+45 53 83 87 01Footer links are hyperlinks located at the bottom section, or “footer,” of a webpage. They enable users to navigate to important information or sections within a site. Typically, they include links to contact information, privacy policies, terms of service, sitemaps, and social media pages, among others.
Functions in SEO:
1. Usability: By providing direct access to key pages, footer links enhance user experience, potentially reducing bounce rates and encouraging deeper engagement with the site.
2. Site Architecture: Footer links can help to distribute link equity throughout a website by linking to main sections or internal pages, which can improve their visibility and indexing by search engines.
3. Internal Linking: They contribute to a site’s internal linking strategy, which is critical for SEO as it allows search engines to find and understand the content hierarchy and relationship between pages.
Best Practices:
1. Relevance: Include links that are contextually relevant and useful to site visitors. Irrelevant footer links can lead to a poor user experience and may be disregarded by search engines.
2. Anchor Text: Use descriptive anchor text for footer links that clearly indicate the content of the linked page, helping search engines understand the page’s relevance.
3. Avoid Spam: Overloading the footer with links or using it for excessive keyword-rich anchor text can be seen as spammy and may incur search ranking penalties.
4. Mobile Optimization: Ensure that footer links are easily clickable on mobile devices, where screen real estate is limited, to maintain usability.
SEO Impact:
While footer links can contribute to a well-rounded SEO strategy, their impact should not be overstated. Search engines typically give more weight to links found within the main content of a page as opposed to those in the footer, which are seen to have less editorial value. However, a well-designed footer with thoughtful links can still reinforce site structure and enhance user navigation, which indirectly benefits SEO efforts.
