Minisite Cross Linking Strategy? Will It Work?

PeteNY · 10-04-2009, 11:25 AM

I was reading a suggested tactic that says to create a mother site like...

http://www.ToyStore.com

Then create as many separate minisites as possible for every product in the mother site store...

http://www.EtchASketchSite.com
http://www.YoYoStore.org
http://www.BestMonopolySite.com
http://www.GetHulaHoop.com
etc...

Then interlink all the minisites, and link back to the mothersite, for one big boost in all their search engine rankings.

Something tells me Google is too smart for this. Is this an old tactic that doesn't work anymore? Is it a recommended strategy?

Is there any SEO advantage to having separate sites as opposed to just subpages like...

http://www.toystore.com/EtchaSketch
http://www.toystore.com/YoYo
http://www.toystore.com/Monopoly
http://www.toystore.com/HulaHoop

I don't want to put massive effort into creating 40 minisites and a mother site just find that Google hates this and drops my sites. Although it may be worth doing if the sites will stay up and rank for a few months.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts,
Pete-NY

Heuristic · 10-04-2009, 11:36 AM

You won't get much SEO benefit if the sites are all hosted on the same server (same IP address). If you can get separate class C IP's for each site, then you should get some good link juice.

The other thing you want to watch for is interlinking all those mini-sites in such a way that they are obviously self-serving ( ie. all the sites are likely owned by you). I'm no expert, but I believe Google looks for this sort of thing.

thecableguy · 10-04-2009, 11:57 AM

Quote:

I was reading a suggested tactic that says to create a mother site like...

http://www.ToyStore.com

Then create as many separate minisites as possible for every product in the mother site store...

http://www.EtchASketchSite.com
http://www.YoYoStore.org
http://www.BestMonopolySite.com
http://www.GetHulaHoop.com
etc...

Then interlink all the minisites, and link back to the mothersite, for one big boost in all their search engine rankings.

Something tells me Google is too smart for this. Is this an old tactic that doesn't work anymore? Is it a recommended strategy?

Yeah, kinda a like a linkwheel. It does work, but not as well as before

Quote:

Is there any SEO advantage to having separate sites as opposed to just subpages like...

http://www.toystore.com/EtchaSketch
http://www.toystore.com/YoYo
http://www.toystore.com/Monopoly
http://www.toystore.com/HulaHoop

Pete-NY

The links from the index page carries more "weight"

Alan

nettech · 10-04-2009, 06:07 PM

I would avoid it like the plague as Google IS smart enough to pick these out. What you're actually doing is creating a link farm which G is trying to eradicate.

If you did go ahead and do it then just the logistics to cover your footprint is a nightmare. For example, you need to ensure that (in an ideal world) each site is hosted on a different C-class IP address or at least a cluster of IPs. Also, you need to ensure that domain names are registered with various registrars and also on different addreses, this to some extent may cover your footprint. You could use privacy, but there is talk that G does not like this (yet to be proved).

I would suggest something very simple and effective. If you want to dominate for specific keywords then buy the domain name with the keyphrase. This will definitely help. Unless your main site has some kind of authority or has been around for over a year you can try to optimise it. However in my experience, its probably better just to snap up the domains and create a few pages.

The best strategy is to write a few articles for each page on each mini site and get the backlinks that way, this is far more effective and also a white hat technique will not get you banned. To add the icing on the cake, just do all the usual social bookmarking etc.

Good luck

GonJay · 10-07-2009, 09:58 AM

I heard some says that you can use Web 2.0 (networking sites) properties for your mini-sites.

Preciseim · 10-07-2009, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nettech

I would avoid it like the plague as Google IS smart enough to pick these out. What you're actually doing is creating a link farm which G is trying to eradicate.

If you did go ahead and do it then just the logistics to cover your footprint is a nightmare. For example, you need to ensure that (in an ideal world) each site is hosted on a different C-class IP address or at least a cluster of IPs. Also, you need to ensure that domain names are registered with various registrars and also on different addreses, this to some extent may cover your footprint. You could use privacy, but there is talk that G does not like this (yet to be proved).

I would suggest something very simple and effective. If you want to dominate for specific keywords then buy the domain name with the keyphrase. This will definitely help. Unless your main site has some kind of authority or has been around for over a year you can try to optimise it. However in my experience, its probably better just to snap up the domains and create a few pages.

The best strategy is to write a few articles for each page on each mini site and get the backlinks that way, this is far more effective and also a white hat technique will not get you banned. To add the icing on the cake, just do all the usual social bookmarking etc.

Good luck

You make some very good points but I think that you are a little harsh in suggesting you avoid like the plague. Many marketers build their own networks and have extremely positive results. So I think there is a lot of seo value in it.

However I agree with you 100% that you should try to cover your footprint.

thanks

PeteNY · 10-08-2009, 11:23 AM

Thanks for all your input! Sounds like it's more of a headache than it's worth right now for me. Probably worked great a few years ago, too bad I missed the boat.

