Are different IP addresses enough for sites with similar content?
-
Hi all
We're looking at moving our 2 websites onto a cloud hosting package. The content on our sites is very similar (but not duplicated) so at the moment they are on separate servers.
If we move to the cloud, is it enough for them to have different IP addresses on the same cloud system, or should we host in separate clouds?
Thanks in advance
Heather
-
Hi Ryan
Thanks for your response. I can assure you that pursuing black hat methods was never the intention. I don't think anyone on SEOmoz would want that label. But I can see why you'd see it that why.
It was decided that both websites should offer the same products, focussing on their 2 key products but then saying "we also provide such and such through our sister brand". We are happy to have the association and for Google to know the 2 sites are related.
The reason I asked the original question was due to the advice of an SEO company we used to use who said that we needed to move one of the sites to a different server if we wanted them to rank for their own keywords. I guess they weren't telling us the whole story?
From what you say, a new content strategy is probably the answer.
-
Frankly, it sounds like what you are asking is "how can I trick the search engines into not realizing these two sites are related". I am sorry if that is blunt, but it seems to be accurate. Google is exceptional smart and has tons of data to use to detect manipulation. A few examples:
-
who owns the domain? If at any time the same entity purchased or was listed as an owner of the domain, it is reasonable to think Google is aware of this information and no matter what action you take the sites may be considered related.
-
do the sites use the same code? Even if you change logos and text, if the same base code is used for both sites, it is likely Google can recognize unique aspects of the code and relate the sites
-
you mentioned similar content. Google is also quite capable of recognizing various forms of revising the same content
-
are these separate servers with the same host? If so, it is likely they have the same C-block in which case the sites can be related in that manner.
There are many other means by which Google could establish a relation between sites: same Google WMT accounts, sites accessed by the same IPs, same backlinks, the list is quite long.
If the purpose of varying the IP address is to hide the relationship from Google, I would suggest not even worrying about it. You are pursuing black hat methods and to pull it off would require extensive experience and resources.
-
-
Hi Marcus
We have 4 products. 2 come under the main brand, but the other 2 come under a separate brand that is more appropriate for the market they are targeting.
Each site focuses mainly on their 2 primary products, but also has a section for the secondary products, introducing the other brand and sending them to the other website.
Due to the industry we're in, content is pretty controlled, so creating completely different content for each site isn't straightforward.
All I need to know is if we need to be on separate servers. My priority is to get the sites moved asap and not rebuild and rewrite content at this stage.
Thanks
Heather
-
Hey Heather, if the sites are so similar, can I ask why you have two? If they are truly similar, and serve the same market / goals etc, why not make your life easier and maintain one, truly unique site?
If there is a distinct reason for both sites to exist, then it is worth investing some time and effort to make sure that the content is truly unique across both sites.
These kind of questions are very tough to answer without a clear definition of 'similar' so if you wanted to include a link or provide a little more details regarding what the similarities are then we could likely assist further.
Hope this helps,
Marcus -
Hi Heather,
To be honest it is more about the similarity between your content rather than the IP addresses that might determine any penalty considerations. Essentially because cloud hosting is virtualized (and thus can offer different IPs) they will be seen as separate dedicated servers if the virtualised resource is set up as such (i.e. the cloud hosting is split into 2 virtual servers and given dedicated static IPs).
Good luck!
Mike
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Moving site from html to Wordpress site: Should I port all old pages and redirect?
Any help would be appreciated. I am porting an old legacy .html site, which has about 500,000 visitors/month and over 10,000 pages to a new custom Wordpress site with a responsive design (long overdue, of course) that has been written and only needs a few finishing touches, and which includes many database features to generate new pages that did not previously exist. My questions are: Should I bother to port over older pages that are "thin" and have no incoming links, such that reworking them would take time away from the need to port quickly? I will be restructuring the legacy URLs to be lean and clean, so 301 redirects will be necessary. I know that there will be link juice loss, but how long does it usually take for the redirects to "take hold?" I will be moving to https at the same time to avoid yet another porting issue. Many thanks for any advice and opinions as I embark on this massive data entry project.
Technical SEO | | gheh20130 -
Site dropped from SERP
Hello, I've been ranking a site for the last 5 months with good success, ranking on the first page for a high traffic keyword. In the beginning of September however, my site completely dropped out of the SERPs for several of those keywords yet my site was still indexed and there was no penalty applied to my site via search console. I would assume this maybe because of the update during the time.My site came back again a week later and it was ranking much higher on the first page (#2). Today, I just checked the SERPs and my site is now gone again. It was there this morning but now as of two hours ago it is gone, as well as one of my main competitors. My site is still indexed and no penalties via search console. Does anyone know what causes these types of issues? Im assuming my site will come back in a week or so with hopefully the same or better ranking, but when I have disruptions like this it really hurts my organic traffic. Any input is appreciated. Thanks!
