2 sites & interlinking

[Nick0r]

So you have two sites, site A and site B.

Site A & B are both on identical topics, Site A is the one you really care about and Site B is just there for the sake of another site/as a backup.

It just so happens site B also has a fair amount of inbound links and you'd love to pass some of that weight on to Site A.

How would you go about interlinking it?

Would you create additional paragraphs on the homepage to link to Site A's homepage, and then on relevant product pages, link to product pages on Site B? Or just pick and choose say 3-4 pages in total and link from those.

Would the links be in the main body of the text? Would they be in a side column with others bits of text as a small paragraph there? Would you make a 'pre-sell' page whereby you create a page on Site B which is all about Site A and write about it there, and then link to that page in the footer of every page on Site B?

Looking forward to hearing your answers.

[Robert Charlton]

I'd keep them completely separate.

[Nick0r]

That wasn't really what I was looking for... the whole reason I bought the additional site was to supplement and pass some addition weight onto my main site.

[glengara]

Thing is Nick, these days to game Google we need a lot more subtlety and cunning, and IMO interlinking two similar commercial sites for promotional purposes just doesn't cut the mustard ;-)

[Nick0r]

When I meant interlinking, I only meant one way, not reciprocal. Basically I'm asking the question of 'If you had a choice of every possible type of link on any position, in any type of content or on any page of a site, what would you go for?'

[stever]

And I'll join in the chorus and say none...

[Nick0r]

None?! It's a free link. These sites are not visibly connected anyway, hosted in different areas of the world, different whois info, different registered dates of domains, no links between them, both quality sites with a fair bit of PR each. I can't see how 'none' is even an option.

[otech]

Nick,

Why in the real world would two competing sites link to each other in the way you suggest? Its completely unnatural.

IE, if I sell ipods, why the hell would I put a nice link to another competing site selling ipods! It would cost me business for no good reason.

This would be very obvious to google and I definately wouldnt recommend it.

However, since you have this other site, get links from other people to the site you care about, and link back to them from your second site - this is a much safer strategy and is win-win for all concerned.

[Nick0r]

This site isn't an ecommerce site, it's an information site. If you're site is about dog care and you reference a great website that details more information about looking after pets, that's completely natural.

[glengara]

*..that's completely natural.*

Very true, where justified and with moderation, but the underlying motivation might well scupper that.

[dauction]

Absolutely nothing wrong with linking B to A .. the best way of course is to have your link in your Content..

In an article on site B for example ..you could say .. "to see examples of these new widgets visit our parent site A " with the appropriate allin anchor text..

That's how you'll get the most value for your link..

That's the appropriate way ..OR you can spam the hell out of site a with links all over site B those links would be devalued or given no weight by the algo's

[stever]

You said that they were on identical topics, both owned by you and, presumably, since they are "good" sites, each ranking for the same phrases. My answer and, I guess, those above me were based on that premise - which you have changed more than slightly lower down...