Advice please - SEO issues with 100's of domains

[Operandi]

I want to buy 100's of .co.uk domains and then put a few pages of unique and relevent content on each site. These sites will preferably be on the same server, though we could use several servers

All the domains will probably have the same whois information.

I am concerned about Google seeing these as spam sites because of the number of sites on the same ip address having the same whois info.

As far as you know, as a domain registrar, can google ascertain the whois information of a domain and then link that with other domains to establish the ownership of 100's of domains?

Are we likely to be banned by the SE's for owning and hosting so many domains/web sites?

Companies such as Marchex must get around this somehow without their sites getting banned - any idea how?

Thanks, in advance
Chris

[Keyboard Cowboy]

You should be fine as long as your sites aren't doing anything shady. Many things falls under the "shady" category, with one of them being crosslinking. There's no harm in owning many sites, as long as you don't try to inflate your rankings by crosslinking all of them, as Google will most likely see that as spam.

You might get into trouble if some of the sites on the IP get flagged, as Google will probably automatically flag the other sites hosted on it, for review (while I don't think that will happen if you play nice, shit sometimes happens).

[Operandi]

Thanks for your thoughts. I agree totally with you about cross linking the sites. I intend to keep the sites as seperate entities so hopefully that should be OK.

Any more thoughts and suggestions would be welcome.

Chris

[zangief]

If you take Matt Cutts as an authority he says that google will think someone that has more than 10 sites won't have enough time to run each of them.I don't know if there is a penalty for them , I have more than that amount of sites and they rank well with no problems.
The only thing google can do sites linking to each other on the same ip , will be to devalue the links (cause on shared hostings a lot of sites has the same ip -since you told that you won't link them to each other you won't have a problem )

[Liquiteq]

I am concerned about Google seeing these as spam sites because of the number of sites on the same ip address having the same whois info.

Won't cause a probelm on it's own. Keyboard_Cowboy is always spot on with these things, you should get a pen, and write down everything he says for reference

On the flipside, if you take it slowly, develop each site to be a valuable resource, tastefully cross linking will do you the world of good, regardless of IP. To give yourself a boost, you may even wish to consider using separate IP's if the quality of the site warrants it.

Try to maintain a high level of topical relevance with any links you do pass.

Are we likely to be banned by the SE's for owning and hosting so many domains/web sites?

No, keep your websites clean, informative, and what your prospective users want, and Google has no reason at all to think badly of you. They frown upon unethical or manipulative practice, so keep it clean and your fine.

[namestrands]

I operate some 30 websites on the same IP, and all of them are fully indexed. Just ensure that you create and submit sitemaps to google.

Keep the pages clean, and not to adsense heavy. If you are to use adsense then limit it to one on each page.

[JuniperPark]

I have 13,000 sites on 1 server, all crosslinked, 3 adsense blocks on every page, no problem with Google.

Most of what Matt Cutts has said over the last 3 years has turned out to be uttle bull$shit. I've attended several of his speaking engangements, taken notes, and found that virtually nothing he said to be true. I now assume he's completely making things up.

[sji2671]

No problem, you want to create mini sites which is fine as long as the content is unique.

[whitebark]

yep, keep the content original, keep the cross-linking on the same server to a minimum (though some have never had a problem with heavy cross-linking) and you'll have little to worry about.

Original content is the key.

[DomainMagnate]

I have 13,000 sites on 1 server, all crosslinked, 3 adsense blocks on every page, no problem with Google.

Most of what Matt Cutts has said over the last 3 years has turned out to be uttle bull$shit. I've attended several of his speaking engangements, taken notes, and found that virtually nothing he said to be true. I now assume he's completely making things up.

heh nice put

suppose these are adsense scrapers, don't yours get banned quickly? I used to do this with a few thousand domains but now they are getting banned too fast in google, so it's not as effective as it used to be

[EGS]

heh nice put

suppose these are adsense scrapers, don't yours get banned quickly? I used to do this with a few thousand domains but now they are getting banned too fast in google, so it's not as effective as it used to be

This is true. Just stay clear from MFA sites...they'll get you banned.
Unique content = you safe.

[Liquiteq]

I have 13,000 sites on 1 server, all crosslinked, 3 adsense blocks on every page, no problem with Google.

Most of what Matt Cutts has said over the last 3 years has turned out to be uttle bull$shit. I've attended several of his speaking engangements, taken notes, and found that virtually nothing he said to be true. I now assume he's completely making things up.

Allow me to be inquisative, and make a point simultaneosly;

How many of these 13,000 sites achieved a number 1 listing for an incredibly competitive search term? (For transparency, if the answer is 1 or more, please illustrate this.)

