Different Hosting Accounts for Linking?

[Ebtec]

I have several different sites which link to each other (for valid reasons...sister companies etc). Would it be better if these were hosted from different web hosting firms? And if they are hosted by the same hosting company would it be better if they had different accounts and different IP addresses?

Not sure I understand C blocks etc. Any tutorial on here about that?

I wouls assume it would look better to Google if the links were not from the same IP address.

Thanks.

[Felip3]

How many links are you talking about? I think that if you naturally link your sister companies sites in your company sites... you don't have to worry about having a separate hosting.  Google wont go after you if have a few links from the same ip.

Now if you have 40 sites all linking for your main site.  Google might see that as manipulation so you can try to hide that you own all the sites. however the host is only thing, they can also check for who owns the domain etc...

[ThompsonPaul]

In my experience, Ebtec, worrying about this kind of thing is a waste of time. These are exactly the kinds of attempted manipulations that have gotten so many sites into trouble in the recent past as search engines clamp down.

The question you'd need to ask yourself, is (and I mean no disrespect) "am I smarter than Google's engineers?" Because the only reason to try to run these sites from different address to appear unconnected is to try to fool Google into passing more ranking value between them. And that's manipulation in Google's eyes,so they're gonna want to catch you and penalize you for it.

The reality to this is that you'd not only have to run the sites from different hosts and totally unrelated IP addresses, you'd also need to have totally separate Google Analytics accounts registered with totally unrelated email addresses. And totally unrelated domain registrations. And unrelated Adwords/Adsense accounts. Plus any other "fingerprinting" techniques Google might be using now or come up with in the future.

There's no harm in linking between these sites legitimately to show they are "sister sites". But trying to fake Google into treating them as totally unrelated is a fool's errand in my opinion. Use the time & money you would have to invest in all that extra hosting and multiple accounts, and instead work up some really useful content for your users and spend some time getting others to help promote it through social sharing etc. It'll end up bringing way more long-term value than trying to trick Google for a little while. (Not to mention way less dangerous if were to get caught!)

Does that help?

Paul

[Ebtec]

Paul,

I appreciate your input and agree with your sentiment. However, as we know, Google is on the warpath regarding links. We are dealing with an algorithm that is applied very broadly. My fear is that  perfectly innocent and resonable links between companies gets caught in a new tweak by Google.

I have seen many "good" quality sites get hurt  by Panda and Penguin. Sometimes the baby gets thrown out with the bathwater. I've seen it enough times. Google is not perfect. If I can try and protect a site from potential harm then I would do it. The cost of multiple hosting accounts pales in comparison the getting penalized by the big G.

[ThompsonPaul]

I fully agree about the links warpath. My point is that in my opinion you are at far greater risk from trying to hide the nature of the interconnected sites with machinations on hosting, IP addresses etc, than to simply legitimately link them.

Any attempt to artificially pass significant ranking influence between these related sites is bound to be caught by Google eventually because there are just too many signals available for Google to spot.

While I'm unwilling to say "never" where Google's algorithm is concerned, I would say a legitimate, natural interlinking between these sites is BY FAR the safest approach, compared to the alternatives. The only safer way would be not to interlink at all.

I do feel your pain. Google is playing with people's livelihoods with these inaccurately applied penalties, whether algorithmic or manual.

Paul