As an agency, what is the best way to handle being the webmaster and hosting provider for several sites (some of which are in the same industry and have natural links to each other)?
-
We are an agency that builds and hosts websites for several companies (some of which happen to be in the same industry - and therefore naturally link to each other - we do not dictate). In regards to handling their domain registrations, webmaster tools account, google analytics account, and servers, what is the best practice to avoid Google thinking that these companies are affilliated? Even though they aren't affiliated, we are afraid that us being the "webmaster" of these sites and having shared servers for them that we may be affecting them.
-
Grayloon, were these responses enough of an answer for you, or are you still looking for more information?
-
I think there may actually be two issues here: One with regard to the sites all linking and one with regard to GA accounts. After Keri's answer (thanks Keri), I did a little research regarding what is the best practice. (Somewhere, sometime, I learned you set all up in a master and then move forward....). Appears I was wrong.....
Almost anyone within SEO, SEM, etc. I could find with a blog or other venue stated that the best practice was to set each client up with their own analytics account since it allows portability. With regard to Adwords accounts, that should be set up in advance in a contract: Marketing Co or Customer will possess AdWords account on termination of services. For us, if client is to retain, I require a cc on file that is used to pay all invoices as they occur.
Hope this helps.
-
There are sites out there that will show you which sites share the same Google Analytics code, http://spyonweb.com/ is one. Google knows, trust me, as I've had them shut off adwords for multiple clients when one client refused about $36 in charges (five years ago, no MMC, but all in same GWT account).
I don't have an educated opinion on the impact of ranking that this may or may not cause, and will defer to others about that.
I personally create separate Google Analytics Accounts for each client, with only their profiles in that same account. It's less about Google knowing all and more about being able to hand off the GA account to another business and give them admin access without handing over the rest of my clients.
-
We are an SEO, SEM, WebDev, etc. firm. We handle several verticals with clients who do not directly compete. Frankly, we don't like having those who do (unless in a different region or highly niched). With the web dev we are webmaster, host, and etc. Typically, we won't take on a client unless we are the ones handling the hosting as we have had too many times when we were blocked or stalled by Danny the Developer and it is not worth the pain. (That is why we got into dev).
Most of our clients have multiple sites and we do cross link carefully where it is logical. By virtue of this, we actually have sites that are hosted on various site hosts nationwide (GoDaddy, BlueHost, Network Solutions, etc. etc. etc.). We develop a matrix around the sites and groups that will link and then insure we are not pulling the IP or C blocks in a way that shows all sites on same. Furthermore, we utilize the matrix in a way that If there are say 4 groups with 10 sites each, Group A can only link to Group B or C and Group B only to C or D. D can link to A, etc. - I am not endeavoring to fill in the entire picture, but believe you can figure it out.
Early on, we were link monkeys going everywhere, connecting everything. Could not figure out what the issue(s) were. When we learned from some mozzers about the IP and C block issues, it changed our clients outcomes. I suggest that anyone that is "cross pollinating" multiple sources set up your sites in a fashion that keeps the IP and C blocks from showing up as all from the same.
-
I have a lot of sites on only a few ip numbers, i have them all on the same Bing and
Google accounts as i host and build websites. I also have a lot of linking
between them. I have recently had a site drop in ranking, but i doubt it is
because of this, as others that have not dropped have more same ip links.
DiscountASP one of the biggest hosters has almost all sites on one IP number. I
think the concern is overblown.I would just make sure that same ip links do not make up the majority of your links.
Bing or Google understand that people are in my and your position, where you are a
webmaster for many sites and host them on a few ip numbers, it is natural.what is not natural is to a link farm
-
I'm curious to see what answers you get as I'm somewhat in the same boat. I do have multiple clients hosted with the same hosts, but there's not much cross over in industries. I do, however always set up completely individual GWT, analytics etc just because of a hunch that Google may consider two sides sharing an account somewhat connected. Whether anyone has any proof is another thing..
