Is Inter-linking websites together good or bad for SEO?

[WebServiceConsulting.com]

I know of a website that inter-links a handful of websites together (ex- coloring.ws interlinks to a handful of other sites, including dltk-kids.com, and others).

Is this negative for SEO?

I was thinking about creating a few related sites and inter-linking all of them together, since they will all be relevant to each other.

Any thoughts would be great!

[RichardSEO]

If you go that route, make sure to use different hosting companies or at the very least get different C-class IPs.

Interlnking sites is generally not that effective, a single link from an authority site will carry much more weight. You are better off spending your time contacting authority sites within your niche to get a link somehow (guest blog, get you featured etc)

If say you have 10 PR 1, DA/PA of 15 linking to 1 site. A single authority DA/PA of 35 and PR 3 would carry more weight than all of those combined.

Hope that helps.

[JamesNorquay]

To be honest if it is all on the same sever with the same hosting information ect, if it not going to do much benefit from a long term point of view. I tested your site in one sever tracking tool and it shows up all the sites on the same hosting IP been 98% similar (Google would see the same data) that answers the reply above is it on the same C-Class.

| <a id="mfa99" class="domain-name"></a>[+] <a id="mfa100" class="domain-name"></a>kidsrcrafty.com | 98% <a id="mfa101" class="expand-indicator expand"></a>reasons why |   | > 1 million |
| <a id="mfa115" class="domain-name"></a>[+] <a id="mfa116" class="domain-name"></a>www.dltk-kids.com | 98% <a id="mfa117" class="expand-indicator expand"></a>reasons why |   | > 1 million |
| <a id="mfa137" class="domain-name"></a>[+] <a id="mfa138" class="domain-name"></a>dltk-bible.com | 98% <a id="mfa139" class="expand-indicator expand"></a>reasons why | Jan. 26, 2002 | 96566 |
| <a id="mfa154" class="domain-name"></a>[+] <a id="mfa155" class="domain-name"></a>dltk-teach.com | 98% <a id="mfa156" class="expand-indicator expand"></a>reasons why | Nov. 2, 2002 | 115330 |
| <a id="mfa172" class="domain-name"></a>[+] <a id="mfa173" class="domain-name"></a>dltk-holidays.com | 98% <a id="mfa174" class="expand-indicator expand"></a>reasons why | Oct. 16, 2002 | 230480 |
| <a id="mfa188" class="domain-name"></a>[+] <a id="mfa189" class="domain-name"></a>coloring.ws | 98% <a id="mfa190" class="expand-indicator expand"></a>reasons why |   | 43523 |
| <a id="mfa204" class="domain-name"></a>[+] <a id="mfa205" class="domain-name"></a>kidzone.ws | 98% <a id="mfa206" class="expand-indicator expand"></a>reasons why |   | 55624 |
| <a id="mfa218" class="domain-name"></a>[+] <a id="mfa219" class="domain-name"></a>dltk-poems.com | 98% <a id="mfa220" class="expand-indicator expand"></a>reasons why |   | > 1 million |
| <a id="mfa229" class="domain-name"></a>[+] <a id="mfa230" class="domain-name"></a>dltk-enfants.com | 54% <a id="mfa231" class="expand-indicator expand"></a>reasons why |   | > 1 million |
| <a id="mfa235" class="domain-name"></a>[+] <a id="mfa236" class="domain-name"></a>makinglearningfun.com | 52% <a id="mfa237" class="expand-indicator expand"></a>reasons why | April 2, 2006 | 178965 |
| <a id="mfa241" class="domain-name"></a>[+] <a id="mfa242" class="domain-name"></a>dltk-ninos.com |

[WebServiceConsulting.com]

What about subdomains?

Would that be more beneficial?

The idea is to have a few relevant sites inter-linking with each other, because each one focuses on a specific niche. Putting all of the niches into one site isn't ideal, let me know your thoughts on subdomains, something like what http://www.got-free-ecards.com/ does (http://printable-cards.gotfreecards.com/)

[Dr-Pete]

Google's advice on this is a bit vague, and the practical consequences can vary a lot. Linking together a couple of sites is usually fine - linking together dozens or hundreds could get you marked as a link network and get all of your sites penalized.

Usually, as Richard and James said, it's more that Google will simply devalue the links, especially if those sites share ownership/hosting/etc. It's just too easy to cross-link your own properties. I don't think getting too fancy with hosting, C-blocks, etc. is the answer. That's a lot of work, and Google can still connect you on ownership and other cues. To erase all of those cues is a lot more time, effort, and money than links from a couple of sites are really worth.

The best advice I can give is that, if you cross-link, do it in a way that's clearly of value to users. In other words, just linking these sites to each other in the footer is almost going to guarantee that Google ignores those links. If, however, you can link specific content to directly relevant content on another site, they're much more likely to let those links carry equity, and that's going to be valuable for your visitors and let them usefully traverse your sites. So, think of it more as a CRO task - how can you get visitors from one site to meaningfully engage in and convey on your other sites? If you can do that, and if you're only talking a handful of sites, you have some chance at making those links carry value.