Is it ok for a web design company to have a branded footer link on their client's sites?

[CMC-SD]

I think you are being blinded by your bias, yes.

If you, the web designer, insert a link to your site into the footer of all the sites you design, that is not an editorial link. It's not a link that the site owner created of their own volition because they think it's valuable content. In fact, if a company is hiring an outside web designer, they might have no idea how to remove the link from their footer. They might not even notice it.

The search engines know all this, and it's why they don't like footer links. They are well aware that web designers, Wordpress theme developers, and so on have been using this technique for years.

[NeilD]

I have been reading several posts on these forums about this subject. How about this...

Following on from Marcus's comments about a credit page, If the link went back to the specfic portfolio page for that client on the designer's site is that better than linking back to the root domain? If this is a good way to go what anchor text would you recommend [brand name] or [brand name | keyword] or [keyword]

Would that link still need to be a nofollow. As far as I understand it a nofollow is for a site you can't vouch for or trust implicitly, however as the website designer a link back from a client site could be a trusted link could it not? Assuming we have the client agreement of course

[EGOL]

I think it legitimately provides value to the site visitors (that's the main aim of a website isn't it).

How many of those visitors?   0.000000001 (meaning YOU are the only visitor that gets value)?   I think that the reasoning here is weak and biased.

I also feel that if there are a whole bunch of authority sites with footer links pointing to a web design company, it's probably a pretty good sign that they're worthy of ranking high.

I don't know of any authority sites with such links.  Can you name a genuine authority site that I would know about that has such links?

**In saying this I think that the link anchor text should be branded rather than keywords. For example I usually write "Web Design by Static Shift" **

I'll agree with this.

**Am I being blinded by my bias? **

Very biased.

Thoughts aside, and onto the facts...what are people's experiences with footer links for a web design company.

I am paying the designer for doing design work.  He should not expect free advertising as part of the deal unless it is negotiated up front.  I have the attitude that the advertising should cost a lot more than the design job.

[NeilD]

Ok, so what you are saying is that as a website design company we shouldn't put links on client sites back to our own, whether agreed or otherwise?

[irvingw]

a) If i was the owner of the site i wouldn't want to leak PR on every page even if i did like the work that was done

b) If i was the website company i wouldn't want sitewide footer links on sites which make it look like I am paying for sponsored themes

c) if the links are nofollowed, both parties lose, PR is still leaked from the owners site and benefit is not gained for the website company

I think the best solution is a dofollow homepage ONLY footer link. This is the highest PR page, usually the most traffic so good visibility for advertising,  you're not creating tons of sitewide links with identical anchor texts, and the owner is only leaking some PR on their homepage.

[EGOL]

Your question has at least two answer perspectives.  1) the site owner, and, 2) google.

Since google has not said what they think about these links then I don't want them on my site in case google does not like them.

From a site owner's perspective I think that those links stink up the design.  They are distracting and useless to my visitors.

I know designers who are really picky about everything, yet they want me to say that odor in the footer is nice.

Irving Weiss makes some great points that I also agree with.

[Static_Shift]

Ok, thanks for putting me in my place I wondered whether I was being biased and you've helped me see that I am.

Sorry I've edited my question about authority sites, as I didn't explain it very well. When I say "if there are a whole bunch of authority sites with footer links", I simply mean if there are lots of websites with high PA/DA that have been designed by a web designer it's probably a good indication that they're a worthy web designer.

Do you still disagree with that when I reword the question?

I do negotiate the footer link as part of the deal. I do not expect it of anyone. All of my clients have been more than happy to advertise for me as they're happy with my services.

Last point: I don't do the footer links for it's SEO benefits, I'm doing it because I get a lot of traffic and enquiries through those links...therefore even if it doesn't help my rankings,  if it also doesn't hurt my rankings I will still want something there.

I'm going to try Irving Weiss' idea of a link only on the footer of the homepage.

[Static_Shift]

Great idea Irving...I'm going to change all the footer links to only show in the homepage and see how this affects my rankings.

Thanks!

[Static_Shift]

I read through those articles and at first I agreed about nofollow. Then I saw Irving's suggestion...that means the client still leaks PR on every page, which doesn't help them, and I get no PR benefit from it. I'm going to try his suggestion of just having the link on the home page. However I also really like your alternative suggestion of linking to the credit page, I will test that next.

Thanks!

[EGOL]

many seo companies put their site link in their client site's footer too!

I think that this is a good idea.  It tells me who I should not hire.

[Marcus_Miller]

Hey, I agree, Irving's suggestion is the better option all round if your going for the footer link.

[spiderz]

I am paying the designer for doing design work.  He should not expect free advertising as part of the deal unless it is negotiated up front.  I have the attitude that the advertising should cost a lot more than the design job

@EGOL, I couldn't agree more! I found myself in such situation when paid to web-designer to make a site. From a client point of view it was a great surprise to see his company link in the footer (moreover he didn't inform me). At that time, I told to myself "well probably this is an industry standard or something". But the bottom line is that I paid for this site and that is why I am not in anyway obliged to advertise the designer who made it.

[edwardrj]

A link from one page will not hurt you. A wide dismemberment of sitewide links like this could hurt you. I seem to remember Google addressing this with WordPress theme footer links recently.

[Casefun]

What about footer links on seo companies linking back to a website with a keyword my website guy did this and he wont remove it and my seo company is saying it is effecting me is this true?

[integra-telecom]

You (and companies burned by bad SEO practitioners everywhere) are in luck. Google recently released a tool to disavow links that are messing you up. Check out their Webmaster Central blog post, http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/

[expertvillagemedia]

Somewhere I read this that google devalue footer links thinking of them as signature links. So I dont think it matters to put those links in footer. But, I saw many companies put a signature link in footer of their client's website like this- WEB DESIGN COMPANY-- this is I think a poor strategy, google is wise enough to devalue or ignore such backlinks.. A web design company can work on 100 websites per quarter and that way they are getting atleast 400 such backlinks per year, who can match with them then? So google never value such urls.

Hope it helps....

I changed all footer links recently like this--- Expert Village Media
No url, no link back.. no keyword.. and I saw in analytics that people are searching this keyword in google and coming to our website. Google is happy, client is happy, and I am also getting my traffic.

Amit

[PixelgemsCreative]

As a web design company that does put a branded link in the footer on every website we do (it's part of the contract), we have not felt any effects from Penguin. We have follow links that usually say "Website Design by Pixelgems"

We host everything on our own server, and we have actually had our rankings go up since Penguin, but that could be due to better title tags and content. Is the general recommendation to make them no-follow links?

P.S. - I am not removing them. We do work we are proud of and get a lot of referral business, and business from people who follow these links. They are part of the price of having a website from us.

[leatherhidestore]

Great thread.  I just realized my site has a site wide footer link from my developer and I had no clue!  Irving stated this in an earlier post:

"if the links are nofollowed, both parties lose, PR is still leaked from the owners site and benefit is not gained for the website company"

How can this be?  I thought nofollow was the very tool we used so we would not leak PR?

[EGOL]

When nofollow was first announced, Google said that it could be used to "sculpt" pagerank.  Then Google changed their mind and allowed pagerank to evaporate - but they didn't tell anybody for a while.

So, just because Google says something today, you can't count on it being true forever, because they can change their mind but keep their mouths shut.

[leatherhidestore]

Okay, so I have a resource page listing related websites from trade folks that  I know. I added these sites as a courtesy but nofollowed them of course.  Are you saying that this is harmful and these links should be converted to a reciprocal do follow and if not, removed altogether?

Here is the page if you are interested:

http://www.leatherhidestore.com/leathercrafters