Linking between your own websites- yay or nay?
-
Hi Guys
I have 4 different niche websites in the healthcare area and wondering is it a safe strategy to link between them? I'm not sure if this is frowned upon by the search engines.
I have heard the term 'link wheel', but I'm not sure if this is what a link wheel would be.
I do have 2 sites that are much more important than the other 2. One is a directory of practitioners and the other is my main site of my healthcare business. The 2 other websites are smaller niche markets that I also service.
My directory was previously hurt by the Penguin update because I was using Linkvana and blog networks and the anchor text was too specific. I have discontinued using any blog networks or 'quick link' strategies. I'm now implementing a guest posting strategy on reputable websites.
I want to do everything buy the book now and thought I should check before any new linking strategy.
Thanks in advance!
Clinton
-
Thanks Malcolm. That's sound advice.
-
The risk is still there if Google manages to find a connection. You ideally need different C-Block IP hosts as mentioned to link sites together to gain benefit. Although I would avoid the whole 'Blog network' and 'link wheel' idea, don't try and only link your sites together in a wheel. I have seen sites do this - shoot up the rankings brag about it and then never to be seen again.
-
OK. Thanks Francisco. That makes sense. So if these websites are hosted with different hosting companies, I am a little less at risk?
-
C-Blocks are groups of domains with an administrative relationship between them. Linking domains residing on the same C-Block often indicates websites that have the same owner.
-
Thanks Francisco. I'm not sure what a c-block is though. Can you clarify?
-
If they are on the same c-block, then I probably wouldn't link them. Instead I would focus on doing what is best for the user and optimize for conversions. I definitely wouldn't link a non-relative website to another or the Penguin site.
-
OK. That's helpful. Thank you!
-
This could come off as a "Blog Network" to Google and would be frowned upon. Since your Directory was dinged, I wouldn't associate it with your other websites. Personally I had 5 sites myself that were all in a "General" niche but a little different and all linking up with each other. They did not get penalized or anything but as soon as those updates rolled out I removed their linking structure. Better to be safe than sorry!
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
-
What is the process of link earning to avoid link building?
Hi All, I want process to earning links for new SEO 2014. Can anybody explain? Thanks, Akhilesh
Link Building | | dotlineseo0 -
Outbound links
We are working with a large, global customer that has asked us to link to their website from about 5,000 pages of our website. The links would either point to one page on their website, or they would point to specific pages throughout their website. Is this a bad thing from an SEO perspective, as in - would either of us be penalized from search engines for doing this?
Link Building | | Prospector-Plastics0 -
What is the difference between external followed links and internal followed links.
I have almost 3,000 external links followed and only a tiny amount of internal followed links. My website is doing really badly on google at the mo. I am also an SEO beginner and learning new stuff every day, but am not sure exactly what the difference is! Thanks!
Link Building | | heleni0 -
How Can a website with Far lower links and authority outrank me?
I Have a competitor clearly using incorrect methods to rank, How can they be coming in ahead of me? Pages are are all keyword stuffed, site is only 1 year old. It looks like their main source is Press Releases for backlinks. How long does it usually take google weed these people out? Thx!
Link Building | | TP_Marketing0 -
Too Many Links???
SEOMOZ is telling me I have more than 100 links on quite a few of my pages, and I cant seem to find out what links they are finding. Like for instance on this page http://standupguys.biz/what-we-haul/commercial-junk-removal-services/computer-removal-recycling/ It is telling me that I have 117 hyper links (which is WAY too high). Can anyone explain to me where these are coming from, and how I can avoid this?? Please and thank you.
Link Building | | Caseman0 -
Link Building
I've been hearing about going after niche directories, and my question is most of them have a ton of links on any given page. Is it even worth taking the time to approach these sites knowing they won't pass a lot of link juice?
Link Building | | azguy0 -
Link Ratio
Does Google (or other search engines) penalize websites if they have a too many inbound links from a single domain? (Say for instance, I have 500 inbound links, and 400 of them are from one root domain.)
Link Building | | EricVallee340