cross linking sites

a good idea?

[rmphoto]

i have 3 sites in the same niche. will cross linking the 3 help me or hurt me?
ive heard different theories, just seeing what you guys think...

thanks!

[troels nybo nielsen]

Some of my websites link very much to some of my other websites and I have never experienced any problems with this, but then all those links are organic and natural. If you link for the sake of linking it is possible that you may get into trouble with some search engines. I am quite certain that they try to refine their ability to recognize different linking patterns. If you create links that are genuinely helpful for your human visitors you should be alright.

[rmphoto]

hmm.. little expirment here, i took off all the cross links on all 3 sites about 2 weeks ago. The most popular one jumped from 80th to 5th on google.

and if you click off pages from canada, (google.ca) im number 1!

strange...

[robotsdobetter]

It should fine if your sites don't all have the same IP number, otherwise Google would have a hard time to ever know.

[nfinland]

I have 10 sites with the same "theme" and all sites link to ech other (no heavy crosslinking) and I havenīt experienced any damage from this (sites several years old).