Is it safe to link my websites together?

[RoyalBlueCoffee]

Hi Everyone,

I have 10 websites which are all of good standing and related. My visitors would benefit of knowing about the other websites but I don't want to trigger a google penalty by linking them all together. Ideally I'd also like to pass on importance through the links as well. How would you proceed in this situation?

Advice would be greatly appreciated,

Peter.

[customerparadigm.com]

Peter -

If each of the 10 websites are able to stand on their own, I think a strategy of slowly linking a few together might work, but I would be cautious.

I would avoid having each of the 10 websites link to each other. That's probably where you'll get into the most amount of trouble.

Instead, draw a diagram with the Websites that visitors would feel are the most similar. And test and watch the traffic. If you see a high bounce rate from one site to the other, you might want to reconsider.

I'd also evaluate if the sites that you are linking together are hosted at the same location, with the same C block of IP addresses. If so, that could raise a virtual eyebrow or two with an algorithm.

You might want to go with a strategy like this, where site 1 links to sites 2, 3 and 4:

1
+---+----+
2 3 4

And site 5 goes to site 6

5
+-----+
6

But don't go with a strategy where:
1 -- 2 --- 3 --- 4 --- 5 -- 6 -- 7 -- 8 -- 9 -- 10

Hope this helps!

-- Jeff

[Travis_Bailey]

IT IS NEVER SAFE!!!! GOOGLE WILL HUNT YOU LIKE A DOG HUNTING ANOTHER DOG HUNTING A SQUIRREL!

I am so funny.

If the pages that link to other pages are related, in the "OMG Bro, I can't believe just how topically related these pages are!", kind of way... then I'm sure you'll be alright.

Edited bit: If everything is under the same IP under the same registrant, than I'm somewhat sure the links will be discounted for the purpose of link juice/page rank. However, if you're funneling people to the good stuff, who cares?

The sites might not rank any higher, but if the sites are good in the first place, you may increase revenue across sites. Or you may decrease revenues. You kind of have to experiment with that sort of thing.