Connecting Two Websites Without Upsetting Google
-
I have a question that I think I know the answer to, but want to cover my bases.
We have a successful blog and are creating a second similar blog for a more specific type of reader. We want to backlink between content because it makes sense for the reader. Our fear is that we may come off spammy to Google by having so many backlinks.
Is there a way we are able to tell Google these two sites are related so they don't penalize either site for anything?
-
Thanks for your thoughtful response. As you point out, there are many different business models, and what might be best "general" practice, might not quite fit every model.
Moz Q&A is great for this type of discussion.
-
It depends on the topic. I normally agree with this sentiment, I have given the same advice often over the year. In this case it was something that made sense to do because the audience via social and email is a very different demographic than we had on the main blog. The second blog was not built for backlinks or any spammy purpose, which is why we wanted to clearly show the relationship to Google without getting flagged for trying to spam. The purpose for the links would only be for user experience and not for SEO, we are good making all those links nofollow links. Even if we did them all nofollow we just wanted to see if there was anything else that could be done to show the relationship between the two sites.
The second blog was started less than 2 months ago and already has 50k+ pageviews even without the help of the original blog. Not a single backlink during that time, mainly because we were protecting our assets. Thanks for your feedback and not holding back on this topic, I like that even if I may not like the advice given that we're all open to the truth here in the Moz community. I definitely agree with you here about doing this for the backlinks, there has to be a purpose to a second site. In this case there really was a purpose, and it was all audience driven. Cheers!
-
This is what I figured, but just wanted to see if there was something I was missing. I thought a remembered hearing about a way that was similar to cross-domain tracking where you were able to show the relationship between the two site clearly to Google. I kept going back to NoFollow links and trusting that Google is smart enough to see what's going on.
-
I think that it makes better sense for the reader and better sense for you, to put all of this stuff on the original blog.
The backlinks that any second blog will create will be worthless unless you have links into the second blog from third party websites. So, instead of building that second blog, just put all of that great content on the main blog and get the backlinks straight to the the site you are promoting.
Building a second blog just for backlinks is like trying to kill a rabbit with a ricochet. Just shoot the damn rabbit.
I don't think that Google is going to like this second blog very well if you are making it to manufacture backlinks for your first blog. Google was killing that stuff twenty years ago.
-
Hello Jeff,
Yeap, with Nofollow tags on that links.
Best luck!
GR.
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
-
How to create link from google redirect?
I have seen redirect links from google but not sure how to create one. Please guide if anyone knows the answer. Example: https://images.google.cv/url?q=https://moz.com
Link Building | | Melissacarter3 -
Can i link my two websites
Hello , I have two website in the same domain but for 2 differents country. Can I put a link in both of them? If yes, should the links be NO follow? here is the two websites : https://gebetszeiten-kalender.de/ , https://preghiera-orario.it/ Thanks in advance
Link Building | | islam2france0 -
Should I add my company website to Applegate a free product and services directory?
A colleague of mine has been sent a marketing pack from www.applegate.co.uk - is it good SEO practice to use free directories, or are these days over?
Link Building | | Catherine_Selectaglaze0 -
HELP! Google is penalizing me and I can't figure out why.
I've come to the conclusion Google is definitely penalizing me for the keword "sensaphone" and I cannot figure out why. I've checked back links etc. and I don't see anything that would raise a flag. We rate very well in Bing etc. for the same keyword, but in Google SERP's will be on the 3rd or later page. Our domain is - www.absoluteautomation.com - any ideas?
Link Building | | absoauto1 -
Link building without using trademarked names
If a particular brand's terms & conditions stated that you cannot use their trademarked names in your backlinking strategy, what are some good ways to rank higher for those names?
Link Building | | aidin30000 -
Website design by... links. Worth it?
Hi all, Agency SEO here. Finally getting around to doing some work on our own site and had a thought. Any agency SEOs out there including "Website design by xyz" links in client website footers? (Only with client permission, of course.) We have a solid variety of clients and have tons of web work for them. Any agency SEOs want to speak to this? Any thoughts appreciated. James
Link Building | | jamesm5i0 -
Creating a separate blog off our website
A while ago we purchased some domains that are related to our industry. I'm fairly sceptical about using them, but I am interested what peoples thoughts are. We are currently producing quite alot of engaging content and although it's industry related, it is sometimes quite broad and not always appropriate for our company blog. I have been debating whether or not it will be a good idea to use one of the domain names that we have purchased to create more of an industry blog that is off our website. I'm not sure if this is considered a "black hat" technique by using domains registered to us? And also whether or not Google will punish because we are blogging from the same IP address and linking back to our site ? I look forward to hearing what people think. Thanks,
Link Building | | esendex0 -
Website dissapeared out of Google
Hi Everyone, About 2 months ago i launched a website called http://spelenroulette.nl, i did some linkbuilding for this website in the meantime with other roulette/gaming related websites and the website got a bit up in Google. But when i was checking my rankings today the frontpage of this website doesn't show up on the first 80 pages? Only some subpages are still on the same positions. Could this be for a rank-update like these happens all the time and your site dissapears from Google for several days, or could this be because of wrong/too many backlinks or something completely different? Regards, Yannick
Link Building | | iwebdevnl0