Links from same IP

Can anyone offer any advice on how links from different domains are treated if the domains are hosted on the same IP address?

I have about 20 domains, which all have the same IP. If one of the domains links to another of the domains, will this have the same value as a link from a domain on a different IP? (assuming all other factors being equal, eg PR, etc).

Additionally, if links on same IP are worth less, would links on related IP numbers also be valued less?

 

Nobody knows *for sure* but I would suggest changing the IPs if possible, it can only help.

 

Agreed - noone knows for sure.

There is no across the board rule in google that says links from same IP or same class C block are devalued or cause a penalty. There are too many examples of multiple sites on the same IP with heavy cross-linking that have high PR and strong SERP placement.

But, there is a theory out there that if a high percentage of overall links come from the same IP or even IPs on same class C block, then the links are devalued. Although I have no proof of this, I subscribe to this theory.

Personally, I have 5 different sets of class C IP's spread across 3 different servers and I am careful about high degrees of linking within the same class C.

I definitely have links between sites on same IP - just a very low degree of them relative to overall link count for any site.

 

Now I realise this is a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" question, however, what do people class as heavy cross linking? For example, a site with say 500 pages with a link in the footer on each page to another site with the same IP.

Is this considered heavy cross linking?

 

Nadlay,

Read these two papers. One is a paper called Hilltop, and the other is Google's Patent application for Local Rank:

http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~georgem/hilltop/

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-...d=ptxt&s1=6,526,440&OS=6,526,440&RS=6,526,440

These are the two papers that discuss devaluing links from the same IP block. As has already been said, nobody knows whether these technologies have be implemented. My personal belief is that they have not.

 

I also strongly feel that they have yet not implemented the technology to devalue links from the same IP block. But I can't say about the next minute maybe they are evaluating this and might implement it...

 

Sorry for so many questions, but I'm trying to learn this very quickly.

What is a Class C Block?

 

A class "C" block is 256 IP addresses where the first 3 set of mumber are the same.

EG 100.125.150.001 to 100.125.150.225

The first three sets of number can be anything from 001 to 255 but they are consistent, or the same, within the block. That's what makes them a block.

Did you read the papers I suggested? This is pretty well explained in the Hilltop paper.

 

Compar,

I hadn't ready the documents when I posted the previous message, as my wife was dragging me out to do some "weekend" things.

I've read them now, and understand the implications.

You say that you don't believe they've been implemented yet, but I suppose for someone like me who is just starting to develop my site, and start persuing links, and hopefully driving it up the SERPs, then it would be wise to consider these implications for my long-term game plan, otherwise I might go down the wrong track and lose out big-time, if, and when, Hilltop is implented.

The fact they Google have patented Hilltop, could be for either:-

1. They intend to implement it in their engine.
2. They wish to stop anyone else implementing it, and stealing a competitive advantage.

Thanks very much for providing the link. I'll bear in mind the implications as I develop my site.

And, thanks for confirming the definition of Class C blocks.

 

I have a reseller account, which has just one IP address, but I have several domains hosted on the account. I had considered upgrading the reseller account to one which provided 3 IPs, but, presumably, as the IPs are from the same hosting company, they will probably be in the same Class C block, and I wouldn't therefore gain any advantage from that.

 

That's why some people spread their sites among a range of hosts. They just get the simple/inexpensive packages across a number of hosts and that way they avoid the problem. Does make the administration side a bit more time consuming and depending on the number of sites it can be more expensive. It's important to check that you aren't signing up with a reseller of a host you already use though, as you may end up with the same class C block and higher costs.

 

If you go with a large hosting company such as lunar pages or valueweb, you just need to wait a week or so between your requests for new IP's and they will be on different class c's because they run through them very fast and they just dole them out sequentially.

This is probably easier to maintain and less expensive than multiple hosts.

When it comes to IP's and cross-linking I am admittedly overly paranoid. Most knowledgeable SEO'ers seem to agree there currently is nothing in google algos that are detecting/penalizing for this.

As FYI I have a lightning servers account i use for tests - all bogus, testing only domains reside there ... well maybe a couple of exemptions where a test turned into something real.

Then I have 2 valueweb dedicated servers and really only need 1 for hosting. The other runs some spiders and publishing stuff that I want on a separate IP from all the sites.

 

Even if they do implement Local Rank/Hilltop I don't think there is much to worry about. As I read these papers they seem to suggest to me that if your are linking to or have IBL from authority site they will garner extra relevance. I don't think they are saying they will penalize site for crosslinking off the same IP block. I just think they are suggesting they would not give these links the same relevance value.

I also think that you would have to be doing this to an excess --100s of crosslinks or more. It is entirely natural for an owner or webmaster to link to his multiple sites.

One of the reasons I don't think the technology has been implemented, or is not going to devalue natural linking, is that we link to every site we host from our company web site. These sites are all on 2 different IP blocks. So many of the links are to sites on the same block. These link are frequently the first ones to show up in Google's backlinks.

 

We don't know if Google is doing this or not, but it is better to be safe than sorry. If you have a website with revenue of thousands of dollars a month or month and that website is dependent on links from other sites you own you may want to move them all to different IPs. You don't want Google making this change and leaving you out in the cold. IPs don't cost much, but losing your Google rankings for a month or two could cost a good deal.

The ranking changes after Florida probably cost me in total around $100,000, I'm only just now getting my rankings back.

 

David, It is indeed wise to make sure that your links are from different IP's. As far as I have seen, google has not added an automatic filter for IP range, however, if they ever have reason to look closer at your site and links, numerous domains on same IP would be a red flag.

 

I am currently looking at ways to upgrade my reseller account so that I obtain multiple non-contiguous IPs.

 

It should not be difficult if you have a solid host. Most true hoists will have several class B or C's to play with, so giving you a few extra IP's will not be hard for them. Some small hosts will only have a half range from a class C and you may have trouble getting them from them.

 

After considering all the discussions on links from the same IP, and seeing some of the threads about sites losing SERP ranking due to possible downgrading of links in the last week or so, and also taking into account that my main site needs to be considered a "UK" site, I decided to obtain a UK hosted reseller account in addition to my US hosted reseller account. The small monthly charge is worth it just for the peace of mind.

But, while I was ordering the new account I found the following in the Reseller FAQ of my new UK-based host :-

So, what is different in Europe to the USA? Or is this just BS by the hosting company?