35 replies to this topic

[Scottie]

Reading over some of the recent patent filings by Google, I do believe changes are coming that will make links from off-topic sites irrelevant in the final ordering of results. But I don't think it will cause a penalty.

Links that bring you business are always good.

[qwerty]

Personally, I'm still of the opinion that a designer credit anywhere other than the bottom of the home page is overkill. If I see a design I like a lot and I'm curious about who did it, that's where I'll look.

But maybe that's just me. If you're getting people clicking your link on interior pages, I'm certainly not going to tell you you need to take those links down.

[SearchRank]

Having design credit links on all pages has allowed us to get new business, allows people to report a particular error they find on a page as well as allows clients to contact you in case they forget about you or new people come along that don't realize who designed their site.

Hopefully Google would never penalize a site for that. If they are smart enough to be able to tell that a link is subject related because of the text that may surround the link, they should be able to separate out design credit type of links so one's PR is not inflated.

Usually these type of links are also included in footer include files along with the copyright info so they are going to appear on every page anyway. If they are done like this, then they are not any more overkill in my opinion than to see a copyright statement on every page as well which is very typical.

[Debra]

You know < scratching head> I don't know how I feel about this really.

On one hand, I have no problem with a design firm posting their sig tag on the bottom of a website; I akin it to an artist signing his work. Most people looking for design ideas look at the front page of the site to begin with...they'll see the sig tag so I don't see the need to sign every page of the site.

On the other hand, it's just good business practice and a form of advertising.

So, should a search engine penalize a site for advertising? I mean to me, that's what it boils down to.

And to that question, I say no.

[Keyword Placement Ltd]

As a rule I avoid displaying anything that links back to us as optimising their site.

The main reason being my fear of some competitors ruining my work on purpose. Although I would never suspect this of a reputable company unfortunately there are others to consider.

I did consider in the early stages offering a discount in exchange for a link but abandoned this because of the above. I dont want my clients harrassed either by people calling offering more 'competitive services' or people attempting to undermine my work.

Woohoo! its friday!

[bwelford]

As a rule I avoid displaying anything that links back to us as optimising their site.

The main reason being my fear of some competitors ruining my work on purpose.

How exactly would they do that? I'm scratching my head a little. (I couldn't find the smilie.)

Barry Welford