In 2012 the Google Panda and Pengiun updates were on many of our
minds with Google releasing updates almost weekly. Well, it doesn’t look
like this is going to stop in 2013. Google has recently announced that
they have updated their algorithm to try and target websites that are
abusing their footers. For years many websites have included loads of
keyword stuffed links in their footers just for the benefit of search
engines. More likely than not, a visitor to a website are never going to
see the page content which is way down at the bottom. Especially when
there is some form of indication that the page has ended (i.e. a
copyright notice, company address and phone number etc.).
Is It for Visitors or Search Engines?
You may probably have seen it, a website that has a load of stuffed
content or links below where the page finishes, this is quite obviously
for the benefit of the search engines. In fact, the webmaster probably
doesn’t want their visitors to notice what’s down at the bottom. Let’s
face it, most of the time it doesn’t look good! Back in the early days
of the web, the way to do this was to hide keyword stuffing or just make
the text the same colour as the background. But things have evolved and
now such practices would be asking for trouble. So if you think about
it, even adding visible links and/or text so far down the page people
will not see it is not that much different, the intent is exactly the
same.
How can the footer be abused?
- Content well below the fold
- Keyword phrases placed in the footer
- Lists of keyword-stuffed links in the footer
- Footer links that use different anchor text from the main navigation
- Links from other sites’ footers
So the bottom line here is, Google and other search engines don’t
like spam. So if you are cramming a whole bunch of content or keyword
targeted links in your footer, this is obviously not for the benefit of
the visitor and could therefore cause your website to be penalised by
search engines. The whole reason behind the Penguin and Panda updates
are to punish websites that are using “dodgy” techniques and that have
poor content. So bare this in mind and try and make your website as
natural as possible with as much quality content as you can.
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