Link placement describes the location and prominence of a link: in the main content or the template, near the top or buried at the bottom, standing alone or among dozens of others. Placement affects how likely readers are to click a link, and search engines are widely believed to give links in prominent, editorial positions more weight than those in boilerplate.
Placement and value
Google has a patent, often called the reasonable surfer model, describing how links could be weighted by how likely a user is to click them, based on features like position, font and surrounding text. Google has not said exactly how its current systems weigh placement, but the principle matches common sense: a prominent link in the body of a relevant article signals more than a link in a crowded footer.
Placing internal links well
- Put the most important link where the reader needs it, often early in the content
- Place links next to the text that explains them
- Avoid long lists of links at the end of an article as the only internal links
- Use a clear call to action for the next step, not just inline text
- Do not hide links in collapsed or hard-to-see elements if you want them clicked
Placement in link building
When evaluating backlinks, placement matters as much as the domain. A link in the body of a relevant article is generally worth more than an author bio link, a sidebar widget or a comment link. Paying for a "better placement" is still paying for a link, and Google's spam policies require such links to be qualified.
Example
Moving a key link up the page
Hypothetical design tool Ironpetal's most-read tutorial linked to its template library only in a "Related resources" list at the bottom. Moving a link into the second paragraph, where the tutorial first mentions starting from a template, put it in front of readers who were most interested.
Common mistakes
Link dumps at the end
A block of fifteen "related" links at the bottom is easy to ignore and gives little context to any of them.
Questions
There is long-running SEO debate about which link Google counts when a page links to the same URL more than once. Google has not documented this in detail, so focus on clear anchors and useful placement.
