Question about linking and increasing ranking on Google.

Will this work do you think?

[jimmyjammer]

I've currently operate a website that is doing very well. I've got it from a steady #6 ranking on Google to a steady #2 ranking, not PR, actual results when you type in our search phrase.

Now, I also work on another related site (both tour companies, one for one country, the other for a different but physically close country) and that other site isn't doing so well. Until recently we weren't even on Google's radar but last week that changed to a #3 ranking on Google (champagne all round for me!) But we want it to rank higher on other search terms too.

My boss has suggested, after I explained link relevance to him, that we upload a 'version' of Site 2 (the one not doing so well) onto the same server as Site 1 (the one doing well) and link to site 2 from within site 1. So when you click on the link within site 1 you get to what looks like site 2 but the URL is still site 1's. Everything changes, the navigation included, it looks *exactly* like site 2 but with site 1's URL. THEN...when the user clicks "HOME" on the nav bar of this 'psuedo' site 2, the user is transported to the *actual* site 2, URL changes, user leaves site 1.

Phew...can you follow that?
Question is, my boss thinks having all of site 2's pages as a subsection of site 1 (except for the home page, which will take the user to the actual site 2) that it will increase Site 2's popularity.

These tour companies are so closely linked that the keywords are very similar.

Have I explained myself well?

Any ideas?

[WildAngel]

Well Jimmy when i did research on tourism sites world wide most of them had links to other tourism websites which obviously made their ranking higher.So i think that would be a good idea. I hope that helps you a little!Sorry couldn't be more help.

WildAngel

[edited by: WildAngel at 10:00 am (utc) on July 10, 2002]

[adamcmoran]

Sorry to ask a thick question but what is PR. I keep seeing it mentioned everywhere?

Ad

[KakenBetaal]

JimmyJammer, I don't think it would be a good idea to duplicate site 2 (version 2) on a subdir of site 1, while leaving site 2 (original version) in its original location. It would probably be detected as duplicate content by Google and thus not be indexed.

IMO it would be better to leave the two sites as they are, and link between the two sites judiciously from and to pages that are relevant to each other. Good use of keyphrases in link text will help your case. Too much linking may be considered spammy and could get your site(s) penalised.

Two months ago (and before I knew better) I changed one link on my menu bar, which is on every page on my site, from "widget shops" to just "shops". This update I'm down from #1 to #4 on the phrase "widget shops". Needless to say that link is back to "widget shops" now. :)

Adamcmoran, you might want to check out these links. PR is Google's PageRank technology.
[google.com...]

This page is a *must read* for anyone optimising for Google:
[webmasterworld.com...]

[fathom]

Hi jimmyjammer,

Welcome to WebMasterWorld.

I totally agree with KakenBetaal and highly recommend returning the sites to their original configuration.

But you have come to the right place. The link KakenBetaal has provided is just about everything you need to know about optimizing for Google.

[Visit Thailand]

Just to add a related question to the above.

If you have a few PR 8s and some PR 6s is it best to link the 8s to the 6s or to link each way or what ?