Footer links have always been a controversial topic in the world of SEO. While some think they are necessary for high ranks, others believe they could really harm your site’s SEO.
So, what’s the truth? Are footer links bad for your SEO?
By reading on, learn more about footer links and whether or not they affect your SEO.
Definition of footer links
To understand and examine if footer links are bad for SEO, first, let’s define what footer links are. Footer links are the links present at the bottom of a website’s main page or each individual page. Footer links are also known as boilerplate links or sitewide links.
Footer links are like the unsung heroes of a website – often overlooked but essential to providing a seamless user experience. They are the small navigational indicators that direct site users to key pages and resources. Footer links can be internal links that link to other pages on your website or external links or backlinks that link to other websites.
Consider footer links as the map and compass that help users make their way through the wide landscape of your website, ensuring they remain interested in the content you have to offer. So, if a user wants to learn more about the “Terms and Conditions” of the website, all you have to do is include a link to it in the footer. This will make it simpler for your users to find the page they want.
Does footer link affect SEO?
Footer links help Google determine the value of the information on your page and whether they are there for user guidance or are just SEO-related. Therefore, we can say that footer links can affect SEO in a positive and in negative way.
Because footer links are frequently used to manipulate search engines, some people think they can harm your site’s SEO. If you add a bunch of irrelevant or low-quality links to your footer, Google may see this as an attempt to manipulate rankings.
However, if used correctly, where you add footer links to enhance the experience of the users visiting your website, Google will see it positively and crawl through it.
Types of footer links:
While some footer link SEO practices may be manipulative, there are some ways in which footer links can be used safely. Here are some footer link types listed that you can use by being under the radar:
• Copyright Details
• License
• Privacy Policy
• Terms and Conditions
• Contact us
• Social Media Info
• Branding
• Achievements
• Reviews
• Recent Articles
• FAQs
How to boost SEO with footer links?
As the links in the footer are typically areas of the website that are rarely seen and rarely clicked, they are generally negative for search engines.
Users will engage with the details more if you use footer links strategically and include the most crucial ones, which will help your footer SEO practices. You can follow these steps to boost your SEO using footer links.
Make crawling easier through internal linking
Internal links are links that link to information on your own website. This help develops your website’s design and makes it easier for the Google bots to crawl your page successfully. If a website is well-constructed with internal links to index, things are made much easier for Google robots to crawl through the correct content.
It will take less time to search through each page of your website if there are internal links. If the pages are well-indexed and categorized, users who search for terms related to your website will see them on the search engine result page. Additionally, Google bots will search for the appropriate data and support a higher SERP ranking for your website.
Add more relevant details
As we have said, a footer link serves as your website’s map and compass. Whether you make it plain or complex is entirely on you. You can offer simple details that are simpler for the user to find, or you can add more relevant information that would simplify navigation.
The user journey on your website will be improved if more obvious signs and links connect the pages, ultimately improving the user experience. They will stay on your website longer if they have a more enjoyable experience.
Finally, the engagement measure will increase, and when visitors use the internal links to go between pages, it will increase sales of your goods.
Conclusion
Links in the footer can be helpful in improving your rank on SERP when used correctly. They can genuinely help your SEO if you add relevant, high-quality links to your footer and use them for improving user experience and internal linking. They can, however, affect your SEO if you use them to manipulate search engines. Finally, as with any SEO tactic, it’s all about using footer links in a strategic and thoughtful way.
FAQ
Why use footer links SEO?
Footer links can be used as internal links on a website, which can help improve the user experience by helping navigate through the website. Users can easily look for relevant and essential information using footer links.
Is WordPress footer links important?
The WordPress footer is an ideal space to include a new call to action or elements that can enhance conversion. Several WordPress themes are easy to use and make it simpler for users to browse through the website.
Should you add more internal links to your footer in SEO?
Internal links can help increase the visibility of your page, but cramming your webpage with too many of them might cause problems. Google won’t crawl your website if there are more than 150 internal links, which could reduce traffic and visibility.
Are Internal Links In Header and Footer Treated Differently?
No, internal links in the header and footer are handled equally. The content area, however, is managed quite differently.