There is a big difference between being indexed, and being ranked.

[JuniperPark]

Allow me to be inquisative, and make a point simultaneosly;

How many of these 13,000 sites achieved a number 1 listing for an incredibly competitive search term? (For transparency, if the answer is 1 or more, please illustrate this.)

There is a big difference between being indexed, and being ranked.

I haven't make any attempt at getting outside links or spectacular content, so none are #1... nor do they need to be wi 13,000 domains doing the work. I mostly sell domains anyway, so any traffic is just the 'gravy'. I get traffic from search engines, so it does work.

[Keyboard Cowboy]

I haven't make any attempt at getting outside links or spectacular content, so none are #1... nor do they need to be wi 13,000 domains doing the work. I mostly sell domains anyway, so any traffic is just the 'gravy'. I get traffic from search engines, so it does work.

I think what Liquiteq is getting at, is that it's quite besides the point if you have 13k sites on one IP if none of them have any real rankings to speak of. Even with real crappy crosslinked sites (and I'm not saying yours are, as I don't know them) you're bound to get maybe a few se hits once in awhile (granted that they're not banned) but that doesn't really mean anything regarding this subject. You only need 1 hit on each of those 13k to have 13k hits a day (my math is spot on as you can tell) so it becomes a numbers game for you.

The trick is to have 13k sites that all have 1st page rankings. And that is extremely hard to get (for competive terms and phrases) if you have them all crosslinked.

[Liquiteq]

Thanks K_C, very eloquently put

[DomainMagnate]

I think what Liquiteq is getting at, is that it's quite besides the point if you have 13k sites on one IP if none of them have any real rankings to speak of. Even with real crappy crosslinked sites (and I'm not saying yours are, as I don't know them) you're bound to get maybe a few se hits once in awhile (granted that they're not banned) but that doesn't really mean anything regarding this subject. You only need 1 hit on each of those 13k to have 13k hits a day (my math is spot on as you can tell) so it becomes a numbers game for you.

The trick is to have 13k sites that all have 1st page rankings. And that is extremely hard to get (for competive terms and phrases) if you have them all crosslinked.

it's not the way it works, they picks up long tail traffic from occasional searches, you don't really need that many so it pays off. 1 visitor a day would be more than enough to make it very profitable

[Liquiteq]

it's not the way it works, they picks up long tail traffic from occasional searches, you don't really need that many so it pays off. 1 visitor a day would be more than enough to make it very profitable

There is no substitute for doing it properly. It's just as easy if you have a little experience. Why compromize revenue for the sake of a few silly little mistakes?

[DomainMagnate]

There is no substitute for doing it properly. It's just as easy if you have a little experience. Why compromize revenue for the sake of a few silly little mistakes?

different models apply different standards, there is no one single proper way.
If it is profitable, then it works, as any business should be.
Do the math, you profit? then great, scale things up.
Things change you gotta keep up with the trends

[JuniperPark]

I think what Liquiteq is getting at, is that it's quite besides the point if you have 13k sites on one IP if none of them have any real rankings to speak of. Even with real crappy crosslinked sites (and I'm not saying yours are, as I don't know them) you're bound to get maybe a few se hits once in awhile (granted that they're not banned) but that doesn't really mean anything regarding this subject. You only need 1 hit on each of those 13k to have 13k hits a day (my math is spot on as you can tell) so it becomes a numbers game for you.

The trick is to have 13k sites that all have 1st page rankings. And that is extremely hard to get (for competive terms and phrases) if you have them all crosslinked.

The question of this thread was whether using 1 IP for thousands of domains will get you banned by Google. I answered THAT question.

Since I have as many as 1,000 domains relating to a particular competitive keyword or phrase, it would not be possible for every one of them to be "#1", so that doesn't even make sense. As I said, most ARE listed and ranked, as high as PR4, and they get traffic from SE's. That answers the question of this thread.

[Liquiteq]

The question of this thread was whether using 1 IP for thousands of domains will get you banned by Google. I answered THAT question.

Since I have as many as 1,000 domains relating to a particular competitive keyword or phrase, it would not be possible for every one of them to be "#1", so that doesn't even make sense. As I said, most ARE listed and ranked, as high as PR4, and they get traffic from SE's. That answers the question of this thread.

Yes, you answered the question well. For the benefit of anyone in the same boat , it's always good to expand upon these subjects, and provide a fully rounded and well discussed set of answers. Most people here will benefit greatly from the why's and hows.

Also, I dont think anybody was trying to imply that all your sites should be ranked #1, simply that given an incredibly competitive market, crosslinking in this manor would be an inhibitory factor.