Multiple Site Networks, 1 Server, Many IPs

[bgmarket]

I'm taking my first steps in becoming an internet marketing godzillionaire, using Eli's SERP Domination and SEO Empire techniques as a blueprint. Basically, for any one niche there are ~20 domains and sites interlinking with each other. My concern is that if they all fall under one IP, the big boy search engines will be able to detect that they are all part of an artificial network, as opposed to naturally generated links, ultimately hurting the ranking and search position of the pages.

Though all the websites will be hosted on a single private server, my idea is to purchase multiple IP addresses, so each domain gets its own IP, making the network look more natural. If each site is its own IP, is there any way to detect that they are all on the same server? Also, if each domain has WHOIS privacy, is there any way to detect that they are all owned by the same person?

My belief is that taking these two steps will achieve the desired results, but I'm not sure whether there are tools out there that the search engines would use to discount my efforts. Anyone give their input?

 

[audax]

The geo-physical location of IPs would be the only way to make a guess that the IPs belonged to the same server.

 

[radio]

have you seen this?
evilgreenmonkey - Running Micro-Sites and Reducing Hosting Costs

 

[bgmarket]

Thanks, I forgot about geo-physical location, but it's so vague that I don't think I need to consider it a threat.

Radio, interesting article, good link.

 

[bgmarket]

I've done additional research on the subject since my original post. To anyone using this thread as a reference, it's been suggested that getting IPs on separate C-blocks and varying nameservers for different domains are also significant precautions to take.

 

[jake321]

What about common domain whois info?

It could be a dinger if these multiple domains obviously have the same owner. Just having the same origination date might be a factor in some 800 rule ranking formula.

Google's reach: Even using proxy registration may fail to disguise the common owner of a cluster of sites, google is an ICANN registrant which apparently enpowers them to access to the real owner data.

 

[stmadeveloper]

That's why you don't register all your domains under the same name. I'm sure you have parents, sisters, etc..

It's easy enough - and it really doesn't matter who pays for them to have different whois info.

 

[threehundred]

also, register the names at different registrars

 

[bgmarket]

Jake, thanks for the info, that is exactly the sort of knowledge I was looking for. I had no idea ICANN registrants are able to peek behind the WHOIS Privacy curtain.

STMA makes a simple, valid suggestion, but I think it falls short of accomplishing decent anonymity for several reasons. First, I don't have nearly enough nuclear family members to cover unique registrant information for my goal of 20 sites per niche. Second, most family members will share a surname (a rare surname, in my case), which will be a huge tipoff to Google in the case of a manual review. It's not like Google is constrained by 'reasonable doubt,' they are free to police their index based on suspicion.

I've been brainstorming ways to create unique registrant aliases for 20 different domains. To register a domain you need a name, email, phone, and address. Name is easy, I just come up with a first name/last name common enough to produce at least 200k exact match search results in order to create confusion, but not so common as to be suspicious (like Mike Smith). There are plenty of free email services to spread the aliases around. 20 unique phone numbers each with their own voicemail costs a total of $49 per month with Tossable Digits, or wait until GrandCentral or Ribbit start accepting new users.
Address is where things get a little grey. I thought of using a service like EarthClassMail that gives you a unique, authoritative (i.e. no PO or Box #) address at various locations around the US to have your mail sent to. Unfortunately, you need to have 2 forms of government issued ID and a notarized form for each name that you want to have an address for, which would require forgery or using loopholes for foreign nationals, and I'm not about to engage in criminal behavior. So, my current strategy would be to simply find a valid street address near the corresponding alias' local unique phone number and put that down. I've never received any mail communication related to the domains I have registered with my own information, so I assume that fudging the address for these aliases will go undetected.

I realize that I sound paranoid, and most of these issues don't have an impact on SEO at the moment. However, as SEO becomes more mainstream and prevalent, I believe Google and other search engines will take steps far beyond their current methods to ensure quality and maintain positive search experience for users. Given that these companies are good at documenting information and domain histories, I think it will pay off to be vigilant about leaving very light footprints at the outset.

 

[bgmarket]

I also spoke with customer service at several domain registrars to find out what sort of information they pass along to ICANN, specifically whether the name on the credit card used to purchase domains is identified, providing a common link. They all answered that the buyer's account information including credit card name is used only by the registrar, and is not available to ICANN.

Disturbingly, the reps I spoke with at the registrars name.com and mydomain.com both said that the search engines were able to link domains
from a common owner, using methods unrelated to IPs, nameservers and ICANN registrant info. Are they bullshitting, misinformed, or is there some other method of identification I don't know about?

I really appreciate your help in reducing my ignorance.

 

[johu]

Google's reach: Even using proxy registration may fail to disguise the common owner of a cluster of sites, google is an ICANN registrant which apparently enpowers them to access to the real owner data.

Incorrect.

Disturbingly, the reps I spoke with at the registrars name.com and mydomain.com both said that the search engines were able to link domains
from a common owner, using methods unrelated to IPs, nameservers and ICANN registrant info. Are they bullshitting, misinformed, or is there some other method of identification I don't know about?

Misinformed. The only thing I can think of that would link multiple IPs to the same owner would be SOA records in the DNS zone, but that's easily solved by using an outside DNS provider, or having distinct records for each domain hosted on the server. I doubt search engines dig into DNS records and try to match servernames and email contacts in SOA records... A good web based check of DNS records can be found at Traceroute, Ping, Domain Name Server (DNS) Lookup, WHOIS, and DNS Records Lookup