: Adding site credit in footer of site as a tag - bad practice for google penguin? When I'm making a clients site I always include a link <p>site by <a href="example.com" target="blank"

@Jessie594

I don't think it would do your clients site any harm, but neither would it give you as much benefit as it used to post penguin.

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@Becky754

From what I just watched/read here wpmu.org/wordpress-penguin-google-matt-cutts/ where wpmu.org have been penalized due to a site / splog using one of their templates which had a back link to their site.

I dont know what effect will be for a white hat site with good content though with a footer backlink. I did read that a site with high, over 60% of a particular keyword baclink may be penalized too.

From what I also have read by adding a rel="nofollow" makes its neutral content for search engines.

I do have a design college who before panda had changed his footer links in his client websites to be more specific to a keyword ph which now he ranks well for eg "sydney web design" where before it was just "web design" and since panda his analytics have shown no effect from panda.

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@Caterina187

A single link isn't going to make you look like a content farm, nofollowing the link is good practice, making the link a cross domain include is better as it leaves you in control, but it's really not something you need to worry about.

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