Are "Web Site Designed By" Links Bad?

Nov 13, 2009 - 6:46 am 12 by
Filed Under Link Building

A Google Webmaster Help thread asks a common question in link building. The question is, are "web site designed by X," where "X" is a link to your company, against Google's guidelines?

Both a "level 4" and "top contributor" replied to the thread. One said:

I would think this is a matter of personal preference, and it is quite common in the industry.

The other said:

As far as we know - there is no harm from them. (Hope not - I use them on all my sites ;))

What do you think? Like they said, this is done very often. My company no longer does this, we haven't in years. But we did it a lot before "link building" was so important - go figure.

This is not a new question, we asked in in 2006 with

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: November 14, 2025

Nov 14, 2025 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Movemeber Google Update, Opal AI Spam, Discover Spam Fix, Copilot Search, Google Image Ads & More

Nov 14, 2025 - 8:01 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Advertiser Suspension Improvements: Faster & More Accurate

Nov 14, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Ads

Google: Don't Close Your Google Ads Account To Make LSAs Work

Nov 14, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google

Google Shopping With AI Mode Comparisons, Call Store, Track Price & Agentic Checkout

Nov 14, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Brings Brand Inclusions To Standard Shopping Campaigns (NOPE)

Nov 14, 2025 - 7:21 am
 
Previous Story: PubCon 2009 Vegas Coverage Recap