Word Press Multisite or single installs for SEO reasons?

Hi all

I'd like to get your opinion on what you consider to be the better option in the face of SEO - WordPress Multisite or Single installs? <ACRONYM>You would think that</ACRONYM> having various sites packed into one Multisite network is the ideal solution. However, hence I'm growing more suspicious/wary over how (a) search engine(s) analyses and index sites, maybe that approach is not the best choice after all.

Is it possible that once a site in the network experiences a little 'negative turbulence', your other sites in the network might get impacted too? It seems too ridiculous to be true, but I wouldn't rule it out. Also, with single WP installs for instance, do you go with a new Gmail account and Analytics setup, so they are technically not linked? I only heard that some Affiliates choose to have each site sitting on a different server and what not - I guess for a good reason.

Thanks for your input!



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You wrote correct. No need to bother with lot of WP installs. You can do everything in one installation, no matter if you have lot of sections, different languages, etc, to your site. There is always a good solution with WP to do everything you have in mind.

For example i use WP with different templates for particular sections/pages/posts/categories of my site. The same goes for SEO reasons, it IS better to use only one WP installation.

Hi Isaiah

Thanks for your response. Technically I agree on using one MU WP install as well. You say it is better for SEO reasons as well. It's a bit tricky to get opinions on this, but I'd also like to get your views on how search engines might treat network sites in correlation to each other.

Let's say there are 3 sites in the same language as well as casino related and all you intend to do is extend your online presence. All sites would be quite similar in some ways (no duplicate content of course). In this situation I wouldn't want to end up with search engines writing two of the sites off for "being too similar to the first site in the network". Even though they are different sites I guess we can assume that a "certain" search engine may be very well aware, if they come from the same author, especially if you are hooked up to their 10.000 products.

In addition, that's why I asked the (possibly) impossible question: If one site experiences a bit of turbulence, do you think it may affect the other sites in the network too, because of the same authorship and so forth. It would be ridiculous, if other sites of a network would suddenly get less lovin', due to another one having issues.

Finally, this has led me to ask, if there are other webmasters out there with the same concerns, even running various 'accounts' for i.e. analytics, different servers etc. to dilute the relationship of authorship between the sites.

Thanks again!


Novoline online

It really depends on how you setting up your website. If you're going with domain.com/whatever then the search engines will see it as one big site. However, if you go with subdomains like so whatever.domain.com then search engines see each subdomain as their own website.

Each has their own seo benefits so it really doesn't matter if you use wordpress single install or multisite install. I think using the multisite install would be more user-friendly for yourself. Right now I am using 6 wordpress single installs only because I am on a shared hosting plan. Otherwise, I would be using the multisite install to save time going between each one of my sites.

I am a bit confused by the whole multi-site thing to start with.

First of all, whether the WEB HOST uses a multi-site install may or may not affect clients.

If someone say on a reseller account does a multi-site install, he should be able to define different (clients) access to a wp installation, having nothing at all to do with search engines or links between sites.

===key point===
Wordpress is NOT a web server, it is a web platform that needs a web server to serve pages in a defined root folder.

When a search engine visits/spiders a site, the WEB SERVER answers the call for the pages, word press just happens to be the platform that dishes out the pages to the web server visitor.


In my opinion, if my logic is even closely correct, google should not know or care whether the platform is serving 1 site or many.

I have yet to play around with the multi-site install yet so not sure about the logic part of it.

Rick
Universal4

I think this will help make things clear. http://codex.wordpress.org/Create_A_Network

So again, the seo question has more to do with how the web server is set up.

If domains(sub domains or otherwise) end up being part of a network, or a child of another site, then there is a connection.

If the sites are set up as seperate sites, then they are just that seperate sites on the same server that may or may not have the same ip.

One FACT that never changes:
The WEB SERVER answers the call from the dns server, not word press, word press just does what the web server say.

Rick
Universal4

It appears as though the most common use of word press multi-site is a for a single developer to create a network of sites.

If a webserver is configured as follows:
domain1.fake to point at c:\webs\domain1.fake
domain2.fake to point at c:\webs\domain1.fake\domain2.fake

Google nor anyone else will ever know the 2 sites are connected (unless they are linked - or wordpress tells them somehow)

All calls to domain2.fake can NOT get to domain1.fake the web server will not allow this since the root folder for domain2 is it's own root.

Rick
Universal4

Right, network of websites (really just one big site with a lot of folders or subdomains), all with the same ip.

The only reason I am not using wordpress multisite feature is because it uses too much resources for a shared hosting account.

They do NOT have to have the same ip.

If there are 4 ips bound to the nic, and the webserver (IIS, Apache, whatever) answers the domain call on that ip, the webserver will direct the traffic to the correct folder no matter what the ip is.

The ip is inconsequential.

Rick
Universal4

Hi MrDeposit and universal4

Thanks for your responses and in fact digging so deep for answers (you actually lost me a little on the way, but I'll check into it again in detail). I guess the conclusion I can draw from this is, that running a WP Network with various sites of the same author (same IP, same analytics, same everything) is alright.

Maybe I added a little too much paranoia into my SEO question as of a recent few issues with rankings and traffic that appear to to be vanishing (very) slowly. Not trusting the search engine monopoly, I would not want other sites "of the same author network" to be treated as suspicious, hence one site is experiencing, as I called it, a little negative turbulence.

Anyway, seems to be sorted. Thanks again for your help!


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Quote:

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with various sites of the same author (same IP, same analytics, same everything)

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The above can take place with or without the wordpress multi-site.

Personally what appears to be the biggest feature multi-site offers, is less installs and updates a webhost or hosting reseller has to deal with.

Rick
Universal4