Linking of similar sites

[Admiral_Burrows]

Hi,

I am the webmaster of a number of sites that all cover similar topics.

I am considering linking the main site out to one of my other sites but am not sure whether to link from home page to home page / deep page to home page / deep page to deep page to get the maximum benefit.

Does anybody have any thoughts, comments or suggestions?

Thanks!

[articlemaster9]

It completely depends on your site's navigation and hierarchies. Everything you do would benefit you. try to add the home page and the deep pages too so that the PR juice can flow through the site but dont make it too complicated.

[eagag]

If you have several sites and they are all similar in topic its ok to use site wide links to link between them.

[Modified]

Why would you want to do that? Is it because you want the backlinks and better SERP positions that go with it? If so, don't be surprised if you start falling down SERPs.

[Admiral_Burrows]

Thanks for your responses guys,

Yes Modified that is the main reason.

What makes you think i'd see a SERPs drop?

[MayaLocke]

Be careful that they are not hosted all on the same server/block that could be viewed by Google as an attempt to manipulate PageRank.

[Admiral_Burrows]

Thanks Maya,

All hosted on seperate servers with unique IPs.

[eagag]

even if they were on the same server, you will only be penalized if you have dozens of interlinked websites if you only have a couple you are under the radar

[crankydave]

Your best bet is to link only when and where appropriate. When following that link provides a benefit to visitors then by all means link away. Avoid sitewides and avoid linking just for the sake of linking.

Dave

[Admiral_Burrows]

Thanks Dave,

I certainly think they would provide benefit and provide further information about the topic the user is researching.

[morestar]

Originally Posted by articlemaster9

It completely depends on your site's navigation and hierarchies. Everything you do would benefit you. try to add the home page and the deep pages too so that the PR juice can flow through the site but dont make it too complicated.

not everything you do will benefit you - take it from me ; )

however, the best thing to do in my opinion is to post the URLs and let us examine them.

[morestar]

Originally Posted by Modified

Why would you want to do that? Is it because you want the backlinks and better SERP positions that go with it? If so, don't be surprised if you start falling down SERPs.

Funny thing I tried the same thing a month ago with one of my sites and dropped dramatically in the SERPS.

[Admiral_Burrows]

Thanks morestar, did both sites drop in the SERPs or just one?

[nickseo]

What would actually benefit your users is probably the best bet, if your thinking of sending on page rank then you can look at the pages with rank and the ones you want to get ank obv. I dont see why linking to a relevant site (esp as hosted elsewhere etc) would bring your serps down unless site A iscurrently ranking for something yor then going to send people to site B about.

[morestar]

Originally Posted by Admiral_Burrows

Thanks morestar, did both sites drop in the SERPs or just one?

well keep in mind that was only my experience. maybe it had to do with my genre but basically it was the main site that took a dive in the SERPs, after I removed all the links and so forth, I've moved back up to my typical spot - in and around #4 or #5.

[zeruel]

This has been an issue on the sites that I handle before. And I think web hosting can be an issue on this matter. We didn't pursue with the linking because it may not take good effect on our SE Rankings.

[shakir]

Originally Posted by Admiral_Burrows

Hi,

I am the webmaster of a number of sites that all cover similar topics.

I am considering linking the main site out to one of my other sites but am not sure whether to link from home page to home page / deep page to home page / deep page to deep page to get the maximum benefit.

Does anybody have any thoughts, comments or suggestions?

Thanks!

Its depends on the site nature.. Getting link from home page more weigh than internel pages... So if promoting home page or any sub page then get Bl fro it... form any sources pages, either home or deep....doesnt matter

[luigip]

crankydave is right. It's the best regarding your visitors and the SEs.

[Modified]

Originally Posted by Admiral_Burrows

Thanks for your responses guys,

Yes Modified that is the main reason.

What makes you think i'd see a SERPs drop?

Because google will see it as an attempt to game the search engines?