Things That Make Me Laugh - "Our Site Is SEO'd" Links

I'm going to do an occasional "Things That Make Me Laugh" (but its actually a polite way of saying "things that get my goat!"

Today's victim are SEO agencies that feel the need to link back to their own site from the bottom (they even do sides!!!) of their client's sites.

Are they that desperate for link juice that they abuse their client's websites?

Take JustSearching.co.uk, they link back to their own site from virtually every client page and there's 69,500 of them.

In fact only 3 of the first 100 links listed have anything to do with SEO! Pure madness! This is the sort of trick I used to play in 1998 when I SEO'd my first client site.

A couple of things. My view of links, and I'm sure Google's too is that they should be earned and be in context to the site they're on.

If a visitor is on a site about cufflinks, fashion or villas are they really worried, concerned or interested in who did their SEO? It's obviously just there for SEO purposes.

You could say that its there to game Google. My view is that SEO is a people business, its a service. That's why all my business is from recommendations. I don't even bother ranking for any SEO phrases. In fact my site is five years out of date and I'm only getting a new one built as its about time bloody time (and people kept saying it's shite).

But why infect your clients' sites to benefit your own business - in my mind its not on. Client's needs come first!