Reciprocal Links between my own sites ?
-
Is is ok to have Reciprocal Links between sites you really own ?
We have a website that has been regionalized to 5 countries, using 5 different domains. The content is exclusive for the country but the keywords used might be similar.
We have all the domains under the same Analytics account and all of them share the same Adsense code.
Can I be penalized by Google for making reciprocal links between them ? Is something usefull for improving the SEO rank or I should avoid doing it ?
Thanks in advance
-
Well put Gianluca, I always appreciate your input.
-
Robert gave a great answer, but I may offer you an alternative.
It is true that all your sites linking one each other may seem a classic link wheel, but sometimes - and maybe it is your case - there are occasion when a business company runs more site for its different brands.
In that case the fact each site links to the others in not absolutely a spammy thing, but a brand consistence necessity.
But, in order to make clear you are not doing any suspicious link wheel, the best way is to create a good About Us page where you tell the nature of the site and that is part of a bigger project which see also the existance of other sites, which you briefly describe and link to (and maybe in a subsection with H2 heading: "Our international sites" or "Our international presence).
Doing that way you link your sites one each other, but editorially and just in a very topically defined page (the About Us).
So, you will also avoid to the links in places which are surely devaluated (i.e.: footer links).
-
That's a great answer from Robert.
Additionally, if the inter-site links would benefit your visitors, then by all means provide them, otherwise, really not much benefit to be gained on the SEO front as Robert correctly mentions.
You mention that the various websites have their own Content. Use this unique content to attract links by ensuring that it adds value to the visitors, is topical, informative, useful. Distribute it well and socially share it amongst relevant networks, focus on those such activities for your links.
Regards, Simon
-
The fact you have them under the same analytics account really says it all; while Google may not penalize it per say, they are likely to devalue the links. Frankly, we already know that reciprocal links don't work or one off schemes around them. Having sites that are on the same IP address or C block will also devalue the link. So, what to do?
An example for us is our main site. We build a lot of sites for others and for at least a year and a half now we no longer have those sites link back to us. In our new site, there are no links coming back from clients. There just doesn't seem to be a point in it. With your sites I think you would be better served to get your links the old fashion way.
Best,
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
-
Google Search Console "International Targeting" is reporting errors that are not present on my site
We are currently handling search for a global brand www.example.com/ which has presence in many countries worldwide. To help Google understand that there is an alternate version of the website available in another language, we have used hreflang tags. These hreflang tags are implemented only via the XML sitemap across all geo-locations. Under the “Search Analytics -> International Targeting” section, in Google Search Console, for the Malaysian website (www.example.com/my/), there are a number of “no-return tags (sitemaps)” errors arising. For example, for India as a geo-location, there is one ‘en-IN’ – no return tags (sitemaps) errors listed. The error is listed below: Originating URL - www.example.com/my/xyz/ Alternate URL - www.example.com/in/xyz/ When the XML sitemap for the URL – www.example.com/in/ was checked for the hreflang tags, it was noticed that the implementation of hreflang tags for the URL – www.example.com/in/xyz/ was perfectly fine and it was providing a return tag to the URL – www.example.com/my/xyz/. After the code level verification, it was identified that the implementation of hreflang tags was perfectly fine via the XML sitemap. Even though at the code level it was verified that the implementation is fine, the error still persists in Google Search Console. Kindly suggest a solution to this situation, and also advise the effects of these errors on search engine performance
International SEO | | Starcom_Search0 -
Need help with search results for US site for a compnay that has many international sites
I am tasked with optimizing a US site for a company that has many international sites. Currently, if you search for just the main company name and don't include "USA" in your search, it won't even give you the US site on the SERP. It displays the Italian, French, etc etc sites - even though I'm searching on Google in the US with a preferred language of Engilsh. Unfortunately I don't have any control over the other sites, only the US one. Is there anything I can add to the US site (aside from setting the country code in GSC) so that when someone searches from within the USA, they get the US site and not all of the other ones? thanks!
