Cross-Site Links with different Country Code Domains
-
I have a question with the penguin update. I know they are really cracking down on "spam" links. I know that they are wanting you to shift from linking keywords to the brand name, unless it makes sense in a sentence.
We have five sites for one company in the header they have little flag images, that link to different country domains. These domains all have relatively the same domain name besides the country code. My question is, linking these sites back and fourth to each other in this way, does it hurt you in penguin? I know they are wanting you to push your identity but does this cross-site scheme hurt you?
In the header of these sites we have something like this.
I am assuming the best strategy would probably be to treat them like separate entities. Or, just focus on one domain.
They also have some sites that have links in the footer but they are set up like:
For product visit Domain.comShould nofollows be added on these footer links as well? I am not sure if penguin finds them spammy too.
-
Thanks a ton. I do have one last question, well for know. I am not sure about the etiquette for Moz, so I don't know if I should ask it here. But I will anyway, live and learn.
Let's say I have a site with domain.com and a store on subdomain.domain.com
We want to link the main\subdomain back and fourth. Would this be a valid thing to do in the navigation since the point is to get the customer to the store? Or, do the spiders view subdomains as separate entities? I would rather put the store under a directory but it is hosted by a third party.I have read the following but I don't know the validity, "Each subdomain is considered a separate site for SEO and rankings. But links to within site sub domains are considered as internal links by Google."
I assume if that is true, I have nothing to worry about with concerns of nofollow on those links.
-
Thanks. Great point I neglected to mention in detail. !!
-
Absolutely. Probably your best bet.
On a sidebar note, try to keep your link count on any domain pages to a maximum of 100. Anything above and beyond that, are not counted on pages and usually the BOT won't follow anyways. The more links on a page, the less value can be attributed to them.
If you want to help the link profile of the site, decide which links could be <nofollow>and place those tags to help with improving the link quality on various pages. This also helps Google with trust as you are not trying to 'game' the linking profile of the site or structure to improve various pages SERP rankings.</nofollow>
-
I agree with Rob you would be best to place a nofollow on the links between your country level domains. By doing this you get to keep the links and convenience from a users point of view, but you are flagging to Google that you are not trying to pass authority between your sites by interlinking them. Essentially you are waving a flag that says you are not trying to manipulate your rankings by creating your own link network.
-
So essentially, avoid, and remove, repetitive links that are found across sites in the header\footer\sidebar areas and focus on getting, or placing, fewer links in relative content.
Correct?
-
Hey there,
Are you linking these domains just form the main level TLD (homepage), or all the product pages from within each company/country site.
If yes, absolutely! Use <nofollow>on any of the domain/brand or country level TLD's to avoid any kind of penalty. Penguin being as picky as it is, you would want to stay away from any of that to in a 'safe' zone. I would stear clear and use these best practices for interlinking cross country domain sites and products. </nofollow>
Work on building your outside links to the site through content development and social media/mentions, while using the <nofollow>links within the site at the brand and product level. </nofollow>
Thanks, Rob
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
-
Dealing with links to your domain that the previous owner set up
Hey everyone, I rebranded my company at the end of last year from a name that was fairly unique but sounded like I cleaned headstones instead of building websites. I opted for a name that I liked, it reflected my heritage - however it also seems to be quite common. Anyway, I registered the domain name as it was available as the previous owner's company had been wound up. It's only been in the last week or two where I've managed to have a website on that domain and I've been tracking it's progress through Moz, Google & Bing Webmaster tools. Both the webmaster tools are reporting back that my site triggers 404 errors for some specific links. However, I don't have or have never used those links before. I think the previous owner might have created the links before he went bust. My question is in two parts. The first part is how do I find out what websites are linking to me with these broken URL's, and the second is will these 404'ing links affect my SEO? Thanks!
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | mickburkesnr0 -
Has our site been attacked?
Hello fellow mozers! I am having a problem you might be able to help me with and any thoughts on the issue will be greatly appreciated. Yesterday, I received an automated monthly report from Quill Engage, a tool that fetches data from Google Analytics and generates reports in a narrative format. Last month's 'referral traffic' section indicates two incredibly spammy websites driving more than 200 sessions to our website. Naturally, I checked out GWT and Open Site Explorer but couldn't find any traces of such activity. Futhermore, all our metrics seem ok. Can this possibly be a negative SEO attack that was only traced by the aforementioned tool? Can you propose any other way to test this and make sure we're not being attacked?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | SMD_0 -
Competitors Building Bad Back Links
Hi there, I recently checked the back links for my site using Open Site Explorer, and I noticed a huge number of bad back links which I believe a competitor might be building to help lower my ranking for a number of highly competitive keywords. Besides spending time disavowing these links, what else can be done? Has anyone else been faced with the same problem? Any help would be appreciated. cXT0lvd.jpg
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | bamcreative0 -
Hello i have been hit for external links
Hello my web has been hit for external links maybe because of the work of SEO consultants y had before. The web name is http://www.propdental.com Some seo consultants will try to use the disalow tools on webmaster tools other recomends to do another web with the content wich is very rich and start over again with a new domain I would like to know what is your opinion thank you very much
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | maestrosonrisas0 -
Link farming and related websites
In my niche I have about 17 sites I have created. They all provide unique content, html, and all have a variety of uses that differ from each other mostly, some repetition but not really. All these sites are related to the same niche. I do link to each other in my sites. I don't go crazy and link every site to every other site or span links on footers. I somewhere in the content link here to there. Not even consistent, just linking to related pages from others. I was wondering if this is something I need to be careful about or could I get hit with link farming?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | cbielich0 -
Link Building using Badges
In light of penguin update, is link building using badges(like "I love SEOMOZ" badge) still considered a white hat tactic? I have read old posts on SEOMOZ blog about this topic and wondering if this method is still effective. Look forward to feedback from MOZers.
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Amjath0 -
Is someone trying to sabotage my site?
I think I may have a problem with someone trying to get me in trouble for paid links. If you look at the following websites, scroll to the bottom and look at the featured links area. There is a link to my website with my keyword on all of them. mercurynews.com contracostatimes.com twincities.com insidebayarea.com marinij.com Now I see a lot of the same links here which leads me to believe these sites are all owned by the same group. Also, 4 of the 5 are Bay Area news sites. The question I have is, are these links hurting me? I did not buy these and did nothing to put them there. I asked the previous owner of the domain who I am in touch with. He is the only other person to own it and he never purchased those links. My guess is a competitor is targeting me perhaps? Just wondering on everyone's take on this. I really can't afford to be getting hit by these potentially penalizing links right now, not when the busy season is starting up. Should I try to get them removed? Does anyone have experience with this or know how it might have happened?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | DanDeceuster0 -
How Google deal with a Domain Buy
Hello folks, How is google dealing with those clever peoples who decide to buy a famous place on internet( domain ), to be their domain name. For example if someone buy a very well ranked domain name for some keywords in their niche, is there any punishment? Whats the bad things about buy a domain? Thanks.
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | augustos0