Google Question

[barenzr]

I have a website http://www.apartmentsontheweb.com. When I started the site I had a couple of other domains that I purchased that I thought I may use in the future http://www.aptsontheweb.com & http://www.rentinmilwaukee.com. I had the webmaster just forward those links to my main domain. I haven't had success ranking in Google for my keywords but I have been #1 in Yahoo & MSN.

Could I be recieving a duplicate content penalty from Google? We do not advertise the other domains at all, should I just dump those domains all together and remove the forwarding? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[aaron2005]

If the content is identical on 3 sites it is spam, you could change each of the sites focus but isn't that also little greedy? How about having one website that is really cool?

I have one website for each of my hobbies because all are different.

[google junky]

http://www.aptsontheweb.com -- did not forward
http://www.rentinmilwaukee.com -- did forward
http://www.apartmentsontheweb.com -- is what it is supposed to be

apartmentsontheweb.com
Milwaukee apartment #41

http://66.102.9.104/search?q=Milwaukee+apartment&hl=en&lr=&start=40&sa=N

apartmentsontheweb.com
Milwaukee apartments #44 (with an "s")

I'm not really crazy about the site prsearch.net, but I was able to manipulate the url to work for searching with the new data center. Just edit the url for what you are looking for. The number it gives for your position will only be a little off from what is actually at google. Someone else may have a beter resource than this.

http://www.prsearch.net/rankmass.php?allq=Milwaukee+apartment&searchurl=www.apartmentsontheweb.com&select=1000&gdomain=66.102.9.104&Submit=Search

[barenzr]

Thanks a lot for the tips!

If it is considered spam then I will stop using the other url's.

Also thanks for the handy link.

[RAUS]

Originally Posted by barenzr

I have a website http://www.apartmentsontheweb.com. When I started the site I had a couple of other domains that I purchased that I thought I may use in the future http://www.aptsontheweb.com & http://www.rentinmilwaukee.com. I had the webmaster just forward those links to my main domain. I haven't had success ranking in Google for my keywords but I have been #1 in Yahoo & MSN.

Could I be recieving a duplicate content penalty from Google? We do not advertise the other domains at all, should I just dump those domains all together and remove the forwarding? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

As I understand your question, you have three domains.

Only one of them "www.apartmentsontheweb.com" has content.

The other domains do not have any content. They just forward people to the domain with the content.

I may be wrong, but I do not think that there is any way for a robot to think that the two sites have duplicate content.

The robot will not find any content on the empty domain.

In fact, because there is no content, and the robot is instantly forwarded to the other URL, the forwarded URL will never even show up in the search engines.

One URL is simply sending people to another URL.

The only way to change this would be to also turn on masking. Then, the host sets up a page, with meta content, and the other domain's content is displayed in a frame on that page.

If I am wrong, would someone please let me know!

The non-profit I am helping recently had 4 different people register domain names only one letter different from theirs, and put similar content on them.

After a struggle, they were forced to shut down, and their domain names now forward to a directory on the no-profits web site, with 301 redirects pointing to the non-profits main page.

However, in addition, the non-profit has registered every variation of their name, in .com .net .org .info .biz and .us

This is to stop anyone else from registering these domains and trying to mislead people.

None of these domains have any content. They simply forward people to the non-profits main site.

If doing this, is hurting them in the SEs, please let me know.

By the way, they still rank in the top 20, often top 5, for most of their key phrases on Google.

Thank you,
Harris

[whipnet]

I point whipnet.org and whipnet.net to whipnet.com. They are just redirects and no content. The other sites do not get indexed in SE's, the domain with content does.

I don't think this adversely affects me.

*

[barenzr]

The reason I was concerned is because if I type in “aptsontheweb” or “rentinmilwaukee” into Google those specific domains http://www.aptsontheweb.com & http://www.rentinmilwaukee both come up. The way I took this is that those sites were indexed by Google and may be giving me a duplicate content penalty even though they simply forward to my main domain http://www.apartmentsontheweb.com.

Is this correct???

[RAUS]

Originally Posted by barenzr

The reason I was concerned is because if I type in “aptsontheweb” or “rentinmilwaukee” into Google those specific domains http://www.aptsontheweb.com & http://www.rentinmilwaukee both come up. The way I took this is that those sites were indexed by Google and may be giving me a duplicate content penalty even though they simply forward to my main domain http://www.apartmentsontheweb.com.

Is this correct???

As far as I can tell, these domains do not simply forward to your main domain.

They appear to be duplicate domains with duplicate content.

If you were simply forwarding to your main domain, the URL would change to the URL of your main domain as soon as the page started loading.

Even if you had masking turned on, the URL would change as soon as you clicked on one of your navigation tabs. View Source would show a page with a frame to hold your main site.

The way you have it set up right now, it does seem as though you have three identical web sites with three domain names and identical content.

I suggest that you log on to your domain registar, and adjust your settings so that these domains truly just forward to your main domain.

You will know this is working because once the registar has updated its records (perhaps 24 hours), the URL will change to your main domains URL when you type in one of the secondary domains in your browser.

