Tough SEO

[critter]

Hey All.

I have a question. Some industries like online gambling, prescription drugs online, etc are VERY competitive. To boot, most of these sites do not follow the proper standards for linking and also are not interested in linking with competition.

What is the best method in achieving links in an industry like online gambling or phramacies? Is it best to create your own network of site and inter-link them using seperate C IP BLOCKS for every domain?

Thanks

Critter

[seomike]

You hit the nail on the head. Create your own little mini web of sites. Examples of a mini web would be internet.com which includes this site and clickz and others are internet related.

[David Wallace]

You hit the nail on the head. Create your own little mini web of sites. Examples of a mini web would be internet.com which includes this site and clickz and others are internet related.
That may be somewhat true but the Internet.com family of sites each deal with differing topics, not all the same. If someone creates a network of sites that all deal with the same thing such as gambling, prescription drugs or whatever, they risk being labeled as either a domain spammer, a link farmer or both.

Recent example was a company I came across that had dozens of site related to carrier freight. Several searches at Yahoo brought up numerous sites of there's. For some, they hogged all 20 of the first set of results. Different sites but same company, smae message, all interlinked. I reported them as spammers first of all because I am looking to take on a client who will compete with them but secondly because as a searcher, I want a variety of choices, not a bunch of sites from the same company.

[critter]

That may be somewhat true but the Internet.com family of sites each deal with differing topics, not all the same. If someone creates a network of sites that all deal with the same thing such as gambling, prescription drugs or whatever, they risk being labeled as either a domain spammer, a link farmer or both.

Recent example was a company I came across that had dozens of site related to carrier freight. Several searches at Yahoo brought up numerous sites of there's. For some, they hogged all 20 of the first set of results. Different sites but same company, smae message, all interlinked. I reported them as spammers first of all because I am looking to take on a client who will compete with them but secondly because as a searcher, I want a variety of choices, not a bunch of sites from the same company.

Thanks for the info David..

So - you are correct in that the set of sites would be about the same topic, except as an example, one website might target tramadol while another might target viagra. So although they are in a similar theme, they would not be targeting the EXACT same keywords. As well, every website looks different, is on a seperate C IP Block and also has very unique content on it. If all this is true, is it ok to use your own network and interlink PROPERLY in order to get a few sites ranked highly with the link strategy you have implemented?

I am finding it quite difficult to find suitable link partners in these industries.

Thanks!

Critter

[seomike]

I used internet.com as and example of 1 vertical not a combination of verticals.

If you are going for a pharm drug site. You might make 5 or 6 sites devoted to the top selling drugs like the ones that you always get in your inbox :) Then you make a main site that has all the drugs you can cross link those and be fine. Or you can make those 5-6 sites subdomains on their own IP. Either way works.

Same for a casino site. a site for black jack , poker, russian roulette... Link them together get a lot of page mass under and that'll get you started

I have a site sitting on page 1 for a 1 word term with 7 million competitors that is structured very similar to this. Lots of pages in the site, Networked with sites that are similar, and has some good links coming into it.

[Incubator]

In the online gambling indusrty which I have been involved with for 7 years, I have started to see a trend currently of main gambling providers looking to drop affiliates, I was at GIGSE ( online casino conference) that was held a little while back and that seemed to be the current buzz, since the affiliate areas can generated large payouts but poor levels of online marketing communications since the affiliates do have say in how thier main property is marketed with an exsisting brand name.
Main casino properties are now turning to developing thier own communities that are sites which are updated regularly with the latest info such as sites with tips, strategies, jackpot winners....etc

Cheers

Wayne

[seomike]

Good post wayne.

If you weren't into the casinos, porn or pharm verticals 2 years ago you probably won't do very good if you are starting from scratch right now anyways.

[Incubator]

Thanks seomike, those areas of the online business are all about converstions
and quality of conversions. Entering into that SEO field as a newcomer, you will quickly find out how even the playing field really is ... :eek:

Cheers

Wayne

[Anthony Parsons]

One method I did use for an online pharmacy site was; we purchased into a large .org health related site, PR9 with no current external links, had only the one outbound link from that site pointing to a (buffer) domain describing the difference with certain drugs (all information), then had the one outbound link from that buffer site pointing to the drugs site that sold the products.

We lost very little authority through the vertical links, the information domain picked up an instant PR8 and so did the main drugs site that sold the goods. We smashed everything in one foul swoop using the vertical one way link technique in that manner. The authoritiveness of the site took it straight to page one in the SERP's for the clients given terms. If your clients have the money to do things like that, then I highly recommend it.

Basically, you just set up a buffer domain with great information, articles and content to pass the authority to the site that sells without losing anything for voting towards an online pharmacy site (selling prescription drugs). Mind you, if the engines decided to change their link algo's, then that method can go to ****e very quickly. Every upside has a downside unfortunatly.

I think the moral to the story is, 'money rules in the competitive world.'

[Incubator]

[QUOTE=I think the moral to the story is, 'money rules in the competitive world.'[/QUOTE]


BINGO !!!! we have a winner

Cheers

Wayne

[hassleback]

Here's my question, from the other side:

How do I defeat competitors who are using this technique - their own network of sites and inter-linking them using seperate C IP BLOCKS?

I'm in a competitive area and a newbie has shown up on Google results (not the other engines yet) and as far as I can tell this is what they are doing. How long until Google figures it out?

Or can I proactively let Google know? Because this is not the type of site they would like having come up high in their rankings.

[Anthony Parsons]

Or can I proactively let Google know? Because this is not the type of site they would like having come up high in their rankings.

If the content is unique and serving a purpose and the site is relevant to the search query, I don't think Google, or any other engine is going to do much about it. Its more just about the method they used to get the site there. Who says that site #10,000 currently isn't the right site to be ranking #1? Site #10,000 might have just decided to actively input some cash to obtain that #1 ranking instead of waiting years to achieve it in other ways. They might for go their PPC budget instead and invest that within their natural rankings.

[Incubator]

When using seperate C IP Addy on each portal page that is well optimized, I dont think any crawler based SE will have a problem with it, how it is being server for the positioning it is sitting in is the case.
The development of these micro-sites is key, you can no longer just through up a doorway or splash enterance page and expect miracles.
Managing these sites in online marketing dev is a full time job( especially in you need a revenue stream of 55% or higher just from online) and just linking the sites in the network alone wil not carry enough wait unless you are running 100 plus domain network.
Depending on what industry you are in being competitive, it is more geared to your keyphrase structure and what "new" info you can deliver per portal all must rotate constanly with updates and page size increases

Cheers Wayne