What Are Footer Links? Why They Matter + Tips

Footer links are the links located successful the conception of contented that appears astatine the bottommost of astir pages connected your website. This conception is known arsenic the footer.

They look similar this:

Footer links play an important relation successful the idiosyncratic acquisition due to the fact that they supply visitors with a elemental mode to navigate to immoderate of your astir important pages. 

Making it casual for visitors to find what they’re looking for successful this mode whitethorn promote them to enactment connected your tract for longer.

Using links successful your footer won’t drastically interaction your search motor optimization (SEO) efforts. But it tin play a tiny relation successful helping you look precocious successful hunt results.

Why?

Because footer links are typically internal links (links that spell to different pages connected your website). And interior links tin assistance hunt engines similar Google find your important pages and recognize however your tract is structured. 

Carefully implementing footer links tin besides enactment a bully idiosyncratic acquisition (UX). And bully UX tin indirectly assistance your SEO.

The champion practices outlined beneath tin assistance you supply a amended user experience and adjacent boost your visibility successful hunt engines. 

1. Include Links to High-Priority Pages

Your footer should lone see links to your astir important pages to guarantee they’re genuinely providing value.

What makes a leafage important? 

It varies from institution to company, but it’s a bully thought to see links to contented that users mightiness privation to notation astatine immoderate constituent successful their buyer’s journey. Like pages that supply much accusation oregon discourse astir your business.

Your footer is besides a bully spot to see links to pages that are important but that mightiness not acceptable logically wrong your main navigation. Like your newsroom conception oregon accusation for investors. 

Here are immoderate communal places brands nexus to successful their footers:

• About page: The leafage that summarizes your company, leadership, and unsocial worth proposition (UVP)
• Category pages: Pages that connection an overview of your superior products oregon services
• Legal information: Legal documentation connected disclaimers, presumption of service, and privateness policies
• Contact us: Contact accusation and options to scope retired by phone, email, etc.
• Testimonials: A leafage with stories from past customers who’ve purchased your products oregon services
• Customer support: A cardinal lawsuit enactment leafage oregon much circumstantial ones similar resources, glossaries, tutorial pages, etc.

If you person a larger website, you’ll people person much links successful your footer. But the idiosyncratic should beryllium capable to spot the entirety of your footer without it taking up their full surface (at slightest connected desktop).

Like this:

And determination isn’t an nonstop fig of links you should include. But marque definite you don’t see excessively galore links. 

Excessive links (in your footer oregon anyplace else) tin confuse Google astir your website’s structure. 

Google’s John Mueller stated that excessively galore interior links tin bash much harm than good. Because excessive links marque it harder for hunt engines to recognize the discourse of idiosyncratic pages. 

So, the champion mode to archer Google which pages are important is by utilizing your XML sitemap—a record that tells Google which URLs connected your tract to scale (store successful its database).

First, usage Site Audit to guarantee your sitemap doesn’t incorporate errors. 

You tin spot these by going to the “Issues” tab and entering “sitemap” successful the hunt bar.

Then, submit your sitemap to Google via Google Search Console.

Your footer links should beryllium organized visually by main taxable to marque it easier for users to find what they’re looking for. 

Vertical columns volition marque your footer links quicker to scan. 

And if you person galore links successful your footer, you should usage headings to signifier them. 

We signifier our footer links successful this way:

You should besides deliberation astir the bid of your footer links. 

Users work from the near to close successful astir languages. So, enactment the astir important links connected the near broadside of your footer. 

For example, we see “Contact us” arsenic the archetypal link. Which gives it much ocular prominence that whitethorn entice users to click.

Strategically arranging your links similar this whitethorn adjacent assistance you thrust conversions.

3. Use Descriptive Anchor Text

Anchor text is the clickable substance that makes up a hyperlink, and it helps some users and hunt engines recognize what the linked-to contented is about. 

When choosing anchor substance for your footer links, travel Google’s guidelines for each anchor text:

• Be descriptive
• Keep it short
• Confirm the anchor substance represents the contented of the linked-to page

The anchor substance you usage successful your footer volition enactment accordant wherever your footer appears. But with different interior links connected your site, effort to alteration your anchor text. 

You don’t privation to ever nexus to the aforesaid pages the aforesaid ways. Because that whitethorn look similar you’re trying to power rankings. 

4. Make Sure Your Website Is Mobile-Friendly

Having a mobile-friendly website is amended for rankings wide and ensures your webpage elements (like the footer) are casual to navigate connected mobile devices.

With responsive web design, your website volition automatically set your contented to acceptable the user’s device. 

For example, here’s a responsive website’s footer connected a desktop device:

And here’s the aforesaid footer connected mobile:

As you tin see, the fig of columns successful the footer is reduced connected mobile. And that makes it easier to navigate.

It besides adjusted the size and spacing of the hyperlinks. Allowing users to easy click connected the footer links utilizing their fingers. 

Although your mobile footer whitethorn beryllium longer and necessitate much scrolling, it’s much important that links are really scannable and clickable to marque for a amended idiosyncratic acquisition overall. 

5. Use Mostly Internal Links

The immense bulk of your footer links should beryllium to different pages connected your tract to promote visitors to prosecute with your contented and perchance convert.

External links (links that constituent to different websites) nonstop users elsewhere. And those users whitethorn not return. 

That said, determination are a fewer types of outer links that you mightiness privation to include: links to your societal media illustration pages and to your location(s) successful Google Maps. 

The close broadside of the footer is simply a bully spot for these outer links. Like this:

This statement makes it apt that users volition spot your interior links first. 

But if they privation to sojourn your societal profiles oregon spot wherever you’re located comparative to them, they tin easy bash truthful by clicking connected the footer links. 

6. Add a Call to Action

A call to enactment (CTA) is an invitation for users to instrumentality a circumstantial enactment (submitting a form, subscribing to a newsletter, etc.), and including 1 successful your footer encourages users to implicit your desired conversion action. 

For example, this website includes a “Subscribe to our newsletter” CTA successful the footer and provides a tract for the idiosyncratic to bash so. 

You tin besides usage CTA buttons that nonstop to conversion-oriented pages erstwhile appropriate. 

For example, this nonprofit website uses “Contact Us,” “Volunteer” and “Join Our List” arsenic CTAs. And they each nexus to a applicable page.

Keep successful caput that the footer whitethorn beryllium your past accidental to seizure a click oregon conversion from your tract visitors. So, effort to marque your CTAs arsenic compelling arsenic possible. 

Incorporate Links Effectively

In SEO, footer links should beryllium a portion of your wide linking strategy. And it’s important to optimize interior links everyplace connected your site. 

If you privation to cheque that your website is pursuing linking champion practices, usage Site Audit. 

After you tally an audit, find the “Internal Linking,” conception of your study and click “View details” wrong that section.

If determination are immoderate issues with your links, they’ll beryllium listed successful the “Internal Link Issues” table.

Resolve those issues connected your website to amended your linking illustration and your wide SEO health.