I remember working with a client who ran a niche e-commerce store. They were hyper-focused on product pages, category descriptions, blog posts, and all the "front-and-centre" parts of their website. But when I took a look at their footer, it was like stepping into a time capsule. Outdated links, a generic "Copyright 2016" notice, and nothing else. It was a missed opportunity staring us in the face. Here's the thing: the website footer absolutely still matters for SEO, but maybe not in the way you'd think. It's not about stuffing it with keywords or trying to cram in every link under the sun. Instead, it's about making the footer a strategic anchor for both search engines and users: a piece of real estate that quietly but powerfully reinforces the site's authority and user experience. For that client, we started by asking one key question: What's essential for visitors who are scrolling all the way down? The answer was simple: trust and navigation. So, we reworked the footer completely. First, we added structured links to the most important pages; shipping policies, returns, contact info, and FAQs, because these weren't just practical for users but also pages that needed authority signals. Then, we included a mini sitemap for their main product categories, helping Google's crawlers understand the hierarchy better. But here's the kicker, the tip I'd share with anyone: use your footer to showcase trust signals. For that e-commerce site, we added reviews, a short blurb about their brand mission, and icons for secure payment certifications. You'd be surprised how often people glance at the footer for that last piece of reassurance before buying and search engines pick up on this engagement. The results? Not only did their bounce rate drop by 12% within two months, but we also saw improved rankings for category pages linked in the footer. Google seemed to reward the clarity and accessibility we added. So, to optimise your footer, think of it as less about stuffing keywords and more about strategically reinforcing trust and navigability. A clean, user-first footer can be the unsung hero of your site's SEO strategy. Don't underestimate the power of the "quiet corner" of your website, it can do a lot of heavy lifting when done right.
The website footer might not seem like a game-changer for SEO, but when approached strategically, it can quietly enhance your search rankings. I learned this firsthand when working on a local business site struggling to stand out in a competitive market. The footer became a subtle yet effective tool for reinforcing the site's authority and relevance. Instead of cluttering it with generic links, we focused on making it purposeful. We added a short, keyword-optimized tagline emphasizing the business's unique value-what made them stand out in the local space. This tagline linked directly to a detailed "About Us" page, which gave Google a clear signal about the brand's relevance in its niche. To go a step further, we embedded LocalBusiness schema markup in the footer code, ensuring search engines could identify the business's location, operating hours, and services. This small tweak had a noticeable impact on their local search rankings, helping them appear in the coveted "near me" searches. The experience taught me that the footer isn't just an afterthought; it's a quiet yet consistent part of your site that Google crawls on every page. By crafting it intentionally-focusing on a single value-driven message-you can turn it into a subtle SEO advantage without overloading it or making it look manipulative. In our case, this strategy boosted both visibility and engagement, proving the power of a well-thought-out footer.
Yes, the website footer still plays a crucial role in SEO. For one of our clients, we faced an issue where listicle pages weren't getting indexed because they weren't linked prominently. To solve this, we added links to these pages in the footer, reducing their crawl depth to 1. The result? Google crawled them quickly, indexed the content, and those pages began ranking for several keywords. It was a straightforward fix, but it worked like magic. Footers also help us when providing website development services. With client approval, we include a "Created by our agency name" backlink in their footer. This not only improves our visibility but also helps drive organic traffic to our own site. Tip: Keep your footer clean and intentional. Use it to highlight important internal links or pages that need better crawlability without overwhelming visitors. It's a great way to make the most of every section of your website.
Yes, the website footer still matters for SEO, and it can actually be pretty powerful if used right. It's one of those areas people often overlook, but search engines still crawl it, and visitors often check it out for quick info. A well-optimized footer can improve user experience, help with navigation, and even boost rankings by organizing your site better. One simple tip is to include internal links to your most important pages in the footer, like key service pages, contact info, or a blog. These links help spread link equity across your site and make it easier for search engines to understand your site's structure. For example, adding a link to a "Pricing" page in the footer helped one of my clients boost rankings for their target keyword, "affordable web design pricing," because it created another connection to that page from every page on the site. Another thing that works well is including localized info in the footer, like your business address and phone number if you're targeting local SEO. This reinforces your relevance for local searches. And don't forget about footer content like a short tagline or description with a targeted keyword-it's subtle but still effective. The thing is not to overdo it. Don't cram the footer with too many links or unnecessary keywords-it'll just look messy and could even hurt your rankings. Keep it clean, relevant, and user-friendly, and you'll see how much of a difference it can make.
The website footer remains a valuable tool for SEO, particularly for local and structural optimisation. One key tip for optimising the footer is to include contextually relevant internal links. For example, linking to high-priority service pages, main geographic areas, or blog categories from the footer helps distribute link equity and reinforces site architecture. Be strategic: avoid stuffing links, and ensure anchor text is natural and descriptive. An example of an effective tactic is to link parent-level pages for service areas. It streamlines local SEO efforts while signalling relevance to search engines. We use this a lot and we can quickly see the impact on helping clients to get more leads locally. Pair this with local schema markup and consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone) information in the footer to further boost local rankings. Keep the footer simple, user-friendly, and intentional.
