Content and Navigation of a website are supposed to be two key pillars which support any Search Engine Optimization campaign. However at times, good content and a well thought of navigation might not be able to do the SEO wonders it was supposed to do.
Theme Bleeding might me a reason!
By definition, Theme Bleeding is a link leading from a specific topic or theme to another theme (or topic) that is not directly related.
For eg: You have a webpage about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Some of the outgoing links from this page point to a web page about Social Media Marketing. Though you may be offering both the services to your clients and it might make business sense to cross sell, however Google and other search engines might consider it as an apt case for Theme Bleeding. Your theme of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is bleeding into an unrelated theme of Social Media Marketing.
Google Algorithm ranks pages on the basis of their Relevance to the content/Keyword. Theme Bleeding leads to Google according a low relevance to your content.
How to avoid Theme Bleeding?
* Plan your navigation properly: Most webmasters suggest the use of a silo structure for your site wherein related content is stacked together.
* Using the NOFOLLOW attribute: Add a nofollow attribute to pages you do not want the search spiders to crawl.
Eg : If you do not want the spiders to crawl your Social Media Marketing page from your Search Engine Optimization page, you can add the nofollow attribute to the Social Media Marketing page.Normal Link:
* Using the Robots.txt file: This is the most effective method to prevent Theme Bleeding. Robots.txt is a simple text file that sits on your server in the same directory where your home page exists. Using the Robot.txt file in links/directories you do not want to be crawled, will ensure that search spiders under any circumstance would not crawl these links/directories.