' - were all their products are listed. e.g http://www.epleskrinet.no/dundelina/M_13 . This page i am optimizing for the producer which is dundelina. For this term i show up in spot 24, 25 and 44. My problem is that its not the producer page that show up but the 3 most popular products. The producer page isnt ranked at all. What ive done so far is to have to producer link to my page from their site and blog (a week ago) - they were linking to my home page earlier. Ive put anchor text dundelina --> takes me to producer page on 4 out of 7 products. This was also done about a week ago. I am planning a blog about dundelina pointing to the right URL. From our blog I am using. Ive posted a couple of pictures on facebook pointing to right URL. Do i just need to be patient for this to be picked up or is there anything else i should do ? Thanks ... Dan Lærum
On-Page Optimization | | danlae0