Rec. Links : Could it be considered as spamming

Linking sites with different content but in the same sector of activity

[petitpiet2001]

Hello,

May I have your opinion on this. We own 10 websites that we are linking to each other, they have completely different content but are all in the apartments rental sector.

Is it spamming to link them to each other ? If so, in which cases ?

Thanks ?

Pierre

[agerhart]

Pierre,

There had been theories that linking sites from within the same C class IP addresses would get a site penalized, but that theory was debated. They links might not have the same amount of weight either.

But, if the content on the sites are relevant to each other, I would say go for it.

Welcome to WmW!

[paynt]

Welcome petitpiet2001,

I agree with agerhart. Additionally it sounds like you have the perfect set up for a hub.

Create a hub to facilitate your linking. Make it a general theme that compliments all of your sites. Then crosslink the individual sites where it's appropriate, first linking all the sites into the hub. You could very well end up with a very strong product when looked at as a whole.

[petitpiet2001]

Thanks for your answer ?

So I link our website about " apartments in Rome " to the one with content about " apartments in Barcelona". Is it relevant to you ?

Thanks,

Pierre

[petitpiet2001]

Thanks paynt ?

How do I set up a hub ?

One other question, in categories where we have much less competitors, search engines like google have a tendancy to display a few of our websites. Example :

We have a website about "apartments in Rome" that we link to "apartments in Venice", then we make a search on a SE for apartments in Venice (which has much less competition), and we see in the results in the same page, our website about "apartments in Rome", why is that ?

Thanks for your answers, we certainly do not want to be considered as spammers ? We have great feedback from visitors and many bookings.

Thanks for your answers.

Pierre

[agerhart]

What is the general topic that all of them have in common, but is not too broad?

If all of the sites were for apartments in Italy, then it could go something like this:

Root Site: Apartments in Italy
2nd Level (a): Apartments in Northern Italy
2nd Level (b): Apartments in Southern Italy
3rd Level Site (a): Apartments in Verona, Italy
3rd Level Site (a): Apartments in Bergamo, Italy
3rd Level Site (a): Apartments in Venice, Italy
3rd Level Site (b): Apartments in Rome, Italy
3rd Level Site (b): Apartments in Naples, Italy

Link the root site to both of the second level sites. Then link 2nd level (a) to all of the 3rd level (a) sites.

Link the 2nd level (b) site to all of the 3rd level (b) sites.

----------------------------------------------------------

Paynt, definitely correct me if I am off, as this is your topic to shine with!

(edited by: agerhart at 1:06 am (gmt) on Dec. 6, 2001)

[agerhart]

Pierre,

I wish the guys from this thread [webmasterworld.com] would read this!

The reason that this shows up is that the two sites are relevant to the search that was performed. This is what makes Google a good search engine.

It would be a different story if someone searched for "apartments in Venice" and a site for "apartments in Washington D.C" showed up.

[petitpiet2001]

Thanks agerhart,

We are creating a network of European cities. It means we now have Rome, Barcelona, London, Paris and more... We link them to each other.

So our main theme is apartments. But we have in the "apartments in barcelona" search, results for london. I don't know why this can happen, we just have a links to other sites.

Are we screwing the SE.

I'm really worried about this.

Thanks,

Pierre

[agerhart]

You are not screwing the SE......this is the result of you targeting the keyword "apartments" I think.

Why not use "Apartments in Europe" for your main topic, so that it can be more targeted. I would assume that gaining ground for the keyword "apartments" may be very competitive.

[petitpiet2001]

Thanks,

If PAYNT has an opinion on this, I'd be happy to hear it.

Pierre

[paynt]

I working on it :)

[paynt]

Thanks Andrew (agerhart),

You are right on target.

How do I set up a hub ?

The perfect question, LOL. Once you get to know me you’ll know you’ve been set up. Not really but it may appear that way.

First you’ll want to read some of the previous discussions, simply for history and background.

A question of hubs [webmasterworld.com]

These are a few new ones I like

Building a Small-Medium Theme Site [webmasterworld.com]
Designing and Maintaining a Hub [webmasterworld.com]

Plus you may want to search for canonical in the site search because in one form or another much of this fits.

This probably won’t come to surprise some of you but I have this sort of passion and fascination for hubs, themes and canonicals. I think too that I’m refining what I feel a hub truly is all about. It’s always been the center. If you are working with a theme and have several sites that are off shoots of that theme the question becomes how to bring those shoots all together. That’s the hub.

To be a hub is the ultimate theme. A hub should stand-alone yet be the center of what surrounds it. When you have separate domains, specific to niches within a theme, you want to tie them together to make them strong. Otherwise they are floating around without something central to connect them.

The hub, as I suggested, is the most general term and I agree with Andrew that you’re better off if you niche that general term to its lowest denominator. You give your hub a neutral name and you build a site around that. Provide content and neutral resources. Then, for every separate domain you develop create a separate canonical. So if you are promoting your theme of European apartments that then can be your hub. You could then create a canonical for each of the cities as in:

Rome.apartments.com
London.apartments.com

And so on and so forth. In general terms you can talk about renting or buying apartments in each of the cities, provide resources and content (text). Then you want to link to the domain that promotes that specific city. Promote it.

Such is the beauty of the hub.

[ebgreen]

As long as it is not a FFA Links and the IP Addresses are numerically spread out from each other, you will not have a problem. As a suggestion, it is best to link to sites that are listed in directories or that receive a high page rank on GOOGLE.