'Powered by...' anchor text links
-
Hi Mozzers!
We're a web design and dev agency in Kent, UK who don't really provide SEO services (tend to outsource and focus on our core competencies!)
Have never really bothered putting 'Powered by...' or 'built by...' anchor text links at the foot of our client sites that link back to ours. Obvs we have a huge back catalogue of opportunities to add this to various sites which, if clients agree of course, would push our backlinks above our key competitors overnight (according to OSE).
Good idea or Spammy/back hattie???
Cheers guys.
-
Thanks Rebecca, frustrating though as our competitor is ranking top for 'web development' local searches and having run OSE on their site the only reason is by adding anchor links to sites they've developed. This is generating them dozens of new enquiries pcm compared to our zero!
-
I agree.
-
Bad idea. I would not do this kind of footer link without a rel=nofollow, ever. Google has been known to target footer links like these for unnatural link building practices. (Check out this article by Barry Schwartz from a couple years back.) Just because something has been a "standard practice" for a long time doesn't mean it's white hat today.
Edited to add:
By the way, the fact that you're talking about how to add them slowly enough to stay under Google's radar should be enough to tell you that what you're planning may not be on the up and up. -
Thanks Umar, we've got about 100 RDs that we can add our link to which will give us about 10,000 backlinks. Was going to add about at a rate of about 20 RDs per week. Seem reasonable to you?
-
Hey,
I agree lots of agencies are following this practice but the question stated "we have a huge back catalogue of opportunities". So, it's not a good idea to get the tons of links on these phrases in a short time. That's why I said, it "might" get caught into a spammy practice.
Plus, if you have the opportunity to get some decent links, it's better to have them on your branded term to give away a strong brand signal to google.
What do you think?
-
Hi Umar,
Just wondering, how it is going to be Spammy ? Hyperlinking keywords in footer is a regular practise all Webdesign & SEO company do. I dont think it will be termed spammy.
-
Hey Steve,
I'm afraid it might be caught into Spammy practice because of the latest penguin updates. You should get the links from these sources after all you deserves them but just change the approach a bit.
Rather getting links on "Powered by", "built by" or "developed by", you should try to get the links on your branded term. Something like "Developed by Moz".
Google has no objection, if you're getting links on your branded term and your profile will gonna look more authoritative and natural.
Hope this helps!
Have a rocking Sunday!
Umar
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
-
Anchor text or inbound link keyword limits
With google's new algorithm, websites can get punished for keyword stuffing or too many of certain back links...so my question is, is there a limit on the keyword/anchortext used for a website containing a keyword you want the website to rank with?
Link Building | | SeobyKP0 -
Page links, header links, footer links
HI I have been hearing about links, you should keep to 100 Just look at this url http://www.powerwale.com/store/acdelco-sealed-vrla-iacdv5l--b-5ah-bike-battery/77031 and go for Recommend section, where you same product applies to different vehicles 1. im confused, should keep it or not?
Link Building | | Rahim119
2. Header links are less, Footer links are less, and in the future, we are planning to add more, will this affect SEO more than 100
i see many ecommerce sites, has menu showing many categories, more 100 categories links
3. Wht about link equity? If I have more links in header and footer page(all this will follow in the rest of pages).
4. More links in the header and footer shows that you are big ecommerce site.. Pls suggest, which is right way and go gain SEO value1 -
Does having '?search' in a URL affect the page quality?
In our Costume Themes category on our website, http://www.costumedirect.com.au/themes/, the links direct to search pages with URLs containing the term '?search'. For example, the 'Edward Scissorhands' link directs to http://www.costumedirect.com.au/search.php?search_query=edward. Will the question mark and 'search' in our URL affect the page quality and rankings? Thank you.
Link Building | | CostumeD0 -
Anchor Text Guidelines
Hi. Is there an approximate guide to avoid over optimizing anchor text for a particular key-phrase? i.e. is 20% of back-links using the anchor text [HR Software] OK or too much? Thanks in advance
Link Building | | davidoff5744440 -
Is it better to link back to the root domain, or the specific page you're optimizing for?
I'm working on a project our site - building links for iPhone Repair. For the term "iphone repair miami" - is it more ideal to link to the root domain (xxx.com) or to the subpage that is about iPhone Repair (xxx.com/iphone-repair)? I would imagine the latter - but obviously that page has less authority than the root. Thanks!
Link Building | | preemo0 -
Changing backlinks anchor text
Hi, I've read a few blog post here that suggests the strength of building links using your brand as an anchor text. This supposedly gives the site authority. Currently a chunck of the back links to my homepage are on generic terms i'm trying to rank for which doesn't seem to be working very well. I was thinking of contacting the various webmasters to change the anchor text to that of the site brand name but wondering if this will signal a manipulation of links to the search engines and potentially could be flagged as paid links? Has anybody done this before and what is the danger of doing this? Thanks Duke
Link Building | | clickangel0 -
I'm interested in knowing link building strategies for regional businesses.
I'm not just interested in sites to target, but also how to manage anchor text when you are targeting phrases that include a keyword + a geo modifier. Thanks!
Link Building | | medtouch0 -
Panda Update: Isn't a link still a link?
I was doing some link building and some SEO's said that the Panda update affected many websites. I am going to use eZineArticles.com as my example. EzineArticles was affected by the Panda update and does not show up in the SERPs as much as before. But they still have doFollow Links coming from the articles I am submitting. QUESTION: Regardless if EzineArticles was affected by the Panda Update, isn't a "Follow Link" still a "Follow Link" OR am I completely wasting my time on this devalued website? Edit: Yes I know a PR 0 page is not as valuable as a PR 9 page. I am asking from the standpoint of the affected Panda Update domains overall.
Link Building | | Francisco_Meza0
