Link conundrum - losing nav/footer links in mobile view

[d_foley]

Hi Moz folks! I'm currently moving a site from being hosted on www. and m. separately to a responsive single URL. The problem is, the desktop version currently has links to important landing pages in the footer (about 60) and that's not something we want to replicate on mobile (mainly because it will look pretty awful.)

There is no navigation menu because the key to the homepage is to convert users to subscription so any distraction reduces conversion rate.

The footer links will continue to exist on the desktop view but, since Google's mobile-first index, presumably we lose these important homepage links to our most important pages. So, my questions:

1. Do you think there is any SEO value in the desktop footer links?

2. Do you have any suggestions about how best to include these 60-odd links in a way that works for mobile?

Thanks!

[bridget.randolph]

Hi, the first thing I would note is that a responsive design means you have the exact same content on the desktop and mobile versions - if you're considering serving different HTML to different users on the same URL this would be considered dynamic serving and you'll want to make sure you add the Vary-HTTP user agent header.

To answer your other questions:

1) Do you think there is any SEO value in the desktop footer links?

There is certainly some value, although how much is debatable - that would depend on how many total pages there are on the site, how much other content you have, and whether these pages are linked to elsewhere etc. You could test it by removing a handful of the links temporarily and see whether those pages see any sort of negative impact over 3-4 weeks. If you do this, make sure you do link to those pages from somewhere else on the site so they don't become orphaned.

2) Do you have any suggestions about how best to include these 60-odd links in a way that works for mobile?

I would suggest either leaving them in the footer in a collapsible div to help keep a clean look (maybe with your 5 or so most important links visible and a 'see more' option), or moving them to a hamburger menu on a mobile view.

Hope that helps!