International SEO | | SEOIntouch0 -
License Details across multiple regional brand sites
Hi guys! I have a quick question. Our team are currently having a debate regarding whether we should display our licensing details as text across all our brands in multiple regions (roughly 50 sites). My argument is that if you are required to have a license to be able to operate legally that Google would EXPECT to be able to crawl those details in order to provide their (Google) users with reliable results as opposed to rogue operators. The other side of the argument is that it will tie all the sites together and that would be a huge risk (as Google will perceive it as a network)- also that it would be seen as duplicate content? Would really appreciate any feedback on what is the best to do in this case. Thanks!!
International SEO | | RedSearch010 -
Duplicate Content - International Sites - AirBNB
Good morning Just a quick question. Why does AirBNB not get penalised for duplicate content on its sites. For example, the following two urls (and probably more for other countries), both rank appropriately in the google (UK and COM), https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/getting-started/how-to-travel
International SEO | | joogla
https://www.airbnb.com/help/getting-started/how-to-travel Their are no canonical tags, no Alternative etc If I look at the following https://www.airbnb.co.uk/s/London--United-Kingdom
https://www.airbnb.com/s/London--United-Kingdom They both have alternative to point to the other language versions which I would expect. However they also both point to them selves as canonical. Would this not be duplicate content ? Thanks for your insights Shane0 -
If I redirect based on IP will Google still crawl my international sites if I implement Hreflang
We are setting up several international sites. Ideally, we wouldn't set up any redirects, but if we have to (for merchandising reasons etc) I'd like to assess what the next best option would be. A secondary option could be that we implement the redirects based on IP. However, Google then wouldn't be able to access the content for all the international sites (we're setting up 6 in total) and would only index the .com site. I'm wondering whether the Hreflang annotations would still allow Google to find the International sites? If not, that's a lot of content we are not fully benefiting from. Another option could be that we treat the Googlebot user agent differently, but this would probably be considered as cloaking by the G-Man. If there are any other options, please let me know.
International SEO | | Ben.JD0 -
Redirect the main site to keyword-rich subfolder / specific page for SEO
Hi, I have two questions. Question 1: is it worthwhile to redirect the main site to keyword-rich subfolder / specific page for SEO? For example, my company's webpage is www.example.com. Would it make sense to redirect (301) the main site to address www.example.com/service-one-in-certain-city ? I am asking this as I have learned that it is important for SEO to have keywords in the URL, and I was thinking that we could do this and include the most important keywords to the subfolder / specific URL. What are the pros and cons of this? Should I create folders or pages just the sake of keywords? Question 2: Most companies have their main URL shown as www.example.com when you access their domain. However, some multi-language sites show e.g. www.example.com/en or www.example.com/en/main when you type the domain to your web browser to access the site. I understand that this is a common practice to use subdomains or folders to separate different language versions. My question is regarding subfolders. Is it better to have only the subfolder shown (www.example.com/en) or should I also include the specific page's URL after the subfolder with keywords (www.example.com/en/main or www.example.com/en/service-one-in-certain-city)? I don't really understand why some companies show only the subfolder of a specific language page and some the page's URL after the subfolder. Thanks in advance, Sam
International SEO | | Awaraman1 -
Moving British site to the US... who will have .com? US or UK?
We are the UK's first baby social commerce site launched in Nov 2011. We're doing quite well and are looking at expanding to the US. However I'm not sure what advice you'd give me in terms of internationalising the site. I see three options on how to deal with the URL structure? Make US site as .com as it will be my main source of revenue for the long run and redirect all British traffic to .co.uk Have .com for both UK and US but have the URL as either: us.babyhuddle.com or as babyhuddle.com/us/. Same thing for the UK Another option? Would love to hear the feedback from you guys. Thanks, Walid
International SEO | | walidalsaqqaf0 -
How should I make my site better?
I am glad to join seomoz,I am from China,the seomoz is a famous seo service provider company,some reason is one seoer guru named zac introduce seomoz to Chinese seor. So I think if seomoz provider seo tools or service to chinese seoer is a good idea.The market is very big.But chinese biggest SE is www.baidu.com,not google.There is something diffrent from baidu and google. My site is www.cn-sen.com, It's good performance at google with the keyword "除湿机",but it's have some trouble at baidu.I think the content of website is the main reason.and internal link is not good. Could someone give me some advise of seo to make my site better performance? thanks very much.
International SEO | | tylrr1230