3 replies to this topic

[RobIsCool]

Hello,

Can someone please tell me the effect of the following:

Two web sites in the same industry (not related, but let's say , competitors) are hosting on the same server, (lets use Hostgator for example). Major hosting companies like hostgator might have thousands of web sites on the same class C IP, and it is very likely that multiple competitors lie on that same class C Ip as well.

Let's say Company X sells metal widgets, and Company Y sells metal widgets. Company X and Company Y host their web sites with Hostgator, and both of them are on the same class C IP - Company X's IP is 244.433.412.3 and Company Y's IP is 244.433.412.15 . As both company's are in the same industry and compete against each other, they have obtained backlinks from the same directories, web sites, etc. (eg. Yahoo directory - category: Widgets, Dmoz, and all the other sites related to widget).

My question is... given this coincidental circumstance... what is google's algorithm going to do when it sees this occur? Is google only looking at interlinking between sites on the same class C Ip, or sites in the same industry with backlinks from the same URL's on the same class C ip ?

Thanks a lot for your help..

Rob

[CaliforniaGirl]

In the scenario you have illustrated there is no issue that I am aware of.

When C Class may become an issue is when there is heavy linking between a large amount of sites on the same C Class. Even then I believe that it takes an incredible amount of this (coined Independant Backlinkg Network) to be red flagged by an engine; however I have seen sites banned from Yahoo for this very thing.

Hope this helps,
CaliGirl

[Randy]

No issue with Google at all. They could even be on the exact same IP number.

I can't say that I've seen it be a problem with Yahoo! or any of the rest either by simply being on the same Class C and in the same industry.

[freshpromo]

It's very rare that a major search engine will penalize a site by accident. You'd have to be trying hard to get flagged.

Furthermore, in your example, getting a listing in directories like Yahoo! and DMOZ is nothing unique to those sites and would not associate the two together in any way. In fact, Google encourages getting listed in legit directories like Yahoo!

CaliGirl is right. And to further her point, it's going to be the bad neighborhood link farms that share class C IP's that get flagged, not the sites they link to. One way links are harmless, regardless of where they're from. No one can control who links to their site. When you start networking links from your site to the bad ones, that's when you could expect to see consequences.