Connecting Two Websites Without Upsetting Google
-
I have a question that I think I know the answer to, but want to cover my bases.
We have a successful blog and are creating a second similar blog for a more specific type of reader. We want to backlink between content because it makes sense for the reader. Our fear is that we may come off spammy to Google by having so many backlinks.
Is there a way we are able to tell Google these two sites are related so they don't penalize either site for anything?
-
Thanks for your thoughtful response. As you point out, there are many different business models, and what might be best "general" practice, might not quite fit every model.
Moz Q&A is great for this type of discussion.
-
It depends on the topic. I normally agree with this sentiment, I have given the same advice often over the year. In this case it was something that made sense to do because the audience via social and email is a very different demographic than we had on the main blog. The second blog was not built for backlinks or any spammy purpose, which is why we wanted to clearly show the relationship to Google without getting flagged for trying to spam. The purpose for the links would only be for user experience and not for SEO, we are good making all those links nofollow links. Even if we did them all nofollow we just wanted to see if there was anything else that could be done to show the relationship between the two sites.
The second blog was started less than 2 months ago and already has 50k+ pageviews even without the help of the original blog. Not a single backlink during that time, mainly because we were protecting our assets. Thanks for your feedback and not holding back on this topic, I like that even if I may not like the advice given that we're all open to the truth here in the Moz community. I definitely agree with you here about doing this for the backlinks, there has to be a purpose to a second site. In this case there really was a purpose, and it was all audience driven. Cheers!
-
This is what I figured, but just wanted to see if there was something I was missing. I thought a remembered hearing about a way that was similar to cross-domain tracking where you were able to show the relationship between the two site clearly to Google. I kept going back to NoFollow links and trusting that Google is smart enough to see what's going on.
-
I think that it makes better sense for the reader and better sense for you, to put all of this stuff on the original blog.
The backlinks that any second blog will create will be worthless unless you have links into the second blog from third party websites. So, instead of building that second blog, just put all of that great content on the main blog and get the backlinks straight to the the site you are promoting.
Building a second blog just for backlinks is like trying to kill a rabbit with a ricochet. Just shoot the damn rabbit.
I don't think that Google is going to like this second blog very well if you are making it to manufacture backlinks for your first blog. Google was killing that stuff twenty years ago.
-
Hello Jeff,
Yeap, with Nofollow tags on that links.
Best luck!
GR.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Should harmful links to your own website be removed?
Upon running a link report on a website, there are often multiple links flagged as bad or suspect that come from a blog that is integrated into the website, which means there are links (set up as article tags) in the site that go to other pages in the same site. They have likely been flagged due to their high frequency. A similar problem is occurring where blogs from a connected site (from an offshoot site of a company that is part of the original) are also tagging their blog posts to link into the original website. Should these links be disavowed? Will these links have an effect on the website if they are disavowed or not?
Link Building | | rachelmanning8880 -
Is there a good website builder that can gain links?
I made the horrible mistake of using GoDaddy website builder and just found out that I have 3 homepages with a 302 temporary redirect on one of them. GoDaddy says I have only one homepage and no redirects which is not true as far as both Google Webmaster and Mozpro are concerned. I am not able to change anything structurally on the Godaddy site. Is there an economical alternative to having a website built that I can work with myself (with little knowledge) and that I can do some link building that will be effective. Thank you, I will refrain from commenting on GoDaddy Scott
Link Building | | ScottR.0 -
Does adding a backlink in google plus comments work?
Hi guys, Can anybody tell me if adding a backlink in Google plus comments achieve anything?
Link Building | | Brover0 -
Network of websites
Hello, A client has an "umbrella" website which links to 4 other websites which all rank well. However, she wants to bring them all under the one website to save running costs. Do you think that is a good idea? I believe that she will lose al the benefits of having 4 successful websites linking and all the benfits that brings. Thanks
Link Building | | AL123al0 -
To know effect on our Website rank in Google Search results
Ours is Property Advertising Company. And we have agents and consultants working from other areas in providing property for advertising in our website. So we collect all the data (5000 data nearly) and upload in one stretch directly to our database. I would like to know whether this process will affect our ranking in google search results because when we upload 5000 data, the links in our website also increases.
Link Building | | Rajesh.Chandran0 -
How to remove back links from third party website??
Hi Guys, I checked my website back-links and found some bad links. Now i just want to remove links from third party website. I know two methods as mentioned below: Disallow bad links from Google Webmaster Contact to webmaster and remove them I tried both of the above methods but not get success.Is there any other method to solve this issue??
Link Building | | RuchiPardal0 -
Google Webmaster Tools Message regarding unnatural links - how to respond
I acquired a small website which was subsequently hit by Google Panda for unnatural links. Since the previous owner was involved in the link building, I'm not sure what to look for. Here's the message I received from Google: ** Message from Google ** "We've reviewed your site and we still see links to your site that violate our quality guidelines. Specifically, look for possibly artificial or unnatural links pointing to your site that could be intended to manipulate PageRank. Examples of unnatural linking could include buying links to pass pagerank or participating in link schemes. We encourage you to make changes to comply with our quality guidelines. Once you've made these changes, please submit your site for reconsideration in Google's search results. If you find unnatural links to your site that you are unable to control or remove, please provide the details in your reconsideration request. ** End Message from Google ** I'm not sure how to locate "unnatural links" when there are so many pointing to the site. For example, are there specific domains I should look for that are known offenders? Or, should I look for sites that are using obvious anchor text that seems orchestrated? Any insights would be appreciated on creating an action plan. Jerry
Link Building | | JerryCharles0 -
Internal Linking for Newspaper Websites
Now, there are a number of do's and dont's when it comes to internal linking, but do those rules apply to news websites that have to interlink relevant news stories, primarily based on their relevancy to the user and the value that they have to provide rather than keeping the idea of page rank sculpting in mind? What's your take on this?
Link Building | | RishadShaikh590