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
-
Query on Site Architecture
Hi All, When I check on my ecommerce site in one of the architecture tool in that my Ecommerce Homepage interlink with 765 pages whereas when I check few competitors and big brands then there homepage linked with 28 pages, 33, 47, 57 etc not like my site 765 pages. Do I am wrong anywhere? Can you please check the screenshot of mine & one of the competitor's site architecture? Because as per me site architecture also play good role in google organic ranking. vXs5dh2 16wre
Technical SEO | | pragnesh96390 -
When i type site:jamalon.com to discover number of pages indexed it gives me different result from google web master tools
when i type site:jamalon.com to discover number of pages indexed it gives me different result from google web master tools
Technical SEO | | Jamalon0 -
If you are organizing the site structure for an ecommerce site, how would you do it?
Should you use not use slashes and use all dashes or use just a few slashes and the rest with dashes? For example, domain.com/category/brand/product-color-etc OR domain.com/anythinghere-color-dimensions-etc Which structure would you rather go for and why?
Technical SEO | | Zookeeper0 -
Content on top-level-domain vs. content on subpage
Hello Seomoz community, I just built a new website, mainly for a single affiliate programm and it ranks really well at google. Unfortunately the merchant doesn’t like the name of my domain, that’s why I was thrown out of the affiliate program. So suppose the merchant is a computer monitor manufacturer and his name is “Digit”. The name of my domain is something like monitorsdigital.com at the moment. (It’s just an example, I don’t own this URL). The structure of my website is: 1 homepage with much content on it + a blog. The last 5 blog entries are displayed on the homepage. Because I got kicked out of the affiliate program I want to permanent redirect monitorsdigital.com to another domain. But what should the new website look like? I have two possibilities: Copy the whole monitorsdigital website to a new domain, called something like supermonitors.com. Integrate the monitorsdigital website into my existing website about different monitor manufacturers. E.g.: allmonitors.com/digit-monitors.html (that url is permitted by the merchant) What do you think is the better way? I just got the impression, that it seems to be a little easier to rank high with a top-level-domain (www.supermonitors.com) than with a subpage (www.allmonitors.com/digit-monitors.html). However the subpage can benefit from the domain authority, that was generated by other subpages. Thanks for your help and best regards MGMT
Technical SEO | | MGMT0 -
Different serps
Hi, I seem to be making progress in recovering from penguin/panda. (maybe) However I get vastly different results if I search google in different ways for example if I specify the geographic location as US (I am in the UK) for prom hairstyles ie http://www.google.com/search?q=prom+hairstyles&gl=us (which I believe gives the SERPs for the US or at least it used to) my site (prom-hairstyles.org) comes in at number two or sometimes on the second page. But if I just search google.com it comes in at 450 or so. My question is do you get the same and why such a big difference? Thanks, Ian
Technical SEO | | jwdl0 -
Can URL re writes fix the problem of critical content too deep in a sites structure?
Good morning from Wetherby UK 🙂 Ok imagine this scenario. You ask the developers to design a site where "offices to let" is on level two of a sites hierachy and so the URL would look like this: http://www.sandersonweatherall.co.uk/office-to-let. But Yikes when it goes live it ends up like this: http://www.sandersonweatherall.co.uk...s/residential/office-to-let Is a fix to this a URL re - write? Or is the only fix relocating the office to let content further up the site structure? Any insights welcome 🙂
Technical SEO | | Nightwing0 -
IPs and Domains
If a domain loads on the domain and the IP is that a problem? So it loads on domain.com and 69.16.....com Thanks!
Technical SEO | | tylerfraser0 -
Duplicate Content Issues - Should I build a new site?
I'm currently working on a site which is built using Zen Cart. The client also has another version which has the same products on it. The product descriptions and the vast majority of the text has been re-written. I've used the duplicate content tool and these are the results: HTML fingerprint: 0000a7ee1f07a131 0000a7ec1f07a931 92.31% Total HTML similarity: 76.33% Standard text similarity: 66.72% Smart text similarity: 45.81% Total text similarity 56.27% I considered using a different eCommerce system like Magento or Volusion. So I had a look at a few templates, chose one and then used the tool again and got the following: HTML fingerprint: 0000a7e41b012111 0000a7ec1f07a931 72.00% Total HTML similarity: 64.65% Standard text similarity: 11.69% Smart text similarity: 17.90% Total text similarity 14.80% Do you think its worth doing this? thanks Dan
Technical SEO | | TheYeti0