The most recent video released from Google’s head of search spam addresses the question of whether or not people who own multiple web properties should be directly linking them together. In the actual question the individual asked about a situation where someone had 20+ websites and whether it would make sense to link them together for SEO purposes.
Cutts seemed concerned about why someone would ever own twenty unique properties. The only example he gave where he could imagine this would be legitimate is for large companies which have a different site for each country they do business in. In this case he did recommend having an easy to use way for visitors to browse to another country version of the site.
Beyond that Cutts said these types of cross linking strategies should be avoided. In instances where someone owes 20+ sites in a single niche, they could do better for visitors by combining them all into one site. For someone who owns 20+ unrelated sites, there is no real benefit to linking them for the visitor, and therefore it should not be done. Complicated linking between sites often appears spammy to Google as well, which is another reason to avoid the practice.
Another example Cutts discussed was when someone owns or runs a larger blog network, which could easily have well over twenty sites. In these cases there could be some cross-linking without seeming spammy, but it should always be done with the actual visitors experience in mind. If a link will benefit the visitor, than it is a good idea. If not, than it is a clear attempt to do link building and will appear spammy.
There was really nothing new or exciting in Cutts’ video except that he is, once again, confirming that excessive link building for the sole purpose of link building is frowned upon. Focusing on user experience is, according to Cutts, the only way to do true white hat SEO.