Yes, the website footer CAN still matter for SEO, but its impact is subtle nowadays, thus more strategic rather than direct. One tip for optimizing the footer is to use it for internal linking to key pages. For example, linking to high-priority pages like your "Contact Us," "About," or category pages helps distribute link equity across your site. For instance, I recently added links to a client's location-specific pages in the footer, ensuring search engines could easily crawl these pages. Naturally, those pages saw a boost in rankings for local search terms. Ultimately, you should keep the footer clean and avoid keyword stuffing-it should be useful, not spammy. You can use it to improve crawlability, user engagement, and even your site's authority in search engines.
After auditing hundreds of local business websites, I've found that strategic footer optimization consistently helps with both SEO and user experience - it's definitely not dead! Recently, I helped a client restructure their footer with location-specific service pages and relevant internal links, which led to a 34% increase in organic traffic to their key service pages within just 3 months.
Website footers absolutely matter for SEO, but I've learned they need to be strategic rather than stuffed with links. At FATJOE, we recently helped a client improve their rankings by restructuring their footer to include their top-performing service pages and removing outdated content, resulting in a 23% increase in page authority. I suggest treating your footer like a mini-sitemap - keep it user-focused with your most valuable pages while avoiding the temptation to link to everything.
As an SEO expert, I've found that one of the most underrated ways to leverage your website footer is by using it as a strategic space for semantic relevance. Instead of cramming it with links or boilerplate content, curate a few hyper-specific microcopy phrases that reinforce your brand's unique positioning or niche keywords. For example, if your site serves a local audience, you might subtly integrate location-based terms alongside service descriptions in a way that feels natural, not forced. This helps search engines understand your core focus and provides subtle reinforcement for long-tail keyword variations you might not directly target elsewhere on the page. It's an exclusive touch that many miss-and one that aligns well with building relevance in competitive markets.
A well-optimized footer can help search engines better understand the website and improve user experience. For example, I strategically added the most important links and keywords in the footer to improve my client's website's SEO ranking. I worked on an e-commerce jewelry store to improve its organic ranking. Its footer optimization was the part of my successful SEO strategy. I removed all irrelevant links and added page links that visitors expect to find in the footer. For example, instead of adding only generic page links like "wedding" I added wedding rings, everyday rings, engagement rings, and custom design rings. I also included essential pages like the About page, Service pages, Blog, Contact, Sitemap, and Legal pages. Bonus tip: Adding the right links will improve user experience, which is a positive signal to search engines. It is best to avoid adding external links. Meanwhile, adding too many external links in the footer can result in a Google penalty.
Chief Marketing Officer | TV Host | Author | Board Member at Street Level Marketing Show
Answered 8 months ago
You might think of the footer as just the end of your webpage, but from an SEO standpoint, it's still a valuable area that can support your overall ranking strategy. When you strategically place internal links, contact information, and trust signals (like certifications or awards) in your footer, you're not only improving user experience but also sending strong signals to search engines about the structure and credibility of your site. At the same time, you want to avoid overstuffing the footer with too many links, as this can dilute the value of each link and appear spammy to both users and search engines. A smart tip for optimizing your footer is to include a concise "mini sitemap" or key category links that guide both users and search engine crawlers to your most important pages. By organizing these links in a logical hierarchy and labeling them with relevant anchor text, you make it easier for Google to understand the purpose of those pages. As a marketing executive, you'll find that this simple step can give you an edge, helping visitors quickly locate information and encouraging search engines to crawl and index the pages that matter most to your business.
Agency Owner, Web Designer and SEO Strategist at Brooks Manley Marketing
Answered 8 months ago
Yes, I've definitely have seen evidence that the website footer still matters for SEO. While I don't think it's as important as the other on-page elements, it plays an important part in a site's overall structure and usability. My tip for optimizing the footer of your website is to make sure that you're putting important internal links, like links to main pages, services, or blog posts, in the footer. The reason I see this as important is that this structure helps search engines crawl and index more of your site while also improving the user experience by making navigation easier. Be sure to keep the footer clean, organized, and relevant to your audience to make sure that it adds value both for your SEO efforts and for your website visitors.
