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
-
Header/Menu Links
Hey there, I seem to have heard mixed results on this. We have a LOT of pages that we are trying to tell google are important. Does it make that big of a difference if those pages are linked in the homepage/header menu? Or mega menu for example? We are essentially a review site, so we potentially have thousands of links that could be implemented into the menu. Thoughts are greatly appreciated!
On-Page Optimization | | HashtagHustler0 -
Comment Links and Pingbacks
I'm updating articles on a large site, some have links in the comments (WP site). The question is: 1. Should I remove the links in the comments, or does Google even care? 2. How do pingbacks affect ranking?
On-Page Optimization | | MichaelGregory0 -
"Turning off" content to a site
One site I manage has a lot of low quality content. We are in the process of improving the overall site content but we have "turned off" a large portion of our content by setting 2/3 of the posts to draft. Has anyone done this before or had experience with doing something similar? This quote from Bruce Clay comes to mind: “Where a lot of people don’t understand content factoring to this is having 100 great pages and 100 terrible pages—they average, when the quality being viewed is your website,” he explained. “So, it isn’t enough to have 100 great pages if you still have 100 terrible ones, and if you add another 100 great pages, you still have the 100 terrible ones dragging down your average. In some cases we have found that it’s much better, to improve your ranking, to actually remove or rewrite the terrible ones than add more good ones.” What are your thoughts? Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | ThridHour0 -
Internal and Link Juice Analysis - Too Many Links Error
Howdy! I have an analysis question related to internal links/link juice. Here is the general link set up of our site: 1. All Site Pages (Including Home Page): We have drop down "mega" menus in the header of everypage linking to various sub-categories on the site. So, because of this, in our header, we have a few hundred links to various pages on our site and these show up on every page of the site. 2. Product Pages: Header pages as mentioned above, but on top of that, we list out the keywords for that particular product and each keyword is linked back to our search results pages for that particular keyword. In General Moz is telling us we are having between 200-300 links on each product page. Currently, our Search Results pages are ranking higher and showing up in search more than our actual product pages. So, based on the above info, here are some thoughts: 1. Should we ajax in the Header links so that they aren't showing up for the search engines? Or, should we ajax them in only on all pages that are not the Home Page? 2. Should we get rid of the keyword links back to the Search Results pages that are on the product pages? What effect would these changes "actually" have? Does this just improve crawling? Or are there other positive results that would come of changes like these? We have hundreds of thousands of products, so if we were to make changes like these, could we experience negative results? Thanks for your help! Craig
On-Page Optimization | | TheCraig0 -
Should i nofollow outgoing links on posts
Hello, on my blog i don't nofollow the outgoing links inside roundups like : http://www.designzzz.com/extreme-demos-html5-jquery/ a friend of mine suggest me to nofollow all out going links in such postings. he added that it will help increase posts PRs and better search rankings. Any thoughts? cheers
On-Page Optimization | | wickedsunny10 -
Best information organization for a new site?
I'm launching a new stain removal website, and wanted to know what would be considered the best way to organize the content? Since most articles will roughly involve "removing X from Y" or "how to remove Z," I can see two ways... 1. Organize articles by Stained Items, Stain Agents and perhaps Cleaning Detergents. 2. Spread the categories out more, to try and group stained items according to categories... E.g. Hard surfaces, delicates, fabrics, ceramics etc. Any thoughts on which of these two might be the best way to organize the site, or are there any better suggestions? Not sure what the main considerations are here... Either of these two seem equally user-friendly.
On-Page Optimization | | ZakGottlieb710 -
Webmaster tools Site speed?
Google webmaster tools site performance is reading out at 2.8 and still raising (Going further into the slow pale area) this was in the green fast area for a while until now. Is this something to be worried about?
On-Page Optimization | | BobAnderson0 -
What is the effect of too many internal links on a page?
Hi there! We have been doing a great effort during the last year but our main competitor is still above us in search rankings. Basically, the main differente remains now in the number of internal links, specially in our homepage. We have more than 200 and they only have around 100, so I think we are wasting too much link power among some irrelevant pages. What could be the effect of this?
On-Page Optimization | | bodaclick0