[I, Brian]

Originally Posted by baldlygo

I,Brian - from another thread (any BB help nearby - can't remember quote syntax!)

I have been linking my various sites together but most are hosted on my main hosting package. Does this mean I will might suffer on LocalRank from this? And is this another reason why a completely different host/provider is a better option?

Okay - let's mix up the topics, then!

As for LocalRank - it's one of a handful of powerful algos Google has under its belt. Some are suspected of being applied already to some dergee, some may not be applied at all.

One point about LocalRank - also known as LocalScore - is that, if I remember the paper right, part of it implicitly states that links from the same IP range (ie, XX.XX.XX.different = XX.XX.XX.same) can be devalued.

Now, for most sites that isn't going to be a problem.

But in SEO terms it means this needs taking into consideration.

Some SEOs may build links networks and drop them quickly and easily. My own policy would be to make link networks resilient to Google updates, so I have a number of hosting packages across different datacenters.

So for your own sites, if interlinking - it may help in the long-term to have them spread across entirely different IP ranegs. But, really, there's far more basic SEO to take care of first. Backlinks is the priority - and if LocalRank causes you pain, you can easily open up hosting accounts elsewhere (the US hostnig market is very competitive - just make sure you get a .co.uk for local listings).