You should be aware by all the publicity on the subject that good rankings on Google can be greatly influenced by the number and types of links to your site.
It does make sense that Google should consider high rankings to sites that are ‘recommended’ by links to you from other sites. The number of link creation companies and link ‘farms’ also show how effective people are finding this method.
So, if we are all so keen to find ways to build links, and pay for the privilege, why do so many sites give away free links to their web designers? A random sample of web sites listed in my leads database showed a significant number of sites have links at the bottom of their web pages to their web designers.
Maybe the owners are not aware that not only do links into your site boost your rankings, but there is significant evidence that ‘Page Rank’ and ‘Link Status’ can be past from one site to the next.
So, putting this into plain English, companies who can be paying to create links into their site, then pass on free links to web design companies. Thus giving away part of that link credibility.
If you do have a link at the end of your pages, then please ask your web design company why that have this. If they can not give a good reason, and if not, I suggest you remove the link and find a more reputable company for Search Engine Advice.