Internal Linking (same domain)

Can it be a bad thing?

[kevin1]

I have a site with some content pages, and I've published two separate files as subfolders of the same domain. Each subfolder contains links back to the main file's content pages. Are links to the content pages of the original file considered outbound links, even though it's the same domain? I don't think a list of outbound links is helpful with regards to search engines. Thanks for any thoughts...

[sugarrae]

Hi kevin1 and welcome to webmasterworld [webmasterworld.com].

Are you asking if links from sub.domain.com to domain.com are considered outbound links? I just wanted to clarify your question.

[idolw]

hi kevin1,

don't bother about crosslinking both subdirectories and subdomains if they ae on the same topic and you keep your greed tight.
example:
if you have a site about widgets at widgets.com and you have two subdomains: new.widgets.com and 2nd-hand.widgets.com you may crosslink them with no problem.

just keep your greed tight and do not create subdomain for each and every single widget such as:
widget1.widgets.com
widget2.widgets.com
that may raise the flag. however, if you do it the way it proves you have thought about the structure, you won't be banned for sure.

you may get some info about banned sites with subdomains but people reporting that have probably abused the subdomains to get better rankings.

I, personally, am using subdomains with success. they are clear to my visitor and that is most important for me.

[kevin1]

sugarrae, yes... it's linking from www.domain.com/folder/city.html back to www.domain.com/content.html Does that make sense?

[kevin1]

idolw, thanks for the info...

[sugarrae]

If the files are all on the same domain, they would be considered all one site - and the links would all be considered internal (those linking to another section of the domain). i.e. domain.com/folder/ isn't considered to be a different site than domain.com/anotherfolder/. I thought at first you meant subdomains, which would have a different answer. :-)

[kevin1]

ok thanks... just out of curiosity, what would be different about subdomains?