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The Cross-Linking Conundrum
February 08, 2005
Well, I'm throwing my hands up in frustration. What's a white-hat SEO supposed to do? Our main business site has a separate blog, and since we draw over 75% of our leads from our site, I worry about the cross-linking between the two sites all the time.
Then came the no-follow tag - Eureka! I thought. The very solution to my dilemma. We quickly outfitted the links from our main site to the blog with the no-follow tag.
But is this really the classic Prisoner's Dilemma? (See: http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum12/2137.htm)
I guess all we can do is rely on the adage "If you would do it even if SEs weren't around, then do it and don't worry" (well, okay, that's a paraphrase - I can't remember exactly what the saying is but you get the gist). We'll be taking out the no-follow tags and going back to the back-and-forth linking. Just in case.
- BJ
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Posted by BJ at 01:41 PM in SEO | Permalink
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Comments
BJ,
I am just starting to get heavily into SE marketing (mainly for my affiliate sites) - however, I have my design site, and two blogs. I've cross linked between the three of them without any problems (they are all on the same hosting plan, therefore, same shared IP addy) and I've not yet had a problem with Google, Yahoo, or MSN.
I believe the problem would come when all you do is cross link between those sites and no other sites whatsoever.
Keep it good and balanced and you should be fine (just my honest opinion).
Posted by: teli | Feb 8, 2005 3:16:34 PM
The problem with cross-linking is that it's a little like cigarette smoking, I think. We all know or have heard of people who are 95 and have been smoking since they were 12, and they are in the greatest of health. Cross-linking is kind of similar.
Allan Gardyne wrote about his experiences with cross-linking three of his sites here. Very interesting article.
Posted by: BJ | Feb 8, 2005 9:29:15 PM
Thanks for that link BJ,
Very good read and scary too. He confirms what I believe - if we use common sense when cross linking, we'll be fine - however, by his own admission, he added "a few more links" and kept doing it 'til he was penalized.
If you only have a few website cross-linked, I wouldn't think it's be a problem. However, I'm definitely more aware of it now that I'm moving more into affiliate marketing and building more websites to that effect (I don't even link to my affiliate sites for *any* of my current sites).
Posted by: teli | Feb 10, 2005 5:55:42 PM
