hosting multiple sites

all through one hosting company?

[rfung]

if I have multiple sites and I host them all in the same company - is there any downsides to that as far as rankings? of course I also would link some of them to each other.

What kind of hosting strategies do people with multiple sites use? 2-3 hostings? all in one? different one for each site?...

[jcoronella]

Depends what your intention is. If you sell widgets and wodgets, then there is no problem putting widgets.com and wodgets.com on the same host.

If your intentions are more devious you may benefit from spreading things around, although you might just be fine on the same host. Depends on your level of paranoia and how long you expect them to be around.

[austtr]

Some recent threads have carried claims that there has been a penalty because of linking sites that share the same IP address.

On a personal level, I've had link requests from experienced SEO people who won't touch any linked sites on the same IP address.

Whether its fact or fantasy is anyone's guess.... as far as I know there has been no input from those best qualified to provide a definitive answer.

[Robert Charlton]

Depends what your intention is. If you sell widgets and wodgets, then there is no problem putting widgets.com and wodgets.com on the same host.

I've had recent experience that suggests being very cautious. I haven't sorted it out completely, but what I think I'm seeing is...

...even if widgets and wodgets use different target terms, if the sites are related in such a way that their inbound links might be coming from related sources, you might have problems.

Eg, if widgets and wodgets were both automotive parts and both sites might be listed in the same directory category, based on what I'm seeing now, I'd definitely recommend different hosts.

[fidibidabah]

Another vote for different hosts :)

ps, check your stickys :P

[SlowMove]

Even if you do go with different hosts, you still need to be cautious with linking across the sites. If the content is very different, I would avoid cross linking.

[chrisnrae]

If the sites are on basically the same subject, but targeting different keywords, regardless of whether you interlink them, I would have them on different hosts. If you are using adsense on both sites though, they still may be able to make the connection though (yea, yea, I'm paranoid, but it looks good on me LOL).

[Roomy]

As I understand the situation as long as your linking strategy is Hub and spoke then you should have no problems.

[BigFish]

But then having the assign different IPs to

Widgets and Wodgets would work, right?

[leoo24]

i really dislike some of google's reasoning. I have a dedicated server for my sites because it's just not economical to have all my sites using up separate accounts.
Also i have travel sites, which link to real estate sites which link to mortgage + finance sites which link to bank sites, all mine and all on my server, all sharing the same ip seeing as they don't process payments.
I don't see any reason why i should be penalised for having this! although i'm sure they don't do as well as if they weren't linked (although related) and on the same server.

[TomJ]

also, bear in mind that by hosting all your sites with one host...you run the risk of loosing all your sites in one hit when some twonk breaks a server or worse!