Many webmasters ignore the importance of page footers when optimizing their websites for search engines. When people see a useless piece of space in the footer, SEO’s see opportunity to optimize more for search engines. But some SEO’s actually push their luck by utilizing tactics that can get you de-ranked or banned by major search engines such as Google or Yahoo!. So here are the do’s and don’ts of footer optimization:

• Do use your main keywords in your footer.
• Do keep your footer to one or two lines Max.
• Do respect your brand by keeping your footer clean.
• Don’t put an ugly paragraph or two in your footer
• Don’t stuff your footer with unrelated or related keywords.
• Don’t make your footer hidden to your users (invisible text).
• Do use your judgment before implementing a dubious tactic

SEO is not rocket science. Some of it is just plain common sense. If you are told to change your footer but feel uneasy about the recommended changes, then don’t do them. If somebody promises you that you will get to the top of search engines by gaming Google and other search engines with your footer, just don’t do it. You may get short-term gains from these tactics, but the long-term effects will be devastating for your website. When in doubt, use common sense!