Mod's note: This post has been edited to remove references to discussions on other forums. The linked forum threads asked about branded global footer links to web designer sites, and also discussed links embedded in the footers of widely distributed page templates or themes, as well as footer links containing keywords to manipulate rankings. Here's the OP's question about these topics...
...My question is... what happens if a site wants site-wide brand term link from its microsites that it knows are NOT splogs/spammy websites and is not for keyword stuffing purposes? Is the practise ...frowned on ? (Suspect it is but I'm struggling to find supporting evidence.)
I work for a big company that has hundreds (if not thousands) of business units that deal with all kinds of services across different sectors, most of these business units have individual websites that might not be A grade quality but certainly aren't spammy. The company wants every website to include a brand name link in either the header or footer of these websites back to the main company website.
Now I don't want to give page rank from my entire website so I plan to nofollow our link but my question is, should I be advising the company that all these sitewide links could also be doing their site damage too? There's lots of information out there about footer links from spammy websites but nothing about this with reputable sites.
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[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 10:51 am (utc) on Jan 25, 2014]
[edit reason] Google forum charter linking guidelines [/edit]
