I've been in the internet game for a number of years now, and only serious the last 18 months, so this may shock. I didn't realize that you could add domains to one account!! I have just learned (only because I am moving a web site over and needed a live account to be able to see what I'm doing) that I can add unlimited domain names under my account at Hostgator. I didn't know this before and so it begs this question. What are the inherent problems with multiple domains in one account? All the domains share the one cpanel account, but do get their own email addresses. So I can see that having to share cpanel, and obviously it drains more bandwidth etc, but what other problems arise? Say for example, is there an issue with SEO? I can't see anything on the surface to suggest that it would have SEO implications, but then again I don't know how SE's work so thought I'd ask. Cheers Dean
After reading a bit, you will see the problem of a ton of websites under ONE IP ADDRESS. This becomes a big issue with search engines, some more than others, about who owns a specific site. If you run 20 websites and they are all related, the search engines will take into account that they are all owned by the same person. I rarely run two websites on one IP address unless I know they are going to be completely unrelated.
Hi fsmedia, If I have multiple sites under one account will the search engines see that as multiple web sites under one IP? Is that what you're saying? I only have 4 web sites, all of them totally unrelated, so are you saying that the SE's like or dislike this? Cheers
Apart from the SEO issue, technically speaking it makes no difference. The add-on domains will just create a subdirectory in your main account for your addition sites. Of course, as far as bandwidth usage is concern, it depends on what your sites uses. To get different IPs, it may be best to host your sites with different web host (ie one on each). Because of the restriction of ICAAN due to the limited number of available IPs, your web host may not freely allocation IPs without justification so sharing IPs seems to be the norm now.
Hi eddy, I actually have no idea about IP's except that they are a number representing a point of source somewhere. I'm guessing that some people, SE's etc have an issue with multiple web sites coming from the one IP, but you're saying it's not that big an issue? Thanks again
If you have 100 video related sites, they will be devalued as much as they would be valued if they were on separate IPs or separate C class ranges. If they are completely unrelated, it won't matter and you will be fine.
Well, I've been using shared IPs and it did not quite affect visibility on SE. Then again, I am no SEO expert and as long as people do visit my sites and I make money from it, I am happy about it. I am saying that web hosts do not give out IP addresses just like that, you need to provide justification. If you cannot do so, the only way would be to host one site per web host to ensure that you have different IP.
Hi eddy, I still have no idea about IP's and how they're going to affect me. I just would like to host my four web sites on one host so I can save some money. And apart from the subject of IP's being brought up and confusing me even more (LOL), I think it shouldn't be a problem to move my sites over to one account Cheers Dean
Tridean, no offense, but have you read ANYTHING we've said? We've discussed it time and time again....
This really only becomes an issue if you are heavily cross linking between the sites. Cross linking as defined does not mean a single link from many to one or one to many. There are ip's out there with a 3000 domains assigned to one ip. Maybe more, but that is the current record that I have personal knowledge of. If you put up quality content sites it will not hurt you. If you put a bunch of MFA sites up, you deserve to reap what you sowed. Manure = manure. If you are using sites that use DBs make sure that you read the TOS from your provider. Some give you unlimited domains but place other restrictions that make it impossible for you to actually do that. Things like maximum mysql space, maximum number of connections, etc.
Google assumes websites linking to one another from the same IP share common ownership - i.e. a link isn't going to be counted as a "vote" for SERP's purposes. Matt Cutt's recently said something about google factoring in the number of domains owned by the same person - i.e. if you own 50 sites they are going to assume the sites can't have the same effort put into it as a person who owns one site.
Hi fsmedia, Yes I have. You said as long as the sites are unrelated then there's no issue. It was the line "After reading a bit, you will see the problem of a ton of websites under ONE IP ADDRESS. This becomes a big issue with search engines, some more than others, about who owns a specific site. If you run 20 websites and they are all related, the search engines will take into account that they are all owned by the same person." Sorry but this confused me because why should it matter. But it's OK, I understand now and no offence was taken. I'm only on my second cup of coffee and may not be as sharp as I'd like right now. Cheers Dean
Hi Colbyt and mjewel, Cross linking is something that wouldn't have occured to me either unless I had started this thread. Thankyou. For me there are four sites. Let's call them A,B,C and D. All unrelated by subject. A sells retail products. B, C and D provide education and resources. B will link to C and D (one way), and that's where the cross linking will end,. These sites are not MFA or anything like that. Some of these sites have taken me a year to build. What are DB's?
I found this really annoying having myself a dozen of domains sharing the same cpanel, but when my number of domains summed hundreds, a reseller Cpanel was a better solution... one reseller account but multiple individual sites with their own cpanel each. Overtime I moved to Servage, with no cpanel but better functionality managing unlimited domains from the same ftp account and central control panel rather than creating multiple users/ftp accounts, even though you can do that if you want to.
databases. I am lazy and can't spell. Factor in typos and I use short terms when I can. Having read the the posts above. I don't think you have anything to worry about.
If there is a legitimate reason to place a link from "B" to "C" & "D" then go ahead - it's just that google's algorithm is based on sites linking to one another because they are "good" sites. Google will assume you are linking to your own sites and not count it as an "unbiased" vote. If there is excessive linking you might risk being seen as a link farm trying to manipulate SERPS and get a penalty. Google is also a Registrar and they can check ownership of domains to see who owns what - in addition to using data from adsense, analytics, etc. As long as you assume google "knows" you own multiple sites on the same IP and that you aren't fooling them, you'll be fine.