Read a good post by seomoz.org.... http://www.seomoz.org/blog/footer-link-optimization-for-search-engines-user-experience
Hmmm, I'm not convinced that footer links shouldn't be used in this way. There is only speculative evidence on them being devalued, nothing solid. Besides, Google shouldn't penalise for it because it's a practice that is performed in both good and bad sites. So I say, if you still want to go ahead with it, do it. We need something more conclusive before we stop using footer links in this way.
I wouldn't completely agree with the article. If you notice, the seomoz page also has a good footer navigation (and internal links) in place.
Aye, although, in the article they did say they were gonna stop doing that now. But I say why bother if they're not harming your rankings (at least thats my opinion).
I don't see too much harm in using some footer links though it becomes a issue if you have 1000+ pages and the footer links are being shown on all of them which don't make any sense considering most of time the links can already be navigated from top menu or some other submenu. The best approach is probably to have a sitemap file linked from primary menu rather the having footer links.
They may be somehow less valuable... but not that much. I still think they are okay to use. Of course, in-content links are still the best.
I am just skimming this thread, but I wanted to comment: I had about 40+ footer links and I was not performing like I thought i was. I then put them on a seperate page called "Articles" and my rankings popped up to #1 for almost all of my key terms. I think google doesn't want lots of footer links.
the article just assumes that footer links are devauled. i however see some sites in highly competitive niche using theme sponsorship and forum signatures for link building mainly and are ranking way high which tells footer links still work. whether they wil work the same way in the future is the question
i really dont agree with the article i still believe that using a footer link still plays a great role in ranking website in SERP
I somewhat disagree with that post. Many sites have their navigation menu at the footer (including seomoz).
if this is the case then i have only footer links so far no SEO but get good pr and good results on some sites
I love SEOMoz.com and I have read this article but I am not convienced that footer links are devalued YET... Not that they wont be in the future.. I have seen great results from footer links.
I have not seen any devaluing in footer links, plus footer links I think a lot of times are aesthetically pleasing and can round out a page graphically. That and they are also very helpful as text navigation on many sites for people using either pda/handheld browsers or text based browsers (lynx, links, etc).
i don't think google devalue footer links !. google makes lot's of changed this days. most of the changes are base on google lsi update. read more about google lsi update & google serp update
First, Yahoo who? They are not in the game any longer. Google will only devaluate a link if it is duplicated. The real question is whether Google looks at the text that is in front of or behind that link. Rumor states that they do, but there is no benchmark out there that proves this. As for CTR, who cares how the user navigates thru the site as long as they do. Google doesn't. And finally, Google "RECOMMENDS" 100 links. But many high PR sites have 200+ and sitemaps have 10,000+ so there is no technical limit. It's the "user experience" that counts and that is the site design, not some SEO rule. Theory is one thing, but benchmark the concept before you state it as fact or important. This article is base on theory. And to reference Yahoo....