Definition
Footer links spam involves placing SEO links in a website's footer area, often in a concealed or deceptive manner, to pass link juice at scale. Since the footer appears on every page of a site, a single footer link can generate hundreds or even thousands of backlinks (sitewide links). This technique was widespread before Google Penguin and Link Spam Update. Web agencies, for example, systematically placed 'Site created by Agency X' links in all their clients' footers. WordPress theme developers inserted hidden links in footers. Google has learned to devalue or ignore these links, and in the most flagrant cases, to penalize the sites using them. Today, footer links are generally treated with much less weight than contextual links in the body content, and clearly manipulative footer links can trigger a manual action.
Key Points
- Footer links are sitewide: they appear on every page, artificially multiplying backlink count
- Google gives far less weight to footer links than contextual content links
- Clearly manipulative footer links can trigger a manual penalty
- A legitimate footer link (legal notice, credits) is fine if nofollow or not optimized
Practical Examples
Agency links in client footers
A web agency inserts a 'SEO by Agency-SEO.com' link in the footer of its 300 client sites. This generates 300 sitewide links (potentially 50,000+ pages) with an optimized anchor. Google detects the pattern and devalues all these links.
WordPress theme with hidden links
A developer distributes a free WordPress theme containing a hidden footer link (very small text or same color as background) pointing to online casino sites. Thousands of sites using this theme generate a massive volume of artificial links.
Frequently Asked Questions
Footer links have very little SEO value today. Google treats them with considerably reduced weight compared to contextual links. A footer link is not penalizing per se (e.g., 'Powered by WordPress'), but if clearly placed to manipulate ranking with an optimized anchor, it can be devalued or penalized.
If you must place footer links (credits, partners), use the rel='nofollow' or rel='sponsored' attribute. Avoid over-optimized anchors and limit the number of links. Always prioritize contextual links in the content body for your link building strategy.
Go Further with LemmiLink
Discover how LemmiLink can help you put these SEO concepts into practice.
Last updated: 2026-02-07