Question about a theme for blogging..

I wanna ask a quick question and specially in terms of SEO and marketing. I started a new blog and after going through loads of themes, i finally selected a good one and made all the necessary settings according to the theme and even made a logo for that. Now my question is that I noticed something after doing all the things that the theme is designed by some Online Casino site and having 3 links to poker and casino site where they put these themes but the theme i am using is not for casino/poker. I want to ask that will harm my blog? Any bad effects for my blog in future in terms of SEO / marketing?
Please help me out in this matter as i don't wanna go with another theme if its really not something to be worried about or else i need to do all the things from the starting
Thanks in advance
PHYza

 

Can't you remove the links from the Theme Code? If the links are do follow link they will harm in term of SEO. Because they will pass the link juice out of your site to the Casino Sites.
If you are talking about Wordpress Theme and the links are in footer of the page check the footer.php for the links.

 

License: Free to use must keep footer intact AS IS
So i can't change the footer

 

It is a question of how much you want the theme. If the casino sites are decent ( not spammy), then it is probably worth it.

 

I would find something clean to use. You don't want a bunch of useless outbound links in your footer. It looks bad and passes your PR to a bunch of dimwits.

hope that helps,
Nigel

 

The links does not affect your as far as they are following the website guidelines of search engines. And there should not be any objectionable content in their websites which you are linking.

 

I agree. I avoid using anything that forces me to link to someone, especially as cheap as themes have become these days.
For the record, technically, if a theme is offered for free, there is no law that says you have to keep the links in the footer. It's preferable by the theme designer, and you should place the links somewhere on your blog if that is what you agreed to by downloading the theme, but to offer a theme for free and expect to control the footer is just ridiculous. I have no problem promoting the theme designer, but not his hosting, or forex landing page.

You can get a nice premium theme, with custom options, user friendly back end, and support for as low as $30 these days. No reason to get trapped into promoting someone elses website. There are thousands of themes out there. Sometimes it's best to spend a little money for the freedom to do what you want.

 

Those are designer and sponsor links only and i think so every free theme got those links.You can check it on my Blog ..
CurlyWolf Theme DESIGNED by Online Casino
In collaboration with Online Slots | Online Casinos | Poker Templates

Let me know if this is ok to use?

 

That's a personal decision for you..As I said before, having someone elses links in my footer is not something that I would ever do, I like to get paid for advertising for others, promote my own sites, or at least have my own affiliate links, but if it doesn't bother you, then keep it as is.

 

But i want to ask that is it really harmful in terms of SEO/marketing? As i heard casino/gambling links are not good as outbound links and can hurt your google rankings and all?
I will obviously switch to a new original theme sooner in future but as i start i want to use this free one only
Thanks for your help and time
PHYza

 

Absolutely. You are linking to a category that is not Google Friendly.

I have a link from a plugin I use that is extremely annoying as it parks itself on the homepage. But it is pretty benign because the topic is good friendly and it has not affected my rankings for this particular site. But any outgoing link nofollowed or not tells the search engines something about your site. And what they choose to do with it?

I'd not want any of my properties to have those kind of links.

 

Personally, I wouldn't link to casino sites, pharmaceuticals, insurance, Forex, "Make Money Online", Free MP3's, Ringtones, Viagra, Weight Loss, or any of the other BS spammy sites and blogs that are littered all over the internet. (and I actually own a few, but I don't even link those from other non-related sites)

I only link to my own sites, affiliate links, or sites that are related to my niche that readers would find helpful or informative.

I get link exchange requests all the time where people assume because one of my blogs is about music, that I will link to their Free Ring tone site.

I would only link to sites relevant to your niche, or that you make money with. No exceptions. And you should honestly only expect the same in return.

JMO

 

I would definitely get rid of those links. If it's not somthing that you put on your site, then don't trust it. Treat it as SPAM.

 

You should check the most popular themes, but keep in mind that functionality is way more important than appearance in the long run.
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Dumitru from Blue Dot Marketing