The latest trend in the internet hosting industry appears to involve using different IP addresses for each of your sites, with the same host. What is it supposed to do, and does it actually work?

This is one of those Search Engine Optimisation questions which nobody really knows the answer to, although many will freely offer their views and opinions. The reason for the different IP addresses for sites with the same host, is simply to link them together without being penalised by Google.

At the moment Google will filter out any links from sites hosted from the same IP address with the same host, because in the eyes of Google they are from the same network. While there are also rumours that Google will look at each individual site’s “WhoIs” to see who owns the site, these reports are unconfirmed. However it does seem to be accepted that different IPs for sites in the same network should assist in bumping up Page Rankings.

Why are different IPs required?

Ever since the idea of Page Ranking was rolled out by Google, Black Hat and White Hat search engine optimisation experts have tried to find short cuts around the systems, effectively quick ways of boosting any site’s Page Rank. The networking of all sites owned by one person was one of the early ideas, although this was quickly recognised and filters put in place by Google.

If the rumours about Google using the “WhoIs” data to check who actually owns a site are true, then the IP idea is effectively dead in the water.

So what is at stake?

Apart from the fact that a good Page Rank can be priceless, those who try to take short cuts may well be putting the future of their networks in jeopardy. While Google has been known to filter out suspicious links, there are concerns that not only are Google filtering links, but they are also penalising sites where these instances occur.

As with any of the Google filters or ideas for the future, we never really hear any official confirmation, but you can be sure that they are working on ways to ensure only natural links are counted when the Page Rank data is added up.

There have also been some recent rumours about big changes in the Page Rank system, but we will let you have more news as and when it is available.

A backlink is a link from another website that points to your site. Backlinks are also known as inbound links, inlinks, inward links or incoming link. Linkbacks are important for SEO and raising the popularity of a page since search engines can find a page easier when it has many backlinks.

The more backlinks that a page has indicate that the page is popular and the website gains greater importance to the search engines. If your page has more backlinks, it will have a higher page ranking and more authority, both of which will give you a higher position on the search engines that then gets you more visitors and builds up your credibility, which translates into money.

High quality backlinks are relevant to your website and its content. The higher quality backlinks to your site will draw more visitors in. The authority and the credibility of a website depend on the amount of quality and relevant backlinks.

If you have high quality content, other webmasters will linkback to your site without requiring a linkback from you. Linkbacks are a big part of the success of raising traffic for any website and are a main tool for building traffic. You can build a good audience for your website even if it does not have a high page ranking through linkbacks.

Websites become interconnected through backlinks. Regard your linkback partners as potential business and web partners who will play a role in the success of your site, just as you play a role in the success of their site through providing linkbacks to other websites. When you write on a subject that is relevant to another site, you can notify the other site using linkbacks. Visitors to the other pages will notice your comment with a linkback and the popularity of the page you wrote gains more popularity. Linkbacks are great for the blogging community because when bloggers write on a related subject, they can all comment on each other’s work and provide linkbacks to their related content.

“Cut and Paste” HTML Code

You can make it easier for people to create linkbacks to your site by providing “cut and paste” HTML code for linking back to your site. Create banners and buttons with “cut and paste” code so visitors can quickly grab the info without having to create the code themselves. Text links and small-animated buttons are attractive to visitors and can get more clicks than a large banner. Offer your linkback partners a variety of linkback designs, both static and animated.

Linkbacks with Higher Ranking Pages

Do a search with the words that a person may use to find your site and view the pages that appear before your site. Create linkback partners from the sites that have a higher page ranking than your site.

More Linkback Tips

When you are linkback partners with someone else, you should be sending each other the same amount of traffic and you can check this by monitoring your site’s referral statistics.

Make sure that a potential linkback partner’s site is relevant to your content by visiting their site to evaluate whether their visitors would really be interested in your content. This will let you avoid the creation of irrelevant links.

Help new sites with backlinks because as the site grows so will the amount of traffic that is sent your way from their site.

Effective use of backlinks will help you build traffic to your website with patience and regular effort. You will be rewarded for your efforts with a higher page ranking and greater credibility to your visitors.