Is cross-linking websites bad?

[agapitoflores001]

Not that bad. Nice tip.

[madjunir]

i seen some blogs link their entire networks (same owner) of 20 / 30 other blogs/sites cross-linking

most of the topics on each blog is not related. They just do it to show how big their network is, get people interested in other stuff and see if they visit the other sites,

so is this good or bad for SEO/ranking and how is recommended to properly do it?

[Hatikvahh]

a tip for all of u new to this biz, NEVER do reciprocals on new sites, even worst if they are on the same server and same registrar. peace

[NICHOLASM1987]

What he meant to say was,

when sites link to each other A - B and B - A , that link is worth nothing,

Reciprocal links send off alarm bells and offer no link juice.

What you have to do is 3 way linking. But that is "black hat" and he cant really tak about that sort of stuff.

[OutSourceRabbit]

He definitely answers this question.

I just feel that sometimes an answer only raises more questions as in this case. I sure have a couple I'd like to know.

But this is definitely a great answer nonetheless, essentially if you find 3-5 different keywords and link them together (link wheel or whatnot) it's not going to be counted against you unless they are all irrelevant to each other.

What do you guys think?

-Kon.

[bulliethepirate]

Thanks a lot your videos are so helpfull

[26macka]

I don't think he missed the point at all! If the sites are relevant then it's a good idea to interlink, if they are not it's a bad idea. Not knowing what the sites are this is really the only solid answer.

[ShapeShifter42]

Disappointing - missing the real point

[Robbertbiz]

But, she asks if there's a problem with linking 3 sites with eachother, not if Google has a problem with that, so in my point of view, this is a good answer.

[incrediblehelp]

Matt I really wished you answered the question per Google. Will Google (the algo) have an issue and do something "automatically" to sites that cross link on relevant and irrelevant basis.

As suggested below, spammers seem to get away with doing this all of them time. Buying hundreds of domains for locals and interlinking them all together.

Feedback?

[Robbertbiz]

I agree with you, but I think that Google doens't have a problem with that if users doesn't have a problem with it also. Google looks at what the users think in this case, and besides that he said that three 3 sites is OK, but 30 or 300 that's a little bit strange.

[PropellerBusted]

*starts aggressively soliciting random people on the subway to look at his website for about 20 minutes before the cops haul his ass to prison*

[Junije1]

@PropellerBusted O.o

[redevolution]

So regular guys and gals play by the rules but the spammers keep cross linking and loading irrelevant links everywhere and seemingly doing OK out of that - or is Matt suggesting Google is algorithmically capable of ignoring irrelevant links?

[wicked4u2c]

What about if you are a web company and have your link on the footer of every site you develop? Example: (Developed By: XXXXXX) Would that have any affect?

[robaxx]

I think the answers in this channel are often missing an important point - People aren't asking whether these things are problems for the visitors... they're asking whether these things are going to cause a problem with the placement of the sites in the Google index.

So in this case - Does the cross-linking have any detrimental effect on the placement of those sites in Google, or is it irrelevant as far as the search engine is concerned, and thus only relevant to the person viewing the site?

[khmohsin]

i agree with you, matt chutts totally skipped this point and I think the question is still unanswered

[calculatorti]

@robaxx The real point is that we should look at the user experience before page rank. Ultimately even if Google ranks you high initially and users find your content confusing or annoying and bounce your ranking will eventually reflect that. Ultimately Google's goal is to provide the relevant content which is user friendly. Cross linking unrelated sites is definitely not user friendly.

[Teigokane]

@robaxx well, he gives the answer implicitly. You have to read between the lines. But there is a problem: For example, in most cases, there is a link back to the webdesigner's site. And he deserves this link, whether it's on topic or not. And on the other hand, the webdesigner links back to his work as a reference, no matter whether it's on topic or not. And that's pretty normal. That's the real problem I have with this answer.

[1888junkteam]

excellent work!

[Glamdering]

Awesome as usual, thanks for the clarification!

[sayweb]

great question, great answer.... congratulations

[sumatopfmodel]

With this Shirt+Head, he looks like prison break!

[Hatikvahh]

ive tested this and i can tell u it doesnt help at all if the site is located on the same ip and its reciprocal

[idesignandcreate]

Drycleaning?

[jacobk2]

I assume that one linking to one's own other relevant sites would not be penalized (or other owner's/competitors as long as they're relevant to the topic/site at hand.

[rihanna2426]

I just noticed that you have talk about relevancy info back-to-back again.

[comforteagleful]

follow or nofollow????

[gutterdog212000]

I'm in the home service. House and roof washing, wood restoration, gutter cleaning. I've linked to many other sites. Many if not most nuthing to do with what I do. Is that hurting me? helping me or not really anything?

[quebecclimber]

What if I'm a web designer, is it better to have a site-wide link on my clients' websites linking to my portfolio, on the home page only, on a page dedicated to this, or what else?

[quebecclimber]

Also note that I'm linking to my clients' websites from my portfolio.

[todnyc]

@quebecclimber that's really fine; any web design companies links to a wide variety of types of websites. i have found and heard (and seen) that you're safe as long as each of the sites has legitimate, real content on it.

[todnyc]

@quebecclimber

just think about all the blogs that links to a totally diverse array of types of sites, like when a blogger will recommend sites about food, then about traveling, and then fashion, and then merchandise; if that were to get penalized, every site would be penalized and therefore no site would be.

[quebecclimber]

The question was particularly about dealing with reciprocal linking and site-wide linking. Would something different like an editorial link instead of a site-wide footer link would better because it look less spammy?