Large scale change of incoming anchor text/alt tag image links

[VITALBGS]

I provide SEO services in-house and for clients for a ecommerce and web design company. For every client site we create or host we provide a image link on the bottom linking back to our company website.

I started researching competitors that offer same services for our industry that have top Google rankings for all the terms we are targeting and i just realized they rank that well because their image/anchor text link they place on client sites is alt tagged for that specific keyword. We have not been optimizing or utilizing this easy keyword backlink method.

I am now wanting to go to all of our clients sites and change our backlinks to target the keyword we are optimizing for but my  concern is will that number of incoming anchor text/image alt tag links cause us to get penalized from google for either over optimization or them seeing 100's of backlinks keyword specific just change overnight.

What is the best way to go about this change in a safe way to avoid or risk penalty from Google?

99% of all of our client backlinks are in the footer so they show up on every single page and they are all images.

Would it have a different affect if i add a alt tag to those images so that we get the oncoming link juice of that specific keyword?

One of my concerns is over optimization, since some of our clients have 1000's of pages on their website. so that is 1000's of incoming exact match keyword links. I feel like the danger is low for being penalized but i would rather be safe then sorry and get additional feedback.

Thanks,

Stephen

[JasonLancaster]

There are a lot of differing opinions about footer links, particularly how to optimize them.

One camp says that these links should be innocuous, brand-name only links (i.e. alt tags that are your domain name or corporate name). Too many optimized inbound links (or alt tags on images that link to your site) could cause some sort of over-optimization penalty. While I think this is solid advice, I too have seen companies use highly optimized site-wide footer links, and they seem to be beneficial...so I'm not inclined to say that footer links shouldn't be optimized at all.

Another camp argues that you should go ahead and optimize all the link text, but to do so slowly and naturally. My concern with this approach is outlined above...at some point, you're going to have dozens or hundreds of links pointing to your site with optimized text/alt tags. That's not necessarily natural.

A middle-of-the road approach is to just change some of the links, and if I were you this is how I'd start. I'd identify the most trusted sites, change the alt tags on half of them to something optimized, then sit back and wait 3 months.

Additionally, I've always been of the opinion that one good footer link on a website's homepage - or an in-text link on the client's "about" page - is more valuable than a site-wide footer link. While I don't have any proof of this, it's something you might test. On sites we design, we like to put an "about this website" sub-heading on the client's about page, then link to our site in that text. It seems natural to me, and my site does OK.

Anyways, good luck. Whatever you do, I think gradual change is the key.

[94501]

Yes, I'd put it on the slow motion housekeeping list. and don't do every single link you can find.

I'd prioritize in-context links from high authority pages way above masses of footer links, which are often not a great user experience anyway.

Over time, look at the link profile/anchor text in open site explorer. If it looks too targeted, it probably is Go for less than 40% targeted anchor text.

Definitely cut your footer link load.

Good luck!

[Cyrus-Shepard]

The problem with sitewide footer links is that they are not "editorial" - meaning they are part of the CMS and not actually written by a human within the context of actual content.

Over and over again we see these types of link devalued by the search engines. Often it's the fast track for NOT ranking for the keywords you're trying to optimized for.

See this case study on WPMU.org and how sitewide footers caused a Penguin penalty for them.

Google, and search engines in general, are getting better and better at detecting "unnatural patterns" in links and doing more and more to devalue them. This doesn't mean all sitewide links are bad, and that they shouldn't be used, but to make it a major part of your linking strategy might be subjecting yourself to risk that you don't want.

Unfortunately, as you noted this method is working for some of your competitors. It sucks when you see folks get away with stuff that you know will get you burned. With this in mind, I totally agree with Jason's statement:

"Additionally, I've always been of the opinion that one good footer link on a website's homepage - or an in-text link on the client's "about" page - is more valuable than a site-wide footer link. While I don't have any proof of this, it's something you might test. On sites we design, we like to put an "about this website" sub-heading on the client's about page, then link to our site in that text. It seems natural to me, and my site does OK."

If it were me, I'd adopt Jason's policy, or something editorially similar, 100%. The advantages are:

• The links are truly editorial, not part of a CMS
• Text links tend to carry more weight than image links
• You could write more about your site and services, which may convert better.

Of course, if you are doing this across 100's of sites, it may be tempting to try to scale it with pre-written text or a template. Again, this creates pattern and smacks of non-editorial linking. It's best to craft each page of content unique to the site you've worked on. Otherwise, where is the value?

Best of luck!

[VITALBGS]

Thank you for your response, Would it make any different if i changed the image alt text to say: "Keyword" by/at "company name"?. Instead of just putting the keyword would it make any difference if i add the company name in with the keyword?

If i decide to make this change it will definitely be gradual, probably start with the most authoritative client and wait a few months or so then change another clients site, but i will only make the change for a handful of sites instead of all of them, so most of the clients sites will just say "Powered By Brand Name".

Thanks,

Stephen

[Cyrus-Shepard]

Hard to say, but I'd be hesitant to include any "money" keyword in sitewide footer links.