WordPress Sidebar Links: Valuable or Not?

[Fergus_Macdonald]

Wondering what people's thoughts are on whether to keep WordPress sidebar links?

For example I write a personal blog and usually write about tech related things, but have a sidebar link with keyword anchor text pointing to my clothing based website - completely unrelated to the content on my blog. As it's a sidebar link, it shows up for every page on the site (easily thousands due to all posts having a page, tags, categories etc).

Are those valuable links to keep? There's an argument that all links are good links. Should I change them to have anchor text of the brand name rather than the keyword?

[irvingw]

Sitewide links are never good and blogroll links were sold big time a few years back, i would not interlink non related sites owned by the same entity, or if you do nofollow them and in either case don't use main keywords.

[MickEdwards]

"As it's a sidebar link, it shows up for every page on the site (easily thousands due to all posts having a page, tags, categories etc)."

Irrespective of Googles stance on sitewide links you have to ask yourself does that look natural and is the link there to offer value to the visitor.  Invariably it looks spammy and planted - and ignored.

I would definitely avoid without no-follow.

[Chris.Menke]

Fergus, I think a couple of followed or nofollowed references from your blog would be acceptable for two reasons: 1. As followed links, that's a small enough number/percentage to expect under the penguin radar and 2. If by chance the links are discounted, the impact would be so small that it probably wouldn't be felt  and 3. Your visitors probably wouldn't mind a link to a site that has "great clothes for technology enthusiasts" :-).

[Fergus_Macdonald]

Thanks Chris,

I removed the sidebar links which were on every page so that may have looked spammy, but have left the ones on my homepage as you say - those are only 1 link, and they're genuinely about me and what I do.