The Proper Way to Set Up a Link

Will I get penalized for doing it this way?

[spaceylacie]

Someone wrote to me and told me that I could be penalized for setting up outgoing links like this, with an icon with an ALT containing a duplicate of the site name, and a text link with the site name again, all in the same anchor tag:

<A HREF="http://www.sitename.com"><img src="icon.gif" alt="Site Name" height="30" width="28" border="0"><b>Site Name</b>--</A> Description here.

Can I do it this way without being penalized? Someone was trying to tell me that this could be considered spam.

[specter]

Yes,it could be.Any eccessive repeating could represent a spam issue for a SE;repeating 3/4 times a site name in a tag is very unadviceable in my opinion.
Moreover I don't understand why.Unless you have an "hub" site,it would be absolutely indifferent for ranking.

[justdave]

Yep, I think that would be considered spamming. Rather than use your site name in the alt tag and as the anchor text. If you only use it occasionally, it might slip past, but excessive use would probably get you penalized. Instead of using the exact same phrase for anchor text and alt tag, you might try using some alternate keywords.

[spaceylacie]

I put the site title in the alt tag for the icon because that's what the icon is for, to take a visitor to that site. The site name is only repeated twice.

Could having their site title's repeated in the alt tag cause penalization or the fact that the name is repeated in the link?

I guess I'll just remove the alt tags, but I've had them there since I started the site about 6 years ago and the site's doing fine, I was just worried about having a double name in the link.

I used to not make the icons clickable at all, but every now and again a visitor emails to ask why they can't click on them. I hadn't thought much about having it repeated in the alt tag, as long as the icon wasn't clickable.

[jaffstar]

Can I do it this way without being penalized? Someone was trying to tell me that this could be considered spam

Are these outbound links leaving your site?

*edit* I though you were talking about inbounds.

[spaceylacie]

Yes, links leaving my site, maybe I picked the wrong part of the forum to ask the question.

[specter]

No.You've posted right. It is absolutely indifferent as regard to your question if we are talking about inbound or outbound links as the tag format is the same.

Could having their site title's repeated in the alt tag cause penalization or the fact that the name is repeated in the link?

Repeating remains at your own risk.

I guess I'll just remove the alt tags, but I've had them there since I started the site about 6 years ago and the site's doing fine, I was just worried about having a double name in the link.

It's right to be worried.Avoid it.

[spaceylacie]

Thanks. You've verified what I've already been told.