Is having a link to the current page bad for SEO?

[BillyRayPreachersSon]

I've been searching around trying to find out if having a link to the current page is bad for SEO. I've found a few pages that tell you it is, but don't go into details.

Here's the scenario. We have a site that contains 4 basic top-level links:

Home, Latest News, Photos, Videos

This is a static nav include on every page, so each of the above pages would have the same nav.

We've been advised by an SEO consultancy that this is bad, and that on the home page we should have no other links back to the homepage (including the clickable logo), and on the latest page we should have no other links to the latest page.

Basically, no page should link back to itself, including via the standard site navigation.

Accessibility issues aside, can anyone give me any concrete evidence (or otherwise) that can tell me if this really is a bad thing to do, and if so, why?

Thanks!

Dan



Coedit Limited - Delivering standards compliant, accessible web solutions

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[Foamcow]

I too have heard it's bad but you know what. Who cares?

I don't think it's going to do any noticeable harm, if any harm, at all.

Put yourself in a Google Engineers shoes. Why would you actively penalise a page that contains a link to itself? Makes very little sense as you'd end up penalising a huge number of perfectly innocent pages. Perhaps in conjuction with other things it might be seen as a 'flag' but on it's own I can't really see it.

Personally, I have created many sites where the logo links to the homepage (probably all of them) - so on the homepage that links to itself. Never had a problem with Google ever.

If the SEO company say it's bad, ask them to quantify why with some hard evidence or a logical argument rather than just something they read somewhere - there's way too much of that about in the SEO world.

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[BillyRayPreachersSon]

Well, we have a meeting with them this afternoon, so I'll certainly ask them.

Apparently from what they mentioned to a colleague, 'some' search engines 'get confused' when they see links back to the page they're on, and get stuck in a loop.

Personally, I don't see that as our job to correct, as it certainly doesn't apply to Google at very least.

But I feel happier knowing there isn't really a concrete 'you should never do this' answer.

Dan



Coedit Limited - Delivering standards compliant, accessible web solutions

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[feherke]

Hi

So all the blogs having permalink for each entry, which nowadays are mostly the same as the document's URL, are penalized too ? Sounds like bull... soup for me.

Feherke.

http://rootshell.be/~feherke/

 

[Foamcow]

Apparently from what they mentioned to a colleague, 'some' search engines 'get confused' when they see links back to the page they're on, and get stuck in a loop.

Genius. Surely they would just ignore the link. Seems like pretty basic logic to me.
As if someone skilled enough to write a search engine algo is going to get stuck by that little conundrum.

Jeez. Don't these people ever think for themselves?

Do the world a favour and lock them in the room then fill it with Halon or something.

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[traingamer]

Do the world a favour and lock them in the room then fill it with Halon or something.

But that would remove all of the oxygen from the room, and (oh, wait, never mind)...

Greg
People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use. Kierkegaard

 

[kg9ie]

I've never heard of any problems from a SEO perspective, but there are usability concerns.

A link that points at the current page can be confusing for users that don't know any better. They may think your site is broken if they click a link and see the same page they were just reading.

 

[BabyJeffy]

...but there are usability concerns...

Easily managed through something as simple as adding some hidden text to the link that indicates that this is the current page they are on:

...
.hidden {position:absolute; top:-2000em;left:-2000em;}
...
<li><a href="home.gsp" title="The entrance page to ACME Solutions website">Home</a><span class="hidden"> (you are currently viewing this page)</span></li>
...

It would be just as simple not to render the link (as it is to add in the hidden text), however

Cheers,
Jeff

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[Foamcow]

Rather than add a span with hidden text, why not add it to the title attribute?

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[ChrisHunt]

Apparently from what they mentioned to a colleague, 'some' search engines 'get confused' when they see links back to the page they're on, and get stuck in a loop.

Time for the Chris Hunt Patent "Name Three" Bullshit Detector! Ask them to name three such search engines. Heck, ask them to name just one. My guess is that this is typical "something somebody read on a bulletin board somewhere becoming a SEO rule" case.

A link that points at the current page can be confusing for users

Ahem, name three users you've met who have been confused by a same-page link.

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[kg9ie]

Mike, Jeff, and Jennifer

 

[Foamcow]

I wholeheartedly agree with Chris here.

A link that points at the current page can be confusing for users

I think that's a Jacob Nielsen thing. He knows his stuff but I disagree on this point.

If you can avoid it then there's no harm in doing so, but equally you could argue a user could be confused when something [em]stops[/em] being a link.

In my book, consistency is key.

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[kg9ie]

I will agree that there are possibilities where the downside is limited. I used to have a link on the home page to the home page in the footer of my pages. I don't believe that had a huge effect on usability, but I have personally seen some really bad pages with links to the same page in the contect area that confused the heck out of me.

My opinion is: Why show the visitor a link that would take them to the same spot? Someone will click it and that click will be pointless.

 

[roshaoar]

Sorry to be blunt... but this is tripe. I can think of about a billion pages that have links to themselves exactly because of navigation includes, and they don't suffer. Here are just two examples: Avaya US, Telefonix, Avaya US, bbc news... heck most big sites

 

[roshaoar]

To elaborate (and apologies I still havn't sussed out the proper way to post links), it's trip that there's a negative SEO consequence. Useability possibly

 

[Mike Lewis]

May I jump in? I know nothing about SEO; I just lurk in this forum because I enjoy reading the wise words and good advice on offer.

But I must say I agree with Kg9ie. I find it really irritating when you click on a link that just takes you to the page you're already on -- especially when the anchor text is poorly worded, so you think you are going to see something new, but you end up doing a pointless round trip to the server.

In my own humble sites, I retain the anchor text, but show it in a lighter colour to suggest that it's inactive, and remove the hyperlink. I wish others would do the same.

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My Visual FoxPro site: www.ml-consult.co.uk