• About Us
  • Contributors
  • Guides
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Write for The SEM Post
  • Submit a tip or contact us!
  • Newsletters

The SEM Post

Latest News About SEO, SEM, PPC & Search Engines

  • Google
  • SEO
  • Mobile
  • Local
  • Bing
  • Pay Per Click
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • State of the Industry
You are here: Home / Google / Google: About Links Placed in Source Code

Google: About Links Placed in Source Code

March 23, 2018 at 5:24 am PST By Jennifer Slegg

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
  • WhatsApp
  • Evernote
  • SMS

If you run WordPress, you have likely noticed that there are sometimes links placed within the code of themes and plugins that are links, although they are not visible links on the page.  While on the surface, they help people figure out where plugins originate from, there is also the question of whether these links – hidden links on the surface – are actually something that could cause SEO issues.

The question came up in the last Google Webmaster Office Hours with John Mueller.

Are links mentioned inside the source code that can’t be seen by the page also counted as links?  Some WordPress plugins, for example, have “This website is powered by…” or “optimzied by whatever,” and it is only visible in the source code.

Here is Mueller’s response.

So that sounds like it would be a hidden link.  That wouldn’t really be okay with regards to our webmaster guidelines.  So if it’s in HTML, and its an A kind of link, with the actual URL, then that’s something that would be a problem for us.

If it is an HTML comment, for example, and it’s just a piece of text saying “This plugin is powered by so-and-so,” and it’s an HTML comment, then that’s not a link and that’s perfectly fine.

So the problem is really if it’s a link that’s passing PageRank to another site that’s not actually visible on the page by default, then that would be a hidden link and that would be something that our web spam algorithms will try to figure out and take action on.

So it really comes down to the formatting used by the plugin and it if is a link capable of passing PageRank or if it is simply a non-linked URL in text.

More and more plugins and themes have gone away with linking for attribution, such as with footer links, as site owners became more savvy to the “This theme is sponsored by viagra  and poker casinos” style of links being problematic with Google.  So we do see more popping up in the source code – or even with obfuscated code that is not as easily identifiable as a link.

If you have a plugin or theme that links in the source code, you might want to look at how the links are done to prevent any link issues, such as a manual action, in the future.  And for site owners, Google has issued manual actions for outgoing links, so there is always the possibility Google might crack down on these links in the future, especially if you already link out to other sites that are followed when the links should be nofollowed.

 

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
  • WhatsApp
  • Evernote
  • SMS
The following two tabs change content below.
  • Bio
  • Latest Posts
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy Google+ profileMy LinkedIn profile

Jennifer Slegg

Founder & Editor at The SEM Post
Jennifer Slegg is a longtime speaker and expert in search engine marketing, working in the industry for almost 20 years. When she isn't sitting at her desk writing and working, she can be found grabbing a latte at her local Starbucks or planning her next trip to Disneyland. She regularly speaks at Pubcon, SMX, State of Search, Brighton SEO and more, and has been presenting at conferences for over a decade.
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy Google+ profileMy LinkedIn profile

Latest posts by Jennifer Slegg (see all)

  • 2022 Update for Google Quality Rater Guidelines – Big YMYL Updates - August 1, 2022
  • Google Quality Rater Guidelines: The Low Quality 2021 Update - October 19, 2021
  • Rethinking Affiliate Sites With Google’s Product Review Update - April 23, 2021
  • New Google Quality Rater Guidelines, Update Adds Emphasis on Needs Met - October 16, 2020
  • Google Updates Experiment Statistics for Quality Raters - October 6, 2020

Filed Under: Google, SEO

Sign up for our newsletter


Founder & Editor

Jennifer Slegg (2052)

Sign up for our daily news recap & weekly newsletter.


Follow us online

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Linkedin
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Latest News

2022 Update for Google Quality Rater Guidelines – Big YMYL Updates

We finally have the first Google Quality Rater Guidelines update of 2022, and like usual, it is … [Read More...]

Recent Posts

  • 2022 Update for Google Quality Rater Guidelines – Big YMYL Updates
  • Google Quality Rater Guidelines: The Low Quality 2021 Update
  • Rethinking Affiliate Sites With Google’s Product Review Update
  • New Google Quality Rater Guidelines, Update Adds Emphasis on Needs Met
  • Google Updates Experiment Statistics for Quality Raters
  • Analyzing “How Google Search Works” Changes from Google
  • Google Quality Rater Guidelines Update: New Introduction, Rater Bias & Political Affiliations
  • Google Updates Quality Rater Guidelines: Reputation for News Sites; Video Content Updates; Quality for Information Sites
  • Google Makes Major Changes to NoFollow, Adds Sponsored & UGC Tags
  • Google Updates Quality Rater Guidelines Targeting E-A-T, Page Quality & Interstitials

Categories

  • Affiliate Marketing
  • Amazon
  • Apple
  • Bing
  • Branding
  • Browsers
  • Chrome
  • Content Marketing
  • Design
  • Domains
  • DuckDuckGo
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Firefox
  • Foursquare
  • Google
    • Analytics
    • Google RankBrain
    • Quality Rater's Guidelines
  • History of Search
  • Industry Spotlight
  • Instagram
  • Internet Explorer
  • Links
  • Local
  • Mobile
  • Native Advertising
  • Other Search Engines
  • Pay Per Click
  • Pinterest
  • Publishers
  • Security
  • SEO
  • Snapchat
  • Social Media
  • State of the Industry
  • The SEM Post
  • Tools
  • Twitter
  • Uncategorized
  • User Experience
  • Video Marketing
  • Week in Review
  • Whitepapers
  • Wordpress
  • Yahoo
  • Yelp
  • YouTube
May 2025
MTWTFSS
« Aug  
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031 

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org

Copyright © 2025 · News Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in