Once this is corrected, you can go to Google, they have a page where you can delete pages from their database, and then delete all of the pages listed under the secondary domains.

PS: When you figure out how this happened, please write and let us know.

Harris

[incrediblehelp]

Their are so many well written threads on WPW on this topic already, please do a search and you will find.

[jacobwissler]

Why should Google index duplicate content? For example, if you posted the U.S. Constitution on your website, you have every right to do that, but with 500,000 copies already on the Internet, why should a search engine index another copy of the same document?

[incrediblehelp]

Originally Posted by jacobwissler

Why should Google index duplicate content?

Why shouldn't they? You published it on your site. You are not blocking Google. So Google is forced to at least spider it. Now indexing it AND showing up in the SERP's is another question.

[cz]

I don't see how registering another domain and simply "pointing it" at my site would drive extra traffic to my site. I have a couple of extras but never thought of it, since they wouldn't get picked up by a search engine, what good would they do except maybe put me in jeopardy if that is something they decide to target.

Where would they be seen at if not listed?

Am I "not getting" something about the benefits of pointing "no content urls" to an extablished website?

[RAUS]

Originally Posted by cz

I don't see how registering another domain and simply "pointing it" at my site would drive extra traffic to my site. I have a couple of extras but never thought of it, since they wouldn't get picked up by a search engine, what good would they do except maybe put me in jeopardy if that is something they decide to target.

Where would they be seen at if not listed?

Am I "not getting" something about the benefits of pointing "no content urls" to an extablished website?

There are good reasons for registering domains, with no content, and pointing them to a main site.

1) People make mistakes! Registering the .com .net. .org etc. version of a domain means that someone will wind up on your site no matter what TLD they enter.

2) People make mistakes! Registering common misspellings of a main domain, means that someone will still wind up on your site. Some people make a nice income by registering misspelled versions of popular domains and selling advertising.

3) People are dishonest! If you have not registered the other versions of your domain name, someone else might. By changing one letter in a domain name, and using .com, and .net, instead of .org, some people were soliciting contributions meant to go to a valid charity.

I am sure others might be able to come up with other reasons, but for many people, these are enough.

Harris

[cz]

Thanks RAUS!

I didn't think of getting all the .xxx versions of the domain. That makes sense. I notice every time I type in seocchat I invariably get a pale blue page selling advertising. Are those sites pre-made? Looks like a lot of affiliation apps. to fill out and coding to be done.

I still am wondering if I point completely different domains at my site, how they'd ever come up?

You must be explaining though becuase of misspellings or the different .suffix or make a common domain into the plural and register it, get all the people who don't spell perfectly (like me) and shoot them off to my site.

It sounds like a "crap shoot" for spellings, and a prosecutable matter to register say GGOOGLE.com or GOOOGLE.com and get a lot of hits! WOW!

[RAUS]

Originally Posted by cz

Thanks RAUS!

I didn't think of getting all the .xxx versions of the domain. That makes sense. I notice every time I type in seocchat I invariably get a pale blue page selling advertising. Are those sites pre-made? Looks like a lot of affiliation apps. to fill out and coding to be done.

I still am wondering if I point completely different domains at my site, how they'd ever come up?

You must be explaining though becuase of misspellings or the different .suffix or make a common domain into the plural and register it, get all the people who don't spell perfectly (like me) and shoot them off to my site.

It sounds like a "crap shoot" for spellings, and a prosecutable matter to register say GGOOGLE.com or GOOOGLE.com and get a lot of hits! WOW!

Yes, spellings are a "crap shoot" but some are very common, like upper case i and lowercase L or 0 (zero) and O.

In addition, most major companies, like Google have already registered every possible version of their names.

If someone discovers a new one, I am sure that a letter from a lawyer will soon follow.

I also want to add two other reasons to register content less domains.

4) Denying a domain to others. If you have a domain named "TerrificWidgets.com" do you really want a competitor to register "FantasticWidgets.com"?

5) While these content less domains will never show up in a SE, they can be used in advertisements, and other marketing. For example, someone can put an ad for "TerrificWidgets.com in one magazine and "FantasticWidgets.com" in another. This way they can track the effectiveness of the ad and the domain name.

In the meantime, I still wonder how barenzr managed to set up his original problem.

I looked up all three domains in Whois.sc

All three are listed as full active domains, not parked or forwarded, although all three have the same IP.

Harris

[roam_dx]

Ideal would be to to setup 301 redirects on the other two domains.

Try this post
http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=35526

[barenzr]

Actually I will have to refer to my webmaster as he set this all up.

I will look into it and let you know.

Thanks for all the help.

[RAUS]

Originally Posted by barenzr

Actually I will have to refer to my webmaster as he set this all up.

I will look into it and let you know.

Thanks for all the help.

I think I have solved the mystery!

Some hosts have a feature called "Domain Aliases"!

This is very different than Domain forwarding!

It will produce the effect barenzr is getting!

The host automatically substitutes one domain name for another!

The effect is the same as setting up different web sites with identical content.

