Several <a href=“#”>link</a> on one page - Effect on SEO and User Experience?

Question

I've been researching the question if several <a href=“#”>link</a> links on one page have a bad impact on SEO and User Experience, for quite a while now but didn't really come to a conclusion.

This method is used when a site structure is ready from the start but content etc is missing. So you put up a frontpage with those links and extend the whole site step by step over time. So time after time those links will be removed with the actual link but it can take its time.

Lets say we have a big site with 50 pages and 5 pages have several of those "unready" links.

Lets clear the facts:

User experience: For the user it should be a really bad experience when they see a link for more information and expect to get these information but then just get linked to the top of the current page. If a page is full of such links I can imagine its frustrating and they will leave immediately.

Google's View: Their crawlers see the site structure right from the start and it should be more cost effective not to recalculate link juice etc with every update. And we know Google really cares about costs and effectiveness of their crawling.

But on the other hand, they also really care about the user experience and consider this as one major ranking factor.

So my question is: Does have several of those "not ready" links on one page, a bad impact on Google rankings?

I'm really interested how different webmasters see this topic.

Answer 1

Generally speaking, there is nothing wrong with the type of link you are talking about. I use them and many sites use them as a table of content style links to sections of the same page or a specific location on another page without issues including SEO. However, if the link target is junk then I would not create the link until I was ready to create a worth while link. Do not over think Google too much. It's not like there is a charge for CPU cycles. Just make a clear site for the user and as much of a complete site as you can. Make rapid updates to include missing or new content as quickly as you can and adjust links as you need to. Google figures these things out just fine.

There is always a cost for deploying an incomplete and rapidly changing site. But the cost is the cost of doing business unless the site is very incomplete. If your site is good but not fully complete, then any rapid updates will advantage you in that your freshness score will reflect the rapid updates and Google will visit more often. This is a general characterization. Of course this all depends on your work, the quality of your work, and how well you update your site. Generally speaking, it is not an issue if you create a good and honest site and put in a good and honest effort.