Will I Be Penalized for This?

sites hosted on same server

[Bubbafla]

I have four different clients that we built websites for and three sell blue widgets and one sells broken widgets. They are all hosted on our company's server and each has its own unique ip number.

The site selling broken widgets has a pr of 5 and the three sites selling blue widgets have a pr of 4.

None of these sites have any backward links or links to other sites on them. They have been on the net since 1996 and have accumulated alot of links on their own.

Would it be safe to link all of the sites together on their index page? They are all relevant as they sell widgets in general? Will google access a penalty because their ip numbers are on the same ip block? or would it be best to move some of them to another company server that has totally different ip blocks or does it not matter?

[jdMorgan]

bubbafla,

"Four different clients" competing in the same product space, and there is a reason to link their sites?

Someone is going to get in trouble here, and I'm not sure who. I doubt that having different IP addresses (or address blocks) is going to help.

Jim

[CromeYellow]

Bubbafla

Before you do it, do this cunning risk balancing calculation:

Upside: The benefit in cash terms of linking them together.

Downside: The loss in cash terms of having them all banned from Google with the possibility that some may never return.

Sorry if I'm being over-dramatic, but I've just recovered from a PR0 penalty. I had done very little cross-linking and am still not even sure that's what did it.

All I'm saying is... be very, very careful. Different IPs will not protect you.

Cy

[Bubbafla]

Thanks guys for the advice...
In business the customer is always right
but I don't think so in this case...