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
-
Internal Links issue in webmaster
we implemented our website on the basis of WordPress, then we migrate our website to PHP (YII Framework). after a while, we found out an issue around internal links which they were increasing severely. when we check our landing pages in webmaster (for example Price list), in contains 300 internal links but the reality is that there are no href tags on this page. it seems that webmaster calculate most of our links with the links of a single page and show them to us. is it natural or a mis configuration has been happened? Yh1NzPl
Technical SEO | | jacelyn_wiren0 -
Best way to change URL for already ranking pages
Hello. I have a lot of pages that I'm optimising. The ones I'm focusing on right now is already ranking, but the URLs could be better (they don't include the keywords right now). However I'm worried that if I change the URLs they will drop in rankings or have to start over. I would of course set up 301 redirect, but is there more I need to do? What is the best way to change URL for already ranking pages?
Technical SEO | | GoMentor0 -
How are Server side redirects perceived compared to direct links (on a Directory site)
Hi, Im creating some listings for a client on a relevant b2b directory (a good quality directory) I asked if the links are 'followed' or no 'followed' and they said they are 'server side redirects' so no direct links. Does anyone know how these are likely to be perceived by Google ? All BEst Dan
Technical SEO | | Dan-Lawrence1 -
What is the best way to correct GWT telling me I have mobile usability errors in Image directories
In GWT, I wish to remove / resolve the following errors Mobile Usability > Viewport not configured Mobile Usability > Small font size Mobile Usability > Touch elements too close The domain www.sandpiperbeacon.com is responsive, and passes the mobile usability test. A new issue I noticed, is that GWT is reporting 200+ errors just for image index pages such as http://www.sandpiperbeacon.com/images/special-events/ for example. Website users cannot access these pages (without editing the URL manually) so I don't consider these usability issues. BUT, I hate to see 200+ errors, especially when Google itself says "Websites with mobile usability issues will be demoted in mobile search results." I could set the image directories to dissalow in Robots.txt, but I do not want the images to stop appearing in image search, so this seems like a flawed solution. I cannot be the only person experiencing this, but I have been unable to find any suggestions online.
Technical SEO | | RobertoGusto0 -
Link removal from search rank checking sites
I'm going through the link removal process for unnatural links to a site. While I'm able to identify the obvious link profile and seo-article links that Google wants removed, what should we do about the links that are generated by the various seo link investigation and ranking services? Example: http://www.seoprofiler.com/analyze/allamericanfencing.com This site (seoprofiler) automatically creates these links to web sites when it generates its reports. Are those links that need to be removed or disavowed, or will Google not care? I want to err on the side of caution, but don't know how to treat these types of pages. The site didn't ask for or lobby for those links, so it's "natural" in that sense, but they're not editorially earned either (except for happen to be ranking for a similar term). Does anyone have experience on this aspect of the unnatural link grooming process?
Technical SEO | | CHarkins0 -
Can 2 sites co-exist in Webmaster under same owner?
He we have 2 website that have same exact content, both are redirect to one url. Is it safe to let google know by verifying both website with same ownership in webmaster tools? thanks
Technical SEO | | solution.advisor0 -
Linking Domains in Open Site Explorer Report No Longer Exist. Help.
Hello to all, I have a number of Linking Domains on our Open Site Explorer Report that no longer exist. I've run URL checks on just a sample of the list, and found that approx. 35% of that sample are from now dead Linking Domains. Can someone help? If these Linking Domains are defunct, how can I remove these? Does Google reflect negatively on these dead Linking Domains in our SERPs? Has anyone experienced this before? What action did you take?
Technical SEO | | -Al-0 -
What's the best free tool for checking for broken links?
I'm trying to find the best tool to check for broken links on our site. We have over 11k pages and I'm looking for something fast and thorough! I've tried Xenu and LinkChecker. Any other ideas?
Technical SEO | | CIEEwebTeam0