100's of Footer Links... what is the safe play?

[MoosaHemani]

Hello,

One of my clients wants to know what you guys think is the best solution. He sells 100's of templates a month that have a footer link on it pointing to our homepage.

Anchor links are "keyword" & "Brand Name" Some are different than others.

1. Do we update the templates so those are no-follow links in the footer?

2. Do we just make all the links to: Brand Name and have them follow?

I understand Brand Name is the business name but I am also afraid that Brand name is so close to the money making keyword in the industry and Google might think we are trying to game the system.

Looking for your expert opinions!

[ShaMenz]

Hey Moosa,

Since the value of footer links is very low anyway, the likelihood that they may be seen as manipulative would be of far more concern to me - no following them is unlikely to make any sort of negative dent in search visibility. It will, however ensure that the site does not become an easy target for Penguin.

Given the business your client is in, I imagine the most important thing for them is bringing new qualified traffic to their site. The potential for referral traffic from a nofollowed link with anchor text properly crafted to reinforce the brand and entice the click should be the prize they have their eye on.

Hope that helps,

Sha

[webmethod]

The official Google line would be to make them nofollow so it really depends on what your appetite for risk is.

In terms of whether your brand name is actually also a commercial keyword - Google it, and if you're ranking top then in theory it's being recognised as a brand.

In practice you will probably be able to get away with your brand name, or your full website address as the anchor text.

George

[Leonie-Kramer]

That's a good one. My first reaction is, give the links a no follow. With that the (brand) name is visible, but the link can not harm you by in case it's on low qualiy websites and or money making keywords.