Is cross-linking websites bad?

Linda from Lakewood, NJ asks: "If I have 3 websites, is there a problem to cross link websites?"

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• seo
• linking
• google

[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?

[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?

[agapitoflores001]

Not that bad. Nice tip.

[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.

[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.

[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