Footer Links for Design Shops - Do They Help or Hurt?

[PHDL]

I work on SEO for a number of clients at our agency, including our in-house SEO for our own website. I use Open Site Explorer all the time to analyze my competition in the SERPs and try to gain links from this insight. However, I've noticed a number of agencies and design shops that place a link in the footer of websites they've designed and created. For example "Site design by ABC Agency (hyperlinked to the agency's home page). Or I've seen small logos or graphics that link to the designer's site and use the "alt tag" to get stronger anchor text. From a design perspective, I don't care for this, but as a SEO...I can see why.

We've designed a number of websites and have more in the pipeline, but have not used this tactic before. It seems like an irrelevant link from a content/user standpoint, however, it seems to work for a lot of agencies and design shops. Any input from the SEOmoz community would be great. Is it a short-lived strategy? Does it help or hurt your link-building and "rapport" with Google, Bing, Yahoo?

Thanks everyone.

[winlynxtp]

It is a backlink so yes, it is helpful, in the footer in my opinion very helpful.  Then It started off as being helpful to add html links to the bottom of the page so when listed with Google, Google would include the pages in the search results, now called Sitelinks.  This has evolved and if you use a CMS like Joomla or Wordpress can easily be distinguished without them.  It is appropriate to allow the company working on your site to include designed by....  I will use it to boost the keyword I want.  For example say I want to rank higher for Indianapolis Website Design over the next 3 months, I will start including it and link to the site design page of my site.

[EGOL]

I can understand why some designers want to have a "signature" on their work.  It is somewhat of a custom for an artist to sign his/her work and that custom seems to creep into web design.  A lot of designers are really adamant about that link and do not want to give it up even if the website owner is willing to pay extra.   In my opinion this is something that the designer and the client should agree upon before work begins.

I have a very different reaction when I see an SEO company link in the footer of a client site.   I know exactly why they want that link.

Why should I hire an SEO who does that?  Any SEO who is proud of his work should not be sucking the linkjuice out of his client's websites.  He is being paid to do the opposite and do that job in a stealthy manner.

[PHDL]

Thanks for the feedback. It's definitely a fast way to build a lot of links if web design and/or programming is a company's capability. Just wanted to be sure these links weren't going to hurt my SEO. Cheers.

[oznappies]

If your design company site is ranking well you can get more value from good strong testimonials on your site than a signature line on site your customers may never find. Take the example that you do a fantastic job on a site to promote kid's books. Someone looking for a good designer for their speed boat site is more likely to read a testimonial on your site than see your tagline on the book site. You gain value by human viewers being able to read what others are saying about your work on a diverse range of sites.

If I am hiring a designer, I do not want one that has worked on a competitor's website so I would search google for designers not look at design by tag lines on competitor's sites.

It comes down to whether you want your two minutes of fame on every site you do or a valuable marketing resource such as testimonials.

[PHDL]

Thanks EGOL. It's obvious as a way to build a lot of links quickly if a company is designing/programming a lot of websites. Also, and this is speculation, but it seems like a lot of design firms are not asking client permission for a link, and subtly add it to the bottom as if it's a standard. Nonetheless, we're a hybrid agency that does design and programming, as well as SEO, so it's warranted I suppose to "mark" our work, but at the same time it still seems like it can "cheapen" a website. You don't see those footer links on sites for Nike, Medtronic, Best Buy, etc.

Thanks again for the insight. Always curious to hear what other SEOmoz'rs think about this stuff. There's a lot of website design/dev in our future so I wanted to check with the community. Cheers!

[PHDL]

Great point. And that's why I reached out to the community on this one. Because we're an agency, we can frequently update our work portfolio on our website and blog, which if I'm doing my job, organic traffic from targeted keywords will bring visitors that might convert into new clients. Thanks for the reply and great recommendation!

[winlynxtp]

Design is design, I guess you feel your work is not as important as an artist, not my problem.  Someone doesn't want my links they don't get it but usually after design they want to brag of my work to their friends.  But us younger folks use the internet for our reputation not the newpaper.

[winlynxtp]

The "tagline" as you put it is not really a tagline but we will use it.  It may not be seen by users but Google will see it.

[EGOL]

You don't see those footer links on sites for Nike, Medtronic, Best Buy, etc.

I agree.  I think that some of these companies have in-house talent or they address the "signature links" before the design contract is awarded.

In my opinion, the designer is still a "winner" if he/she can post... "I designed Nike or BestBuy" in their personal portfolio.

When you think of the value that such a link would have (as on Nike), the designer should be willing to do the work for free and pay a monthly fee for the link to be displayed.  (just taking the opposite perspective).

[winlynxtp]

One last note here, you are speaking about publicly traded companies with Nike, Best Buy, etc... These companies have a dedicated staff that work on the site all the time.  They are not going to put on the front page of their site, last updated by Robert Smith.  I also agree about the fee, I usually deduct it from the cost of the site design similar to how construction companies give you a discount for putting a sign in your yard.  You can also use the Author meta tag.

[PHDL]

Cool, thanks again winlynxtp.

[dcmike]

I had an epphany on footer links. Since I specialize in business broker sites it dawned on me Ithere is a relevancy issue - business broker to web design is a mismatch.

What I did was create a couple of "business broker specialty" pages, then worded the anchor text accordingly. The pages quickly attained individual rank and I started getting more response forms.

In addition to creating relevancy I also let them know I know about their business. I generally do SEO as part of a site rebuild.

[dcmike]

EGOL - we could pretty much bet our lives on you being correct. A large corporate site would be crazy to hire freelancers ($$$). They surely have a staff of W2 employees or, at the very least, an outsource consisting of staff employees. Successful corporations are into "team spirit" motivationals and like direct contact and control of people collaborating on their public image.

[AU-SEO]

Now conversly to this. If you were auditing a client's website would you reccomend removal of an Author Meta Tag and Footer link...

[EGOL]

author meta - no

footer link - yes