Site Footer

[diagurzula]

Hi guys,

Hope things are rocking with everyone.

I use a Wordpress theme that has a few links to its sponsors in the footer. I guess I should not remove or change them. So I would like to restrict the search engines from accessing that part of the site. This is because they could penalize me. I run the risk of being penalized on arbitrary links. However, I don’t know how to go about it. Can someone show me the right way to do it? You can also come ahead with any other ideas or suggestions. Thanks a lot.
Bye.

[Dani]

You would want to alter the links to have the "nofollow" attribute. So that the link html code looks like: <a href="http://www.site.com" rel="nofollow">Link Text</a>

However, even the nofollow attribute has been proven to pass link juice. If you want Google to pretend the sponsor links don't exist, remove them. If you feel that you should not do that because it is a condition of using the Wordpress theme, then either use a different Wordpress theme or live with the fact that Google *will* spider the sponsors and consider your site as linking to them.

[canadafred]

Hi guys,

Hope things are rocking with everyone.

I use a Wordpress theme that has a few links to its sponsors in the footer. I guess I should not remove or change them. So I would like to restrict the search engines from accessing that part of the site. This is because they could penalize me. I run the risk of being penalized on arbitrary links. However, I don’t know how to go about it. Can someone show me the right way to do it? You can also come ahead with any other ideas or suggestions. Thanks a lot.
Bye.

Hi, I also had somewhat the same concern when I replaced my old blogger template with a customized third party one that included a couple of links in the footer. The effects of the change were either negligible or non-existent. Seems to me that having a "signature" link or two in a blog template footer has become a common enough encounter for the spiders and they have adapted to distinguish this trend, then value it or devalue it accordingly.

Also, in my opinion, if you are using a third party template, out of respect for the template creator, credits to the developer should not be removed. They have provided something of value to you for free, retaining a simple link endorsement is a sign of your gratitude for their gift.

[Dani]

> Also, in my opinion, if you are using a third party template, out of respect for the template creator, credits to the developer should not be removed.
I agree. However, I also look at it from an SEO perspective, and factor in whether they simply want credit or want a link or multiple footer links. If it is something I don't feel comfortable doing, then weigh that into the decision of whether or not you wish to use the template. You might feel more comfortable using a template that doesn't have such requirements.