Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I own and run a webdesign company and I have placed a link on all my clients sites at the bottom of the html page linking back to my companies web address. The link is small and contains the words "web design by xyz company" with the keywords "web design" hyperlinked.
My question is how good or bad are these links for my companies site as they are all off topic but they are a credit to my company. So is it worthwhile getting these links?
My feelings are it cant hurt!
If it's a repitition thing you're worried about, how many web pages have the anchor text "Home Page" linking to them? Further to that, how many links does Adobe's Acrobat product page have pointing to it with the anchor text "Acrobat Reader" or the like? I find it extremely hard to believe that it can hurt.
Acccording to Google's Webmaster guidelines, (http://www.google.com/webmasters/seo.html),
"You should never have to link to an SEO"
If you are doing SEO work, and your clients ever run across this, they may become skeptical of your practice.
If you are just doing web dev, the links will help your link pop. However, links in the footer are not prime real estate and should only provide marginal benefit to you as far as ranking your keyword.
Small link text with "web design by xyz company" exists since the beginning of webs, even before the birth of Google. If your clients have no objection, it is a natural practice of crediting your company, so why not? Off topic link is still a link; it gives you some weight one way or another.
I dont think it will promote my site much at all.
Like MB said it will bring spiders to your site, but it may also bring to legit traffic - people looking for a website.
It won't hurt your website at all.
