Forum Moderators: martinibuster
1. Site A has 42 pages out of which around 6 have links to site C and 1 to site B.
2. Site B has around 100 pages and one link from one page to site C.
3. Site C has 30 pages and all of them link to sites A and B (designed by, seo by type of link).
All 3 sites have individual and distinct inbound links and all 3 of them link out to many other quality sites.
Question: Do I risk a penalty? Is it safe?
"1. Site A has 42 pages out of which around 6 have links to site C and 1 to site B. "
>Your fine unless the 6 pages have substantially similar content.
"2. Site B has around 100 pages and one link from one page to site C. "
>Fine - Why not link A too? Not relevant?
"3. Site C has 30 pages and all of them link to sites A and B (designed by, seo by type of link). "
>In some eyes, you are walking the line now because presumably (without knowing more) it is now arguable as to whether what you are doing is for the user or the search engine. BUT again, I think you are FINE assuming all 30 pages have substantially different content AS WELL AS substantially different content from the 6 pages in A and 1 page in 2.
DO NOT expect much benefit from the C strategy to your PR though. Your C sounds like a footer, wherein you are using your link to advertise your services , but don't expect that 30 links is going to be beneficial to your PR. Bot knows these links are from the same site -IP. Bot know that what it likes is lots of unique and relavant sites linking to you. Not the same site linking to you many many many times. Although you are infact gaining backlinks, don't expect the little green bar to move. Google is not after those that do things like put there link as a standard default footer on every page, they simply don't reward you for it, they ARE after sites with substantially similar content, cross-linking thereby attempting to artificial promote thier PR.
>Your fine unless the 6 pages have substantially similar content.
They have very different content.
>Fine - Why not link A too? Not relevant?
Both sites have the same profile but I just don't want to link to site A.
>In some eyes, you are walking the line now because presumably (without knowing more) it is now arguable as to whether what you are doing is for the user or the search engine. BUT again, I think you are FINE assuming all 30 pages have substantially different content AS WELL AS substantially different content from the 6 pages in A and 1 page in 2.
The 30 pages have entirely different content to the other two sites. It's another profile completely. The 30 page site is established with lots of quality inbound links (even from the BBC webguide and About.com) and links out to relevant sites on topic.
I am aware it won't do much for PR and it's not PR increase I am looking for in this situation but would Google really penalise sites with "designed by", "seo by" links?
No- google will not penalize you. My firm has literally hundreds of sites that we have developed with our Designed by link on the bottom. Our firm is nearly 5 years old and we have been on top of the SERPS for as long as I can remember.
Google is not after us. They are after the cross-linking spammers.
Best Regards.
