Sidebar & Footer Links Value

[martinacastro]

I search the forum and did not found a clear response about this topic.

Also watching baclinks profiles of some sites, I see that massive sidebar links (i.e. blog-rolls) or footer links using the same anchor text works for example in high competition niches.

For example you can see that works for some designers that offer themes for scripts or wordpress...

This technique, works? is black hat? is spam? they have less value?

Regards
Martin

[tedster]

Links in these areas of a page template are often "run of site". Yes, they still do offer some value but they are a lessened a lot compared to a big juicy link right in the content area.

It has to do with changes Google made to the way PageRank is calculated - something they call the "reasonable surfer". The original formula was based on a "random surfer" model, which is not the way real people use the web.

Bill Slawski covered Google's Reasonable Surfer Patent [seobythesea.com] with a solid article earlier this year.

[indyank]

I am not convinced that "reasonable surfer model" can combat paid links. If something can be bought, then it can be bought anywhere and not just on the footers and sidebars.Webmasters usually get most of the paid link requests come for "in content links" while the footer and sidebar links are mostly given away for friends and others.I do agree that some even buy on sidebars and footers.But the "in content links" are those which attract higher prices and cash transfers (if that is what google is trying to fight)

This will only make the paid link market even more stronger on the internet while those getting links on the footers and sidebars by giving away free widgets, etc will suffer.

[edited by: indyank at 11:37 am (utc) on Oct 25, 2010]

[indyank]

I will have to add that I already find devaluation of sitewide sidebar and footer links, if they target keywords as anchor text rather than what is natural i.e. Site name or Domain name.

If it is a blogroll, you link to the other site by the domain name or site name and not a keyword.

[goodroi]

i would not use ros sidebar or footer links as the cornerstone of my link development plan. i focus on links from relevant websites that will generate traffic to my site.

are ros sidebar or widget links bad? they are not great. in excess they can cause some harm. generally they are helpful just not as helpful as content links.

one way to test the value of a link or a ros sidebar is to monitor your traffic & rankings a few weeks after you gain it. i have found some websites to pass great power through ros sidebar links and others not so much.