Backlinks from sharing free website themes?

[Gustav]

I have some free wordpress themes for sharing.

If I can put my website link at footer theme and force users use my theme have it on their sites when they are using my theme

It's a good way to increase backlinks to my site? does it help improving rankings or SERPs?

 

[Eastvantage]

Hmm, actually most of the theme creators in Blogger.com are doing that, hmm, if you are targeting to acquire or increase you backlinks from that, Yes, it can be a good move.
But the downside of that would be - you can have low quality links from the user of the theme.

Example, someone used your theme for their spamming site, it can affect your link acquisition campaign since those links can be tagged as low quality links.

 

[Gustav]

Gustav

Great share, this is honest reply and I didn't think about that. I will care if I share my free themes.

Anyone gives advantages or disadvantages when sharing free time with your copyright brand name on it?

 

[elcidofaguy]

I have some free wordpress themes for sharing.

If I can put my website link at footer theme and force users use my theme have it on their sites when they are using my theme

It's a good way to increase backlinks to my site? does it help improving rankings or SERPs?

Generally speaking site wide footer links does not help at all - they are weak links as stated above... The problem arises when you use competitive keywords which can raise a flag that the links are placed without the website owners consent... Terms such as "powered by", "built by" or branding is okay... Here is a good [URLnf="http://www.hiswebmarketing.com/footer-links-and-penalties/"]article [/URLnf]on the subject....

The best type of links are located within the body of the page such as on an article... Footer links, header and side bar links are much weaker in comparison....

 

[EpicGlobalWeb]

EpicGlobalWeb

This is an excellent point that shouldn't be avoided. Perhaps though, this can be remedied with specialized vertical themes. For instance, themes for just spa owners and the backlinks would be somewhere other than the footer (simple javascript can add one to certain text and change the DOM to make certain text a link). Then you can expect that your links will come from generally relevant sources most of the time. What do you think?

 

[metafser]

Hmm, actually most of the theme creators in Blogger.com are doing that, hmm, if you are targeting to acquire or increase you backlinks from that, Yes, it can be a good move.

Please do not write anything serious, if you have no idea about that. :thumbdown:

It's a good way to increase backlinks to my site? does it help improving rankings or SERPs?

See this matt video.

Matt Cutts makes one point crystal clear in this video: Sitewide backlinks are not bad if they are natural and relevant.

At the same time, getting links from blog footers like “Site developed by XYZ company” or “Free WordPress theme by XYZ” are not as useful now, as you cant control where these links are coming from.

Some time back, releasing free WordPress themes or plugins was was an easy way to get a permanent link from all the pages of a domain. These days, however, this method of getting links is considered spammy, and you could be penalized by the Penguin algo update. One simple reason for this is that you cant control which niche is using your free theme or plugin, and you end up generating tons of irrelevant backlinks to your domain even with exact anchor text.

 

[Eastvantage]

Eastvantage

I just stated the truth about that right? Good move if it's for increasing backlink count, but still bad. And if you read the last sentence I made, I stated the negative effect.
Is that what you do? Agrue with members and degrade them? Wow, you better change, if you think you're better, then Go, that's you then.

 

[hipporeview]

First, most users use free theme to build spam websites. Because if they want to build an Authority site, they will buy a good theme, not free theme.
Second, if users use your free theme for a niche which is not relevant to your niche, it is not good.
Finally, i think it will harm your website.

 

[TCoder]

I don't think sitewide links are bad, just picture this in your head.

You purchase a "banner" ad on site A. They display your banner ad and it links to your site. It's a sitewide link. Many companies do this, they're not penalized. You're not paying for a link, you're paying for an ad.

Now, if you're paying for a link, then you can get penalized. I'm not sure how google determines whats a paid link vs paid ad. To me it's the same thing.

But in your case, no money is involved and they are just giving credit to your site, because you made the theme for them.