Minor Cross Linking

[softserve]

I have a site which is currently experiencing favorable PR on a variety of pages. I also have a site which is a dog, on a completely different topic (it is not a dog due to design, but rather competition and lack of linking into the site).

I have read about not cross linking heavily, but have noticed some sites will link to their other unrelated sites with something like one link at the bottom. Since the site that is doing well has many pages, I thought I might be able to utilize them to help my other site...

These sites are on the same IP/Different Domains

My Questions:

Q.1 Will it help to place one small link on the high PR pages to the Dog Site?

Q.2 Would there be any benefit to placing links from all pages, even those with no PR?


I just want to do something until I have time to work on this site as it is loosing traffic. I know that ultimately, I should find relative sites and link in the good ones which is my plan...


Thanks,

Tom F.
Softserve
:hi:

[Connie]

I do not cross link sites period. If they are unrelated I see no purpose in the links. A link should be there to benefit your visitors, not to promote the other sites link popularity.

If I owned two sites that were similar I would combine them into one larger site.

[Blue]

You are falling into a trap that will bite you in the ass ... now or in the future, IMO.

The trap is in believing that link strategies or any other strategies for that matter, regardless if they work now or not, will be of benefit to your site for the search engines.

Instead, build a better site for your visitors. The rest will fall into place.

[Quadrille]

I'm wondering why you keep asking this kind of question; you know by now that the answer in these forums will always be much the same:

If the link is for your visitors, go for it.

If you are planning it for the search engines, best not.

Good Luck! :)

[Dave Hawley]

Sure, 2 dogs are better than one :)

If you play cards and cheat just a little bit you are still cheating are you not?

[Arnabme]

Link helps to gain popularity in the sense that a link from a site pointing to me would definately suggest my site to be important, only if it is related.

It works like a vote just like people voting for the site..

I hope this works fine.

[Dave Hawley]

Chan geLink helps... to "Some links help.." and I agree.

Cross linking between 2 sites owned by the same person will likely do more harm than good. If the sites are related enough to be linked, then the person should have 1 site and not 2.

Let's face it, the question was asked in hope of 'fooling' Google into thinking site "A" is voting for site "B" and is outside Googles guidelines.

[WebSavvy]

If you owned two dogs, each a different breed -- like perhaps a Dalmatian and a Greyhound, and purchased domains to be built as niche sites around that specific breed of dog, you could quite easily (and would make sense to) interlink between the two domains.

Yes, both domains are about dogs BUT they are niche specific. You wouldn't go to dalmatians.com and expect to find information about Greyhounds, nor should you, anymore than you'd expect to find information about Dalmatians at greyhounds.com

However, there is a huge dog lovers' group that own one or more pedigree dog breeds and therefore linking from one niche dog breed site to the other site you also own, makes sense to your visitors and it's something the search engines would not frown upon.

[Irony]

I agree, Deb :)

There are a lot of cases when interlinking does make sense, but creating one big site won't do.

As long as it is not for the engines only, and makes sense for human visitors, it's okay.

[Danny]

:cool: @ Irina ... i almost didn't recognize you under your shiny white cap :)

[Dave Hawley]

If you owned two dogs, each a different breed -- like perhaps a Dalmatian and a Greyhound, and purchased domains to be built as niche sites around that specific breed of dog, you could quite easily (and would make sense to) interlink between the two domains.Hmmm, in that contrived scenario I guess there would be no other way. However, it would make more sense and be a lot less work, to purchase one domain and have pages about the specific breeds.

[WebSavvy]

Not actually a "contrived scenario" ... ;)

One of my friends that I'd designed a site for about 7 years ago, breeds dogs. His site is "Dalmatian" specific, and the domain name contains the word "Dalmatians" in it.

It caters to everything you'd ever want to know about training, owning, and breeding, Dalmatian dogs.

Then a few years later he became involved in breeding Greyhounds and German Shepherds.

He purchased domains for both of those too. I also designed those sites.

He cross links between the 3 sites because there are many people who own at least one of the other breeds and it makes sense from a "visitors POV" ...

He doesn't cross link from every page of each of the sites. He does it only on the "about us" page where he lists other related web properties he has.

The first domain was well established for 5 years before he even purchased the other two domains. It made more sense to stay with a domain that's been doing well, has authority, and gets lots of traffic Vs starting all over again with a new domain simply because he wanted to add two more breeds of dogs.

Also, he has a lot of print materials with the domain names on them that are in circulation at many of the "best of breed" shows in the dog circuits.

So, in his case, it makes sense to do it the way he has.

[Dave Hawley]

Another way (better IMO) would be to buy another domain and 301 any established ones to it.

One should always keep the future in mind and not only live for Today.

[WebSavvy]

LOL.

Linking from the "about us" page is fine. It's 1 page and 1 link.

There's no valid reason to ditch an established domain of 5 (now 7) years simply because you want to provide information and resources that are niche market specific for two other breeds of dogs.

It's different if you want to provide a wide range of information on various breeds. However, for a "niche" (market specific) it's important to keep the focus on that market, and that topic ... otherwise it's no longer "niche" and "market specific."

What my friend is doing is fine, and I wouldn't even suggest he do it any other way.

[Dave Hawley]

There's no valid reason to ditch an established domain of 5 (now 7) years simply because you want to provide information and resources that are niche market specific for two other breeds of dogs.

I wouldn't call a 301 to another domain "ditching". As you said, your friend initially only had Dalmations, they now have Greyhounds. This is why I say one should keep the future in mind. With one domain, you can do that.

I'm not wanting to argue with you Savvy and not saying you are wrong.

[WebSavvy]

True. LOL. :)

However, there are times when someone gets a domain and only plans to cater to one market. Later on they may decide to go for another market simply because that market is popular.

:D

(btw Dave, it's great having you back here again. :))

[Dave Hawley]

Who else would you argue/debate with :D

[Comeran]

It is because of things like your friends site that I tell people try to stay a bit generic.... don't get a "dalmation" only domain, get a dog domain so you can grow the site with more information about as many breeds as you may ever want to add.

I think that the way he is doing it is fine, but the problem is that it takes more work to keep up with different sites and different domains.... one large domain would probably have made it better for him.... not too late to get one, and do 301's for all of them to it ;)

Comeran-

[Connie]

"dalmation" When I think about this I don't think the original domain name is all that important anyway.

Why can't a site that was originally built for "dalmatians" not add other breeds?

I agree with Dave that one large site is better than a lot of small sites.

[ihelpyou]

Yep, 301 to the new domain. I wouldn't consider anything else in that situation, and you avoid any unnecessary headaches later on. With the "climate" these days, ONE site is best. That's the main reason I moved the forums to my biz domain, instead of keeping two domains.

[Arnabme]

Yes dave even i am also against too much cross linking beacause it is sometimes considered spam by search engines.

I was talking only about good sites that are directed towards visitors rather than only search engines.

Thanks anyway.