Links between sites with translated versions?

[fargo1999]

I have two sites in two different language: English and German, assume:

sitedomain.us and sitedomain.de

Both sites are exactly the same and provide the same content but are in two languages. Both are hosted on the same hosting account.

Could I link between the two websites or Google will penalize one of both sites by 'weakening' the sites' theme (I'm not sure if Google knows the sites are related in theme or not)?

IF I could link, should I use 'nofollow' or 'dofollow'?

Thanks.

[tedster]

No doubt Google already knows these domains are related if they are on the same hosting account. So, linking between them is not likely to cause a problem or to help very much, either.

Because the content is in a different language, it is "different" and not duplcate in a search engine sense. Just interlink in moderation and clearly to help the visitors. If there is some circumstance about one or the other domain that gives you concern, then rel="nofollow" would be the way that you will more certainly have no problems.

[fargo1999]

Thanks, linking would be very useful for the visitors because some of them may not speak one of the language well.

Regarding 'nofollow' - since Google knows the sites are related, won't 'nofollow' be something negative in Google's eyes? Won't they think that 'OK, this guy has two sites and doesn't trust them enough to put 'dofollow' between them'?

[Robert Charlton]

Won't they think that 'OK, this guy has two sites and doesn't trust them enough to put 'dofollow' between them'?

When nofollow was announced, I had a similar reaction.

Matt Cutts, however, has since clarified numerous times that Google doesn't "even use such links for discovery", and there have been recent discussions here about using the nofollow attribute for PageRank sculpting within your own site.

It's as approved as can be. I don't think it will come back to bite you, and I would no longer hesitate to use it.