What about that stuffed footer?
-
Whether you look at zappos.com, bol.com, or other e-commerce websites you will almost always see a footer that is full of links to categories & subcategories.
These elements aren't really attractive, and to be honest, I don't think I ever clicked on one of those links because most of the time I don't reach the bottom of such pages.
Why do these companies use these kinds of footers? Is it for SEO purpose,? Are those links passing juice? Aren't those links at the bottom of the page and therefore not that relevant as other links used in paragraphs? Aren't they contributing to too many on-page links? Maybe only use it on homepage?
I'm really looking forward to the opinions of the experts here at the forum...
-
SEO for large websites is different than SEO for small or mid-sized websites. Zappos.com has over 6 million pages indexed by Google. Having 200 footer links is very helpful for the search engines in this situation.
Go back to the days of, "every page in 3 clicks". It's still a sound policy as it makes it easier for the search engines to not only find pages, but the pages can still have enough Page Rank to be viable and not supplemental.
I picked several unusual shoes (well, at least unusual to me). For each shoe I was able to get to it's specific product page in 3 or 4 clicks. Even though some shoe brands or styles have paginated listings going 30+ deep - Zappos.com has found a way to provide a much quicker path to the product pages.
Rottentomatoes.com also has a slick footer navigation that gets to any movie within 3 clicks.
-
For those two particular websites they have so much content that the stuffed footer although not high on design attractiveness makes the site more usable for humans.
If you see a stuffed footer with a site with less than 100 pages; then it is an SEO tactic...an outdated one at that.
-
Anchor filled footers are a traditional SEO strategy usually to create links with the anchor text that the site owner is seeking to boost rankings for various site pages, although their effect is questionable now-days. They're also used for navigation purposes, but I think the key here is relevancy; if the links are relevant and add to the user experience, then thumbs up, otherwise, small links tucked away at the bottom of the page look a bit dodgy, to us and the search engines.
The links pass juice internally (or externally if they're not nofollowed) and they probably won't have as much weight as a link higher up the page used in a relevant sentence.
Try reading this article by Rand on the subject, I got some good tips from it;
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/footer-link-optimization-for-search-engines-user-experience
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
-
What heading tag to use on sidebars and footers
Hello, I have some awareness of how to use H1, H2 and H3.
On-Page Optimization | | kowston
H1 only once per page as the main page heading.
H2's should be subheadings, H3's are sub-sub headings of the and so on.
This structure gives hierarchy and opportunities to use additional keywords in an order of priority. I can clearly understand how this would work in an article but what about other content on the page such as global/frequently repeated elements like sidebars and footers? I see sites - and in particular, I have examed SEO focused sites - that use H3, H4 and H5 in these instances seemingly giving themselves scope to use at least H2 tags as part of the page content and break out of the structure hierarchy when dealing with sidebars and footers. I suppose this could signal theses headings are sections of the page that are less relevant than the main article content but that is just an assumption. I don't know what is correct.0 -
City and state link stuffing in footer
A competitor has links to every state in the U.S., every county in our state and nearby states, and every city in those nearby states. All with corresponding link text and titles that lead to pages with thin, duplicate content. They consistently rank high in the SERPS and have for years. What gives--I mean, isn't this something that should get you penalized?
On-Page Optimization | | nkolson0 -
Keyword stuffing as per the on-page grader
Hi Moz Community, I've recently become a Moz Pro user and I very impressed with the insights that it has to offer. However, I have been using the on-page grader to evaluate this page and it suggests that I am using the keyword "kiln dried logs" too many times and not to use more than 15 times. I have a slight dilemma because my product titles all contain this keyword and I wanted to get somebody's take on where the "15 repetitions" comes from and if it is better for me to strip this keyword out of my product titles to fall within the guidelines? Should I optimize just my main category page for this keyword at the expense of potentially losing traffic for my product pages? Any input would be much appreciated.
On-Page Optimization | | RicharCampbell0 -
Crosslinking Question - Footer or Header?
We own 9 fashion blogs that focus on different niches. We have Your Next Shoes focusing on shoes, Your Next Dress focusing on dresses, Your Next Handbag focusing on handbags, and so on. Previously we had links in the blog header to the other sister sites. Your Next Shoes had text links to its 8 sister sites, and so on. However, we were told that this could cause a cross-linking penalty, so we removed these links. My understanding now is that the advice we were given is not necessarily correct. We think it is useful for our visitors to see that we also operate other blogs, so we are thinking of adding back the links - this time to our footer. Basically I am looking for advise on the best way to go about this.
On-Page Optimization | | Jantaro0 -
Using H3-4 tags in the footer or sidebars: good or not?
Howdy SEOmoz fans! Is it considered a good / bad / neutral practice to include H tags in the footer, as a mean to group a few links? Take http://www.seomoz.org/ for instance: - Voted Best SEO Tool 2010! = H2
On-Page Optimization | | AxialDev
- Looking for SEO consulting? = H3
- Product and Tools = H3 Company = H3 etc. I often see the same principle applied to sidebars. I feel like because they don't contribute to the actual content structure and because they are repeated from page to page, we should avoid them, but I have nothing to back my intuition. [+] Perhaps they are helpful for usability (screen readers) and thin added value (i.e. category names that carry more weight than if they weren't headers). What do you think? Thanks for your time.1 -
What are the benefits of footer expanded site maps?
Many sites display a site map on the bottom of each page with a limited depth of around two deep. Has anyone done a A/B test on this, for selected search terms? Is this good practice?
On-Page Optimization | | russelljames0 -
Do footer links apply too many on-page links?
We tend to put a a lot of links in the footers of some of our websites (e.g. www.AlohaWhistler.com). Our CAMPAIGNS report is showing that several pages on such sites have "too many on-page links". We understand the logic that having more than 100 links per page is "too much". Does this also apply to footer links?
On-Page Optimization | | RoyMcClean0 -
Should I remove my footer? and criticize my website
The simple question, should I delete my footer or keep it. Visit TraxNYC.com I dont wont to give my personal opinion yet, just because I dont want to influence any answers. Delete it! - Explain why? Keep it! - Explain why? Good Luck!
On-Page Optimization | | DiamondJewelryEmpire0