Sitewide links
-
Hi there,
We operate about a dozen websites that are part of the same parent company. All these websites are in the same vertical, and link among each other in the footer section. The anchor for each link is the brand name, so we are merely doing it to show what other products the parent company has to offer. My question is: do you think this is still advisable, or it might trigger a penalty? Also, what would you choose between:
- Sitewide footer links from each site to the other sites.
- A single footer link on the homepage from each site to the other sites.
- A presentation page on each website, one click away from the homepage, which presents the company's other websites.
Thanks.
-
Hi,
Based on the info you've given, I would definitely go for your option 3.
Having links in the footer of the site is never a good idea as it multiplies the number of links by as many pages you have on the site. If you think it makes sense to have a page presenting the other websites then that sounds great and only means one external link to each site; sounds like you could create some nice content on this page too!
Hope that helps
-
Hi,
I'd like to say, if it makes sense to have link there, I would use that link. Thats allway the first thing I think about when I link externally. In that case, I am not thinking "I need that link" so I would. In that case I dont have problems to chose rel="nofollow".
Special in sitewide footer links I would use nofollow and you should (excepted alternate language sites or something like that). It was John Muller who told Web Design Agencys wich are linking sitewide in footer (with brand name) that they should think about using nofollow (round about april this 2015). Guess thats not really the same thing here, if its the same company.For the 3 cases - what makes the most sense? Does a link in the footer on the hompage makes sense? Is it better for any human being to have these links sitewide? Makes it more sense to have a single page?
I have different clients with all 3 types, all without penalty (in sitewide links cases, the links are rel="nofollow" and the sites are the same company). I think you can use follow, but why take a risk.I often cite Cyrus Shepard in that sitewide-footer case and I agree 100% with him, so I cite again: "Don't link externally in the footer. Just don't. I'm not going to go into the reasons. Just don't do that."
https://moz.com/blog/the-rules-of-link-building-whiteboard-friday
-
I can't see this triggering a penalty. It will not hold the same weight as a link from a site that doesn't have anything directly to do with your company or a link directly in the content showing context
I would suggest sitewide footer links from each site to the other sites. The footer isn't the main draw of the eye but generally includes company info so if a users is looking for more info they will check there.
- Sitewide footer links from each site to the other sites.
-
It is a difficult question to answer - as one would need intimate knowledge of the business to advise properly. Specifically what is the value proposition and how for each website it is driven online?.
That said given they are all in the same vertical are they also in the same market place? ie all websites selling to the same country? Are they cross-selling to each other? If they are have you given consideration to a plan to fold the websites into one? It sounds like resources are spread thin, if managing a dozen websites. What is the original purpose of the dozen websites - is it still current today.
On the question about actual links, it should look natural. If it is set up and looks like a PBN - which it sort of sounds like I would be making it natural. Only put links where it assists and facilitates and answer to a customer query. I would primarily be concerned if it could be interpreted as a link swapping/trading exercise. A slightly deeper analysis should give you some resolution. All that said if it looks natural, and you have not had any penalties to date no action required!
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
-
Subdomain links vs root domain links? Are the less valuable?
I am determining the value of links we get. Is a link on a subdomain less valuable vs one on the root domain? How less valuable would you consider a subdomain link? For example blog.site.com vs site.com/blog What other metrics would you take into consideration for the value of a subdomain link?
Link Building | | calf0 -
Internal Linking - Post links vs Side Bar Links behaving differently
Hi, I have a question regarding the internal linking behavior. My website is www.hindimeaning.com which is approx 3 years old. I have approx 450 posts. Now i have a widget on right sidebar "Popular posts". A widget below my posts "Related Posts". And a simple html CSS menu above the posts (I removed menu around 6 month before so currently it will not show.) I crawled my site with moz crawler (same are the result from google crawler as well) and it shows menus links as internal links. While sidebar widget "Popular posts" and "Related Posts" are not showing as internal links. If we talk theoretically what i learn till now is "every link on a page behaves as internal link". Then why the widget links are not showing as internal links. Thanks, Mahesh Kumar
Link Building | | chaudhary04890 -
Internal Linking Building
I'm launching a new blog for my new website. What's the best way to do internal link building for 3D Scanning? Do I link 3D Scanning to another page on my website or on a different website that has high authority for 3D scanning? Thank You in advance! -Nick
Link Building | | X2Metrology10 -
Links in product UI
We have a SaaS product that places a UI on our clients' websites. The UI often includes a link back to us. Think Live Chat (it's not, but the idea is similar) where the chat UI has a link "Live Chat by CompanyA". But our solution is not hosted - it's part of our customers' page. Our customers are big, enterprise companies (e.g., American Express). Does this provide any value in terms of inbound linking? Would it introduce Penguin risk to have the product name as an anchor text link (think "Live Chat by CompanyA" with Live Chat as the link)? Are there considerations I should think about? We're updating our standard UI, so it's a good time to make sure our SEO strategies are sound here.
Link Building | | mbrusyo0 -
Sitewide links from affiliates. Good or bad?
We have 14 affiliate sites that have a sitewide banner linked to one of our pages. The banner link is "follow" and contains an alt text that includes a brand name and a keyword. Are these links harming us, or creating value? We were hit by Panda 2.0 - do you think it might be the reason?
Link Building | | imoney0 -
Reciprocal links
I've heard that reciprocal links don't count anymore. If i stop linking to a person that links to me, will that link to my website start counting? Do reciprocal links count at all in google? Anchor text? anything? Thanks in advance! Ron
Link Building | | Ron100 -
Link Detox and Link Removal
I have a question about which links to remove after running a link detox from Link Research Tools. First a little back story. I had had an SEO company link building for one of the websites I own. But I have recently stopped working with them. In the last month my rankings have near dropped off the charts. I have just recently gotten access to Google webmaster tools and noticed an unnatural link warning from back in March. So yesterday I ran link detox and it reported 19 toxic links, 120 suspicious links, and 24 healthy links. It's rather obvious that I should remove all of the toxic links. They all from sites that have been deindexed by google. But my question is a about the suspicious links. What should my criteria be for removing them? Am I better off removing them all and leaving my site with only 24 healthy links or should I personally comb through them and remove only the worst of the worst so that I leave my site with a few more links? I'd really like to get the site ready to resubmit to google as soon as I can. Thoughts? yyCOf.png
Link Building | | CobraJones950 -
Are you careful about linking back to sites that link to you?
Suppose that a trusted website added you to their recommended links page. Do you worry that linking back to them from a page on your site will diminish the value of the original link?
Link Building | | Charlessipe0