As the owner of Twin City Marketing, I understand the evolving landscape of SEO, including the strategic use of website footers. A well-optimized footer can be a subtle yet powerful SEO tool, ensuring essential information is readily available and indexed by search engines. In one project, we included key navigational links and product categories in the footer, which led to a 15% boost in user engagement and better crawl efficiency for search engines. Another effective tactic is incorporating internal links that focus on high-performing keywords or long-tail variations specific to your niche. For example, in a past blog rebranding, aligning footer links with trending content topics helped maintain SEO equity during the transition, leading to increased visibility. By focusing on relevant keywords in the footer, you can improve navigation and signal search engines about your site's overall content focus, thus supporting a higher ranking.Absolutely, the footer still plays a role in SEO. At TWINCITY.COM, we've focused on optimizing footers by including local business listings, leveraging our directory capabilities. This not only improved our local SEO by tying content to specific Twin Cities Metro areas but also increased local engagement by 25%. One key tip is to use the footer for internal linking-emphasizing links to key pages like contact, services, and top-performing blog posts. At The Guerrilla Agency, I found placing client case studies in the footer significantly improved time-on-site metrics and boosted conversion rates by making valuable content readily accessible. Incorporating geographical keywords in the footer is crucial, especially for local businesses. Including service areas and specific location mentions can improve your site's relevance for local search queries, effectively driving local traffic without overpowering the main content with keyword stuffong.
Hello Featured team, My name is Doron Ben Cohen and I am an SEO Expert and a founder of a digital marketing business for than a decade. It is no secret that the footer has less SEO impact than it did in previous years. That being said, it is still a great place to link to generic pages that do not have a justified place in the main navigation areas. For one of my customers, I added a "service areas" page to the footer. This page serves as a category page, gathering the various locations where my customer is active. It contains short content, and we decided that the navigation bar should link only to the most important pages. Adding the page to the footer was a good alternative, as it was otherwise almost orphaned. After some time, we observed improvements in the rankings of the child pages linked within this category. Doron Ben Cohen Founder, BC Marketing Website https://bcmarketing.biz/ Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/company/bc-marketing-biz/
The website footer still matters for SEO when optimized thoughtfully, and contextual internal linking is one of the best ways to maximize its impact. Use the footer to link to high-priority pages such as About Us, services, category pages, or FAQs using natural anchor text. This approach improves navigation, enhances user experience, and helps search engines better understand your site's hierarchy. By linking strategically, you can distribute link equity effectively while giving search engines the context they need to crawl and rank essential pages. Focus on user intent when choosing links so visitors find what they need quickly without feeling overwhelmed. A clean, purposeful footer supports EEAT by showcasing organized, trustworthy information and improving your SEO performance.
The footer itself doesn't have the same ranking power as title tags or header content but it's still important to give search engines more context about your site and its structure. By linking to key internal pages in the footer you create a strong internal linking structure which helps search engines understand the site's hierarchy and flow. One tip for footer optimisation is to make sure the links are relevant, concise and grouped logically. This means linking to top performing content, high traffic pages and relevant blog posts or service offerings which can help distribute link equity across the site. Don't overcrowd the footer with too many links that look spammy. Instead focus on providing value by linking to pages users are likely to look for like your about page, privacy policy or terms of service. If you have multiple locations include location based keywords or links to regional pages to boost local visibility. Also make sure your footer is mobile friendly and accessible as search engines now prioritise user experience including device navigation. A clean and responsive footer means users and search engines can interact with your site easily which will improve overall SEO.
Yes, the website footer still matters for SEO, and the role of the footer has evolved over the years. The footer is often one of the most consistent elements across your website, plus it acts as a trusty map, helping users swiftly discover important links and information especially when they are navigating an unfamiliar website. This results in keeping users more engaged on the website and helps boost your conversion rate. Other than that, search engines use the footer to understand the structure of the website and assess the quality of your internal linking. My tip for optimising the footer is to include thoughtful, strategic internal links. Link to key pages on your website, such as "About Us," "Contact Us," or "Privacy Policy," as well as the main category pages. Try to keep it clean and organised, prioritising how users navigate. This will help engage users by providing them with the information they need and making it convenient for them to find the pages they want.
Yes, the website footer still matters for SEO, as it can influence both the user experience and the site's search engine rankings by providing structured, accessible information across all pages. An optimized footer contributes to the site's overall SEO strategy by ensuring consistency and accessibility. One tip for optimizing the footer for SEO: Include Relevant Keywords and Information: Utilize the footer to incorporate key information such as contact details, business hours, and important links to high-priority pages. This not only helps in local SEO by reinforcing your location-specific details but also aids in distributing PageRank across your website more effectively. Adding a short business description with relevant keywords can also help search engines understand more about your site, potentially boosting your rankings. Make sure these additions align with your overall SEO and content strategy to ensure consistency and relevance. Also, if its for local SEO link to your Google map or Google My Business profile.
The footers still matter, but not as a direct ranking signal. Instead, they're all about making it a breeze for users to navigate your site and contextually linking the most important parts of your site. I've seen the best results when I used footers to reinforce internal links. Include links to your most important pages (e.g., key service pages, top categories, the best posts or case studies). It makes it easier for search engine bots to crawl your site, and for users to use it.
Yes, the website footer still matters for SEO. It's a great place to include essential information that supports both users and search engines. One tip for optimizing the footer is to include internal links to high-priority pages like your contact page, about page, and key service or product categories. These links help improve site navigation and distribute link equity effectively. Just ensure the footer isn't overloaded with links, as a clean and organized layout is more user-friendly and aligns better with SEO best practices.