Keyword links in footer

[StevieD]

Hi - I am trying to help a site to get out from under a Google manual action penalty - down as "Partial Matches - Unnatural Links to site".
I am checking through their links - the site that links most to them is a local directory style site - it has 2,682 links back into 1 page (Home) The directory site was built by the web co. that built my clients' site and they put a keyword link in the footer of the directory site - the keyword was "Buy Truffles". All my instincts say that is a bad thing! But - this is what is perplexing me - they are ranking no.1 for that keyword! Whereas they have lost rankings (i.e. not top 50) for all the other keywords they were targeting. So I don't get it! Can anyone explain why this is. I feel I should I get that link removed but don't want to take out their only ranking keyword!  Webmaster shows about 55 different pages in the directory site have a link back to my client. Hope you can help.
Cheers - Steve

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Ahh I see Steve.

So there is a partial penalty to the site? If this is not the culprit, I would search out those that are. Detoxing is certainly an eye opener and you will most definitely find work to do with that.

Andy

[StevieD]

Hi Andy - thanks for the quick reply and confirming what I thought about the keywords in footer.

But I can see that my question wasn't phrased well enough.  Where I said "... this is what is perplexing me - they are ranking no.1 for that keyword! " It is actually my clients site that is ranking no. 1 for that keyword which is embedded in the footer of the directory site.

This is what doesn't make sense. I'd have thought that Google would have stomped on that as one of the first things they did. Instead it's the only keyword they have that is still ranking.

Just to say that I have performed a full test on all the back links using Link Detox software and now I am also going through manually and actually reviewing each link. Time consuming but also quite educational.

Thanks again.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

I think you will find your gut feel here is correct to get this removed. Matt Cutts has actually said that widget and footer links are not what they are looking for, but have you actually performed a full test on all back links to see what sort of a state everything else coming back to the site is in?

For now, try not to focus on what this other site are ranking for - there is a reason Google have given them this placement. You need to disavow / have these dodgy links removed. They are really focusing heavily on links right now, so it is important to remain whiter-than-white in this aspect.

Andy