Same-server, Same-Market, Micro-Sites backlinks.. good or bad?
-
Hi there,
We are a real estate listings portal and we also create micro sites for real estate agents.
These micro-sites are hosted on our same server, similar in structure, different in design... different in content. They all link to us but not within each other.
They all link to us because they have to access our login system in order to manage their property listings on their own micro sites (which updates on our own website too). (Also as marketing for others to see that we have built their sites with our engine).
Would all these backlinks be considered to be coming from the same c-block? Thus, being sub-optimal for our SEO efforts? Should we worry about grouping them and giving them separate IP addresses?
Should we add nofollow tags to these links or are there any other things you would worry about?
Many thanks.
-
Hi Errol,
Yep, these links all come from the same c-block.
As Mary says, it's likely that Google is well aware that these sites are related. I disagree that that would automatically put you at high risk for a penalty, given that interlinking owned / managed websites is common practice, even amongst people who are not doing so for SEO purposes. Unless the network of sites appeared very manipulative, it is likely that the links would be discounted and no benefit passed between them rather than you being slapped with a bad penalty... however, nofollowing the links between each site and your hub site is the best practice when it is done to any extent / large scale, just in case this was viewed as manipulative. Since I do not know how many links / sites we're talking about here, I would certainly say that nofollowing these links would be the safe thing to do.
Even if you were being super-sneaky with the hosting of these sites, disguising Whois information, making changes to your template, etc., Google is incredibly good at figuring out which sites are related to each other. They've been good at this for a long time, so it's always best to assume that they'll know about professional networks like yours and follow best practice with linking.
Hope this helps!
Jane
-
Any second opinions would be appreciated..
-
I am sorry, could you clarify what you mean with the last sentence? Are you saying that by nofollowing those links I may see an SEO benefit so as I would potentially be "de-penalized"?
-
double post meant the same sorry
-
Even if you moved them to different IPs and c-blocks, it's highly likely that Google can tell they are related. Chances are good that Google sees this as some kind of link "scheme". If you no-follow the links, you may be spared the gelding that other link "schemes" have suffered.
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
-
Why site linking domain and backlink are differing.
My site https://www.planmymoment.com and Mobile version site https://www.planmymoment.com/?amp Why my desktop and mobile version site linking domain and backlink are differing.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | moz12pro0 -
Backlinks to internal pages
Hi, Our website of 3K+ pages currently has more links coming to internal pages (2nd & 3rd Level), compared to links to homepage. Just wanted to know if this is bad for rankings ? Please share your thoughts. Thanks.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Umesh-Chandra0 -
Large Site - Complete Site URL Change and How to Preserver Organic Rankings/Traffic
Hello Community, What is your experience with site redesign when it comes to preserving the traffic? If a large enterprise website has to go through a site-wide enhancement (resulting in change of all URLs and partial content), what do you expect from Organic rankings and traffic? I assume we will experience a period that Google needs to "re-orientate" itself with the new site, if so, do you have similar experience and tips on how to minimize the traffic loss? Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | b.digi0 -
How to detect a bad link and remove ?
As per google penguin, all the low quality back links are going to affect the website SERPS hugely. So, we need to find all the bad back links and then remove them one by one. What I would like to know is, what tool do you use to find all the bad back links ? And how do we know which is a bad back link or bad website, where our link should not be there ? Then what service what do you suggest for back links removal. I contacted LinkDelete.com and they quoted me 97$ for a month to remove all links in less than 3 weeks.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | monali123
Let me know, what you suggest.0 -
How does Google know if a backlink is good or not?
Hi, What does Google look at when assessing a backlink? How important is it to get a backlink from a website with relevant content? Ex: 1. Domain/Page Auth 80, website is not relevant. Does not use any of the words in your target term in any area of the website. 2. Domain/Page Auth 40, website is relevant. Uses the words in your target term multiple times across website. Which website example would benefit your SERP's more if you gained a backlink? (and if you can say, how much more would it benefit - low, medium, high).
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | activitysuper0 -
How to promote good content?
Our team just finished a massive piece of content.. very similar to the SEOmoz Begginer's Guide to SEO, but for the salon/aesthetics industry. We have a beautifully designed 10 Chapter, 50-page PDF which will require an email form submission to download. Each chapter is optimized for specific phrases, and will be separate HTML pages that are publicly available... very much like how this is setup: http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo My question is, what's the best way to promote this thing? Any specific examples would be ideal. I think blogger outreach would likely be the best approach, but is there any specific way that I should be doing this?.. Again a specific start-to-finish example is what I'm looking for here. (I've read almost every outreach post on moz, so no need to reference them) Anyone care to rattle off a list of ideas with accompanying examples? (even if they seem like no-brainers.. I'm all ears)
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | ATMOSMarketing560 -
Suppliers linking to website - good or bad practice?
Hi, was just wondering about suppliers linking to website - copywriters, web developers, etc. - could these be seen as purchased links by Google. Is it best to specify that suppliers shouldn't link through?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | McTaggart0 -
Content Marketing: Should we build a separate website or built in site within the Website itself?
Hi Mozzers, Client: Big carpet cleaner player in the carpet cleaning industry Main Goal: Creating good content to Get more organic traffic to our main site Structure of the extra content: It will act like a blog but will be differentiated from the regular site by not selling anything but just creating good content. The look and design will be different from the client's site. SEO question: In terms of SEO, what would be the most beneficial for us to do, should we built in this new section/site outside or inside the client's site? I personally think that it should be separated from the main site because of the main reasons: A followed link to the main site Anchor texts implementation linking back to our service pages If we would to choose to build in this content, it would be highly beneficial for getting organic traffic within the main site but I am afraid this will not provide us any link juice since anchor texts won't be accounted the same since all of those would be located in the Nav bar of the main site. Can someone tell me what would be the best in terms of SEO? P.S: My boss doesn't agree with me and would rather go the second option (build in within the main site) that's why i am asking you guys what would be the most beneficial? Thank you Guys
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Ideas-Money-Art0