Glossary
What is a sitewide link?
A sitewide link is a link that appears on every page of a site, usually in the footer, sidebar or navigation. It produces thousands of backlinks from a single referring domain. Search engines largely treat it as one link, and sitewide links to unrelated sites, especially paid or swapped ones, can look manipulative.
Why they look big but count small
A footer link on a 5,000-page site shows as 5,000 backlinks in SEO tools. Search engines treat them as boilerplate and give most of them little weight. The referring domain count, one, is the number that matters.
When they're fine
- "Built by" links from client sites to an agency.
- Links between a company's own sites.
- A parent company or partner in the footer.
When they're risky
Paid sitewide links without sponsored, swapped footer links with unrelated sites, and keyword-anchor sitewide links. Old-style blogroll exchanges were a common link scheme.
Badges in your footer
Adding every directory's badge to your footer turns each badge exchange into a sitewide outbound link to that directory. Group them on one page instead.
Example
A founder sees a competitor with 40,000 backlinks and panics. Looking closer, 38,000 come from two partners' footers. The competitor has 150 referring domains; she has 140.
FAQ
Do sitewide links hurt SEO?
Normal ones don't. Paid or swapped ones with keyword anchors can.
Should I nofollow sitewide links?
Paid ones, yes. Genuine partner links don't need it.
Why does my backlink count jump from one site?
A sitewide link creates a backlink on every page of that site.