When an aliased DomainA.com is accessed from a DifferentDomainB.com name, the host replaces all references in the URL to DomainA.com with the DifferentDomainB.com name for each page.

While I can think of many reasons to forward one domain to another, in face of the duplicate content penalty, I cannot think of a single reason to alias a domain name.

Perhaps someone will enlighten me!

barenzr, I suggest that you have your webmaster turn off aliasing on your host, and turn on forwarding on your domain registar.

As roam_dx suggested, I would also have your webmaster set up 301 redirects. However, I do not know how effective this would be in this situation.

Therefore, I would also go dorectly to Google, do a site search for each domain, and then delete each page from Google.

I hope that this helps.

Harris

[jacobwissler]

I buy up domains that I do not want my competition to have, but instead of forwarding them I just use 404 page not found. The purpose is to make sure that someone does not take my name and use it with .us or .net while keeping me save from a duplicate content penalty.

You can also post copies of your site in other languages and host them in different nations, with no danger of it being considered duplicate content, even with an exact translation.

[aaron2005]

Originally Posted by jacobwissler

I buy up domains that I do not want my competition to have, but instead of forwarding them I just use 404 page not found. The purpose is to make sure that someone does not take my name and use it with .us or .net while keeping me save from a duplicate content penalty.

You can also post copies of your site in other languages and host them in different nations, with no danger of it being considered duplicate content, even with an exact translation.

I find what you do there very sleazy sorry.

[google junky]

Originally Posted by aaron2005

I find what you do there very sleazy sorry.

aaron2005,

Notice jacobwissler used the word COMPETITION. Meaning its all business and not playtime and good manners.
Thats simply imitation of what the big boys do already.
Did you happen to see how many domains yahoo and google have stored away to keep thier name safe with them?

Sleezy is making a promise you never intended to keep or being underhanded to a friend. Registering a domain is a legal part of the game.

[jacobwissler]

Professional businesess websites have a lot of money invested in them, and a staff to work on the site daily, thus they often rank higher than a site built as a hobby. The larger the business, the more they invest into the site.

[aaron2005]

Just because the big boys do it doesn't mean it is correct.

AND eating up domains is a little weak don't you think?

I could kick your ass with a site called donkey-nuts.com if it had high PR, quality backlinks and described your market better than you correct?

[RAUS]

Originally Posted by aaron2005

Just because the big boys do it doesn't mean it is correct.

AND eating up domains is a little weak don't you think?

I could kick your ass with a site called donkey-nuts.com if it had high PR, quality backlinks and described your market better than you correct?

While this is somewhat off the original topic, I have to chime in here.

aaron2005, in a perfect world you would be correct.

If .org domains were limited to recognized non-profits, and .net domains were limited to recognized internet service providers, and if .biz, .info and .us had not been created, duplicate domain names would not be as much of a problem.

However, we do not live in a perfect world.

I just went through a several years long battle with four wise guys who slightly changed the name of the non-profit I help, and opened their own web sites deliberately intended to deceive people into giving them money that should have gone to the charity.

This is Sleazy with a capital S!

They not only stole the name, but content and design elements from the non-profit.

Once recaptured, these domains now point to a directory on the non-profit's web site

This directory has 301 redirects, and a page explaining what happened, that forwards people to the non-profit's home page.

This situation, has forced the non-profit to register dozens of domain names so that this situation will not be repeated.

Large companies, like Google, have registered hundreds of domain names to protect the public from those who would deceive the public and to protect their trademark.

This brings up another issue!

If a company does not protect their trademark, they can lose it.

For example, lets take a company that has trademarked the name DomainA, and has a web site using the DomainA.com name

If they do not object to someone using the DomainA.net or even DonainB.com domain name, they can lose their trademark.

Registering every variation of their name, is forced upon them by US trademark laws. Otherwise, the legal consequences are severe.

If someone can't be creative enough to come up with a unique name for their web site, and their success depends upon confusing people into thinking they are doing business with someone else, they don't deserve to be in business.

In addition, someone using the domain name "TerrificWigits.com" would have to be insane not to register "FantasticWigits.com if they are serious about making money with their effort.

If someone cannot come up with a truly unique way of describing the wigits they are selling, they probably are not going to do well anyway.

On another issue:

Originally Posted by jacobwissler wrote:

You can also post copies of your site in other languages and host them in different nations, with no danger of it being considered duplicate content, even with an exact translation.

Perhaps someone can help me with this related topic.

The non-profit I help has several domain names forwarding to copies of their web site in other languages.

These are in directories on the main web site.

Once a person leaves the other language home page, the URL shows that the page is in a directory on the main web site.

Does anyone know if there is a way to detect the incoming URL, and send robots and visitors to unique content.

This way, if the other language domains were aliased instead of forwarded, all the pages would show that domain instead of the main site's domain.

This would have to be a universal solution, that would work for everyone visiting the site.

For example, if someone came to site using the domain ending in .org, they would see the English language pages. If they came to the web site using the domain ending in .de they would see the German language pages.

Thanks,
Harris