Dead placeholder links: the buttons that go nowhere.
Page builders ship templates full of buttons that link to nothing, waiting for someone to fill in the address. On a lot of park sites, nobody did. The "Book Now" button that scrolls to the top of the page is one of them, and it is costing bookings.
IN ONE PARAGRAPH
A link with href="#" is a placeholder: it looks like a link, but clicking it does nothing or jumps to the top of the page. Templates use them for every button and menu item, and they stay when the site is filled in without someone setting each destination. Guests hit "Book Now" or "View Rates" and nothing happens. Crawlers follow them nowhere. We list every placeholder link on every page, excluding the legitimate ones that open a menu, so they can be pointed somewhere or removed.
What it is
In the code, a link looks like <a href="/rates">View rates</a>. The href is where it goes. A template ships it as <a href="#">View rates</a>, where # means "this page, top." It is meant to be replaced. Some placeholders are deliberate, such as a menu button that opens a dropdown with script, and those are fine. The rest are broken navigation.
What it looks like on a park website
- A "Book Now" button in the header that does nothing, because the booking link was never set.
- Footer links to "Privacy Policy" and "Terms" that go nowhere.
- A "Learn more" under each amenity that scrolls to the top.
- Social icons that link to # because the park has no Instagram.
- A phone number displayed as text but not linked, so it cannot be tapped on a phone, which is the related mistake.
What it costs a park
The guest who taps "Book Now" on a phone and watches the page jump to the top does not try again; they open the next park. A dead "View rates" link is a guest who never sees the rates. For crawlers, placeholder links are noise: they waste crawl attention and signal a site that was never finished. And a phone number that is not tappable is a call that does not happen.
How to check your own site
- On a phone, tap every button and link on the homepage. Anything that does nothing or jumps to the top is a placeholder.
- Tap the phone number. If the phone does not offer to dial, it is not linked.
- View the page source and search for href="#". Each one that is not a menu toggle needs a destination or should be removed.
What we do about it
Every link on a site we build goes somewhere, the book button goes to the reservation system, and the phone number is a tel: link that dials. When we take over a site, the placeholder sweep is part of the first pass. It is dull work and it directly recovers bookings that were being lost at the last tap.
Questions about this.
What does href="#" mean?
It is a link to the top of the current page, used by templates as a placeholder until someone sets the real destination. On a finished site it is a link that goes nowhere.
Are all # links bad?
No. A button that opens a dropdown menu with script legitimately uses # and is fine. The problem is content links and buttons that were never given a destination.
Why does my Book Now button not work?
Most likely it is a placeholder link that was never pointed at the reservation system. Set its destination to your booking page and it works.
Should my phone number be a link?
Yes. A tel: link lets a guest tap the number on a phone and dial. A number that is plain text cannot be tapped.
Want this checked on your park site?
Send us the address. We run the full check and tell you what we found, in plain words. SEO for parks starts at $250 a month.
Part of the RV park SEO guide, section: The technical check. Previous: Word count: why a page with two sentences does not rank. Next: Image alt text: describing the photo to Google and to guests who cannot see it.