Linking Multiple Domains – Good or Bad?

When you have multiple domains for your business then should you be linking all these domains together and is it good or bad SEO to do something like that? Many webmasters have such questions because it is not an uncommon practice to have multiple websites or multiple domain names. Businesses try to use multiple domains for their online business operations to enjoy better online presence and to increase the number of doorways to boost their traffic. In such scenarios, does Google have any problems when you link your websites to one another?

This question was answered by Matt Cutts recently and he first asks why should you have multiple domains. Why would a company have twenty or more domain names? If there is no adequate supporting reason then you should probably not be linking your websites. If you link your websites without adequate reason to do so, then it can affect your website’s reputation.

If you are going to have a website for each country with different domain extensions then it may make sense for you to link these websites. For example, you can use a list of flags on top of your page and have them linked to the respective website. In this case, you are justified, you are not trying to manipulate anything or are you trying to create a network of websites to boost link popularity. Your websites will however be passing on the page rank to the other websites when you link them to each other.

On the other hand, if you are going to link your website to unrelated domains and if there is no supporting reasons then you are going to run into problems with Google and the other search engines.

However, if you still want to link your website to these unrelated domains for some reason and if you do not want to get into problems with the Google God, then it is best to make your links as ‘no follow’ links. Google cannot penalize you for linking to websites that are not relevant to your website because it is your website and it is your domain. You have total control on how to use your domain and on what types of websites to link. You will have to however make your website compliant with the Google’s algorithm if you want to be ranked well in Google.

Before linking your websites and making them as ‘do follow’ links, you should ask yourself, why am I doing this and do I have any hidden motives in doing so. Added to that, you should go one step further and ask can this be interpreted in any other way? For example, you might have a reason for linking to so many other websites, which you own. As far as Google is concerned, it does not matter whether the websites are owned by a singleowner or a multiple owner. They look at domains as domains. If all the domains are going to be on the same server then it will certainly look very unusual when all the websites are linked to one another.

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