Technical SEO | | KathleenDC0 -
Add translated content on different domain or not?
Hello, I currently have my dutch website in the domain of my country. Quite good SEO positions are there for this language. Now, i'd like to translate my full site to english, my target group would go over the whole world because i'm delivering an online service. Therefore, I don't think it's good to have this on my country domain? I have an identic .EU domain that's never been used (currently redirecting). What's the best choice? What are the + and - ? Could this have any effect on my current positions in dutch (homecountry domain) ? Thanks!
Technical SEO | | conversal0 -
Why is Google's cache preview showing different version of webpage (i.e. not displaying content)
My URL is: http://www.fslocal.comRecently, we discovered Google's cached snapshots of our business listings look different from what's displayed to users. The main issue? Our content isn't displayed in cached results (although while the content isn't visible on the front-end of cached pages, the text can be found when you view the page source of that cached result).These listings are structured so everything is coded and contained within 1 page (e.g. http://www.fslocal.com/toronto/auto-vault-canada/). But even though the URL stays the same, we've created separate "pages" of content (e.g. "About," "Additional Info," "Contact," etc.) for each listing, and only 1 "page" of content will ever be displayed to the user at a time. This is controlled by JavaScript and using display:none in CSS. Why do our cached results look different? Why would our content not show up in Google's cache preview, even though the text can be found in the page source? Does it have to do with the way we're using display:none? Are there negative SEO effects with regards to how we're using it (i.e. we're employing it strictly for aesthetics, but is it possible Google thinks we're trying to hide text)? Google's Technical Guidelines recommends against using "fancy features such as JavaScript, cookies, session IDs, frames, DHTML, or Flash." If we were to separate those business listing "pages" into actual separate URLs (e.g. http://www.fslocal.com/toronto/auto-vault-canada/contact/ would be the "Contact" page), and employ static HTML code instead of complicated JavaScript, would that solve the problem? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.Thanks!
Technical SEO | | fslocal0 -
Mobile site ranking instead of/as well as desktop site in desktop SERPS
I have just noticed that the mobile version of my site is sometimes ranking in the desktop serps either instead of as well as the desktop site. It is not something that I have noticed in the past as it doesn't happen with the keywords that I track, which are highly competitive. It is happening for results that include our brand name, e.g '[brand name][search term]'. The mobile site is served with mobile optimised content from another URL. e.g wwww.domain.com/productpage redirects to m.domain.com/productpage for mobile. Sometimes I am only seen the mobile URL in the desktop SERPS, other times I am seeing both the desktop and mobile URL for the same product. My understanding is that the mobile URL should not be ranking at all in desktop SERPS, could we be being penalised for either bad redirects or duplicate content? Any ideas as to how I could further diagnose and solve the problem if you do believe that it could be harming rankings?
Technical SEO | | pugh0 -
Page Content
Our site is a home to home moving listing portal. Consumers who wants to move his home fills a form so that moving companies can cote prices. We were generating listing page URL’s by using the title submitted by customer. Unfortunately we have understood by now that many customers have entered exactly same title for their listings which has caused us having hundreds of similar page title. We have corrected all the pages which had similar meta tag and duplicate page title tags. We have also inserted controls to our software to prevent generating duplicate page title tags or meta tags. But also the page content quality not very good because page content added by customer.(example: http://www.enakliyat.com.tr/detaylar/evden-eve--6001) What should I do. Please help me.
Technical SEO | | iskq0 -
Duplicate content
I'm getting an error showing that two separate pages have duplicate content. The pages are: | Help System: Domain Registration Agreement - Registrar Register4Less, Inc. http://register4less.com/faq/cache/11.html 1 27 1 Help System: Domain Registration Agreement - Register4Less Reseller (Tucows) http://register4less.com/faq/cache/7.html | These are both registration agreements, one for us (Register4Less, Inc.) as the registrar, and one for Tucows as the registrar. The pages are largely the same, but are in fact different. Is there a way to flag these pages as not being duplicate content? Thanks, Doug.
Technical SEO | | R4L0 -
Will 301 redirecting a site multiple times still preserve the original site value?
Hi, All! If site www.abc.com was already 301 redirected to site www.def.com, and now the site owner wants to redirect www.def.com to www.ghi.com - is there any concern that it's not going to work, and some of the original linkjuice, rank, trust, etc. is going to vanish? Or as long as the 301s are set up right, should you be able to 301 indefinitely? Does anyone have any experience with actually doing this and seeing good/bad/neutral results? Thanks in advance! -Aviva B
Technical SEO | | debi_zyx0