<p>In this paper, the inerter is applied to adjacent building structures, and discusses the influence of different layout methods of the inerter on the vibration control performance. Multi-degree-of-freedom structures are taken as the object of study, and inerters are used as the connectors between the building structures. The layout of inerters are parallel connection and Z-type connection between adjacent structures, respectively. Firstly, the coupled dynamic equations of the adjacent multi-degree-of-freedom structure and the inerter are established. The peak displacement response of the controlled primary structure is taken as the objective function for optimization. The frequency ratio and damping ratio of the system are numerically optimized by the Monte Carlo pattern search method with the objective of improving the performance of the vibration control system. Secondly, the system’s robustness and stability are analyzed. Finally, time-domain simulation analysis is conducted under the action of several real and artificial waves. The results of the study show that the parallel connection can reduce the root mean square value of the displacement response of the structure by up to 76.615%, while the Z-type connection can reach 79.471%. A 30% increase in the optimized damping ratio results in the peak of the objective function increasing by 22.32% for the parallel connection, whereas it increases by only 9.79% for the Z-type connection. Robustness and stability of the system can be improved by adopting the Z-type connection compared with the parallel connection.</p>