Should I put my company in the footer of the site of a client? [closed]

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I am a web developer and I am wondering if I should put my company's name in the footer of my client's websites.

I am doing this since I began and never had anyone asking if I would remove it. So I saw no problem, until...

on Webmasters.SE I saw someone saying that 'only amateuristic web developers put their company names in the footer of client's websites and that it's bad for SEO'.

• Why is this 'amateuristic'?
• Is the second statement true?
• Should I offer some kind of 'branding removal' option?

Answer 1

Including your company name and website in the footer is a totally normal and common practice.

I think whether it's okay or not depends on the expectations you set in the beginning.

If you show your client a version of their website without your company name in the footer over and over again for 6 months and then when you go live you slap it on there, I can imagine the client being unpleasantly surprised that you did that, and I'd say justifiably so.

But if you somehow communicate to the client at the very beginning of the project that every website you do includes certain things, and one of those certain things is a link to your site, then that of course eliminates the possibility of surprise later.

I often offer my clients a "Chevy version", "Pontiac version" and "Cadillac version" of a project/feature/website I might build for them. I would recommend to you that you do this in general. Your Chevy version could include your advertisement and your Cadillac version could exclude it. (Offering multiple packages is a good idea anyway because it changes the question from should we proceed to how should we proceed, and it lets the client feel like they're in more control than if you offer a single take-it-or-leave-it package.)

So to answer your questions:

• Is it amateuristic? If you sneak the link in hoping no one will notice, that's super amateuristic. If you include the link as part of a certain package and communicate the fact up front, then that's totally professional. Whether it's amateuristic depends not on whether you do it, but how you do it.
• Is it bad for SEO? I'm not an SEO expert but I have a hard time thinking of how it might be bad for your SEO or the client's. I would bet money that it would be good for your SEO and have a negligible effect on your client's.
• Should you offer a "branding removal" option? Yes, but I would position it by default as a line item in a package rather than a standalone option.

Answer 2

Putting your company name on a client website provides no benefit for them, but might have negative consequences as it detracts from their content. It only has a benefit for you in form of free advertising.

Using their website (they paid for it, so it's 100% theirs now) to advertise for you is a service they provide for you, and it's a service you should pay them for.

You could charge them extra for removing your advertisement. However, it might be more palatable instead to offer a discount for clients which allow you to do this. In any case, this should be part of the contract you make with the client.

Answer 3

If you think that your actions may have an effect on the branding or reputation of your client (and this may well do) the professional approach is to ask the client their permission. If they don't know enough to be able to give you an informed decision then I would say that you are obliged to explain. If you don't know enough to make an informed decision then no. This is an opinion question though.