Best Practices for Cross-linking

by: Jayme Westervelt, April 2006

Cross linking sites together means that you are putting a link on
site A to site B. These sites can be owned by the same person or just
related sites wishing to link to each other. Cross linking is meant to
help users by pointing them to other sites that might be of interest to
them or that might give them further information on a particular topic.
Unfortunately many will cross link merely to inflate Page Rank in the
Google algorithm, quickly forgetting what cross linking is really meant
to be used for.

If the sites that will be linked together are owned by the same person or company, there are basics guidelines to follow:

• Unique Content – this one is such a basic “no
  brainer” that it shouldn’t even have to be mentioned, but it is the most
  often forgotten. If you are going to link two sites together, they
  must each have unique content. The content may be similar in theme and
  compliment each other but it must not be duplicated.
• Different IP addresses – this isn’t a “must do” but
  it is a “should do” if possible. Having two sites that link to each
  other that are on the same IP address will not cause you a penalty with
  the search engines but for safe measure you should consider having them
  on different IP addresses.
• Humans first – when considering to link two or more
  sites together, make sure you are doing it for the right reason: for
  the human visitor. You want to enhance the users’ experience by giving
  them options to visit other sites that will be useful to them. If you
  are linking the sites together for Page Rank purposes, you are doing it
  for the wrong reason.
• Multiple Sites – you don’t want to create multiple
  sites just for the purpose of linking them all together. This will only
  create a suspicious-looking link ring that will be of no benefit to the
  user, especially if the sites do not contain quality content. Each
  site should have a sufficient amount of links coming into them from
  independent sites.

Now that the basics are established, there are some rules to remember when putting the links in place:

• Excessive = Unacceptable – linking two sites
  together from every page within a site is unacceptable. Link only where
  it makes sense to link. Keep the number of links between sites at a
  minimum.
• Natural – placing your links where they logically
  and naturally fit into the website is the best way to cross link. For
  example, you have a user on site A that is looking for a pair of high
  heeled shoes. They love the red high heeled shoes on the site but are
  interested in other colors. Site A only offers red but site B offers
  more. This would be a perfect spot to link to site B, which sells high
  heels in all colors.
• Anchor Text – where ever possible, use keyword-rich
  anchor text to link the sites together. The anchor text not only
  clarifies for the user what the site they are going to is going to be
  about, but it helps to clarify it for the search engine spiders as well.
• Rel=nofollow – even though cross linking should be
  done purely for the human visitor, many will do it for the search
  engines regardless. If you are worried that cross linking two sites
  together might cause you issues with the search engines then you can use
  the “rel=nofollow” tag around the link. This will help you to avoid
  any issues the link might cause.

Many site owners have multiple reasons to cross link two sites
together; complimentary product selection, more content etc. Cross
linking two sites together is a great way to offer the user more options
and enhance their experience. Again, linking one site to another
should not be done purely for the search engines and rankings. Also be
aware that over-linking sites together will cause a penalty; creating a
tight link ring without any outside sites linking in will also cause a
penalty. Be smart about cross linking; follow the basic guidelines and
rules and you should have no issues with either your human visitor or
the search engines.