Thanks again.

nettech · 10-08-2009, 11:29 AM

Lol, yea actually the plague part was quite strong, it was a figure of speech, will be a bit more careful next time. :-)

nettech · 10-08-2009, 11:30 AM

Dont think you've missed the boat, there'll always be new and different ways to do things, its like cat and mouse with the search engines, just keep reading the forums and people experiences and results and hopefully you should get an idea of what works and what doesn't. The only way though it to actually try it out!

10-04-2009, 11:25 AM	#1
PeteNY HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: New York Posts: 117 Thanks: 8 Thanked 18 Times in 13 Posts	Minisite Cross Linking Strategy? Will It Work? I was reading a suggested tactic that says to create a mother site like... http://www.ToyStore.com Then create as many separate minisites as possible for every product in the mother site store... http://www.EtchASketchSite.com http://www.YoYoStore.org http://www.BestMonopolySite.com http://www.GetHulaHoop.com etc... Then interlink all the minisites, and link back to the mothersite, for one big boost in all their search engine rankings. Something tells me Google is too smart for this. Is this an old tactic that doesn't work anymore? Is it a recommended strategy? Is there any SEO advantage to having separate sites as opposed to just subpages like... http://www.toystore.com/EtchaSketch http://www.toystore.com/YoYo http://www.toystore.com/Monopoly http://www.toystore.com/HulaHoop I don't want to put massive effort into creating 40 minisites and a mother site just find that Google hates this and drops my sites. Although it may be worth doing if the sites will stay up and rank for a few months. Thanks in advance for your thoughts, Pete-NY

10-04-2009, 11:36 AM	#2
Heuristic HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 330 Thanks: 73 Thanked 53 Times in 48 Posts	Re: Minisite Cross Linking Strategy? Will It Work? You won't get much SEO benefit if the sites are all hosted on the same server (same IP address). If you can get separate class C IP's for each site, then you should get some good link juice. The other thing you want to watch for is interlinking all those mini-sites in such a way that they are obviously self-serving ( ie. all the sites are likely owned by you). I'm no expert, but I believe Google looks for this sort of thing.
	Last edited by steve39; 10-04-2009 at 12:01 PM. Reason: More info

10-04-2009, 06:07 PM	#4
nettech AdSense Crazy Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: London, United Kingdom & one day Dubai (UAE) Posts: 731 Thanks: 86 Thanked 80 Times in 70 Posts	Re: Minisite Cross Linking Strategy? Will It Work? I would avoid it like the plague as Google IS smart enough to pick these out. What you're actually doing is creating a link farm which G is trying to eradicate. If you did go ahead and do it then just the logistics to cover your footprint is a nightmare. For example, you need to ensure that (in an ideal world) each site is hosted on a different C-class IP address or at least a cluster of IPs. Also, you need to ensure that domain names are registered with various registrars and also on different addreses, this to some extent may cover your footprint. You could use privacy, but there is talk that G does not like this (yet to be proved). I would suggest something very simple and effective. If you want to dominate for specific keywords then buy the domain name with the keyphrase. This will definitely help. Unless your main site has some kind of authority or has been around for over a year you can try to optimise it. However in my experience, its probably better just to snap up the domains and create a few pages. The best strategy is to write a few articles for each page on each mini site and get the backlinks that way, this is far more effective and also a white hat technique will not get you banned. To add the icing on the cake, just do all the usual social bookmarking etc. Good luck

10-07-2009, 09:58 AM	#5
GonJay Warrior Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 7 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Minisite Cross Linking Strategy? Will It Work? I heard some says that you can use Web 2.0 (networking sites) properties for your mini-sites.
	Get an online assistant at Philippines Outsourcing for as low as $219/month only.

10-08-2009, 11:23 AM	#7
PeteNY HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: New York Posts: 117 Thanks: 8 Thanked 18 Times in 13 Posts	Re: Minisite Cross Linking Strategy? Will It Work? Thanks for all your input! Sounds like it's more of a headache than it's worth right now for me. Probably worked great a few years ago, too bad I missed the boat. Thanks again.

10-08-2009, 11:29 AM	#8
nettech AdSense Crazy Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: London, United Kingdom & one day Dubai (UAE) Posts: 731 Thanks: 86 Thanked 80 Times in 70 Posts	Re: Minisite Cross Linking Strategy? Will It Work? Lol, yea actually the plague part was quite strong, it was a figure of speech, will be a bit more careful next time. :-)

10-08-2009, 11:30 AM	#9
nettech AdSense Crazy Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: London, United Kingdom & one day Dubai (UAE) Posts: 731 Thanks: 86 Thanked 80 Times in 70 Posts	Re: Minisite Cross Linking Strategy? Will It Work? Dont think you've missed the boat, there'll always be new and different ways to do things, its like cat and mouse with the search engines, just keep reading the forums and people experiences and results and hopefully you should get an idea of what works and what doesn't. The only way though it to actually try it out!