Does having mulitste wordpress with same templaes hurt you?

[JasonRae]

Ok seo guys, don't get crazy here I am not trying to build a link wheel or anything black hat that's why I am asking.

I want to create several sites that are within my niche but cannot be on the same site because it just wouldn't make sense.  So for the purpose of branding a company can we have multi sites with similar templates or does google not want this.

I am not trying to rank these for the sole purpose of back linking but I want them all on a mulit site so they can have the same buddy press network.

Let me know what you guys think.

[jim_cetin]

The content is the important part here, it does not matter how many different domains with how many different templates (themes) you want to work with, but it does if you have the same content on many domains!

Google does not care how your site/s look and how many templates you've used.

[MoosaHemani]

It doesn’t matter if you have multiple sites with the same template and infect on the same server! The thing that matters to search engine the most is that you by purpose or by mistake should be involve in to any black or gray hat tactics to get boost in SERPs like, duplicate content, link wheel and many others…

[JasonRae]

Thank you for getting back... yeah we are writing original content for each site that was designed and written by me and two of my employees so content will be unique and for the user who is reading it. So no duplicate content on any of these sites at all. This really helps me out, I read somewhere and I am trying to remember that on a multi site you cannot use the same word press theme or Google will slap you.  Maybe that's if your doing black hat stuff with your sites.  We want to use the same theme simple for branding purposes.

thanks again

[softclick]

We do excactly that. We have a wordpress installation with 50+ niche blogs and another with 5 magazines. It has many advantages, to use the same codebase. And even to use the same theme as we do on:

http://www.naanoo.com
http://www.techboom.de
http://www.stylingqueens.de

because, every step towards better usability, crawlability etc. helps all your sites.

If all you sites are conform with the Google guidelines i don't see any problems doing so. Our experience with it is good.