Web Forwarding & Google

[dbramley]

I've read about 301 redirects but unsure how to implement them, if I have an established site (.co.uk) and register the .com version, will standard web forwarding put in place through my 123-reg.co.uk control panel suffice or will google not be impressed?

Another thought I had would be to set up a subdomain on my site, point the name servers of my .com address to it, then have a simple default.asp page with the following code:

<%@ Language=VBScript %>
<%
Option explicit
Response.Buffer = true

Response.Redirect "my.co.uk website address"
%>

This would then forward the visitor to my .co.uk website.

Would either of these suggestions work? Any suggestions appreciated! thanks.

[incrediblehelp]

If you wan to perform in Google.co.uk and Google.com I would suggest building out separate websites for each with content specific to each region. If you don't have the ability to do that now, pick the most important one and build out the website. If you plan on sometime building a website for the secondary domains I would just leave it for now until your ready to build or put some sort of coming soon page on it and link to it from the primary domain.

If you never have plans of building a separate website then 301 redirect the secondary domain to the primary. You should be able to do this in the cpanel, but I recommend the 301 redirect over that.

[Webnauts]

Originally Posted by incrediblehelp

If you never have plans of building a separate website then 301 redirect the secondary domain to the primary. You should be able to do this in the cpanel, but I recommend the 301 redirect over that.

301 redirect? He is using ASP. Or did I miss something?

[incrediblehelp]

OK then use the 301 redirect on the ASP or use ISAPI.

[Webnauts]

Oh sorry. You mean:

<%@ Language=VBScript %>
<%
Response.Status="301 Moved Permanently"
Response.AddHeader "Location", "http://www.mysite.com/new-page.asp"
%>

Right?

[Conficio]

Originally Posted by incrediblehelp

If you never have plans of building a separate website then 301 redirect the secondary domain to the primary. You should be able to do this in the cpanel, but I recommend the 301 redirect over that.

Way too complicated, just configure your web server to answer both domain names (most of the time no work required in a management panel) and configure your DNS as an alias for the main host name.

Also make sure you develop only links to one of the domains.

Redirects are for things that are changing. If you simply want to lock in the domain name, this is the easiest way.

For an example, look at conficio.biz, conficio.us, conficio.com (not linked, because I don't want to build links there).

[incrediblehelp]

OK feel free to do that. As long as you don't care which on Google uses in the SERPs.

I have had clients that have done this with 4-5-6 domains and Google simply picked the one they felt that is should to use in the SERPs. Usually it is the one with the most backlinks, but not always. It is the one that may have the best quality backlinks.

[Conficio]

Originally Posted by Conficio

Also make sure you develop only links to one of the domains.

Agreed!

[brian.mark]

The problem there is that you can't control who links to your site, so someone may give you a link to the wrong one and it could start ranking instead.

Brian.

[marketing-helpersdotcom]

Whenever you want to move or change your domain to something else you should always use a 301 Redirect. 301 Redirects are included as part of the HTTP header information sent to the browser or requesting client. The 301 informs the requesting client that the site or resource being requested has been permanently moved. It is best to include this information for search engines in order to prevent a negative impact on your search engine ranking. For example, say I have two domains, somedomain.com and someotherdomain.com, and both these domains point to the same content. Some engines consider multiple domains pointing to the same spamming their engine and this could adversely affect your ranking on that engine. Another issue is if you want to do a branding change and as part of the new brand change the domain name. It is not simply a manner of submitting the new domain to the search engines and expecting your new domain to be indexed in the search results. If your old domain exists in their index with identical content, then most likely the search engines will ignore your submission. In addition, many of the major search engines consider posting multiple domains with the same content "spamming", and it could negatively affect your site's ranking.

301 Redirects via IIS

One way of accomplishing this is to use IIS and letting it know that the domain has moved. Simply go to the old site and instead of pointing to a folder location for your site, change it to do a permanent redirect for the resource. You can use the following directions to accomplish this in IIS:

Open Computer Management to manage your IIS Website.
Right click on your site and select Properties.
Under the Folder tab select "A redirection to a URL".
Type in the new domain information in the text box below.
Select "The exact URL entered above" and "A permanent redirection for this resource" in order to ensure that the 301 header will be sent to the client.
301 Redirects via Code

Many people use an ISP to host their sites and may not have access to the Web server settings. The following code will provide you with how to redirect using server-side code via ASP.Net.

There are many ways you can accomplish this, you could intercept the request via a HTTP handler, but in this example we'll simply provide a method at a file level in the Page_Load event.

C#

<script runat="server"> private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e) { Response.Status = "301 Moved Permanently";
Response.AddHeader("Location","http://www.someotherdomain.com/page.aspx"); }
</script>

In VB.Net

Private Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)
Response.Status = "301 Moved Permanently";
Response.AddHeader("Location","http://www.someotherdomain.com/page.aspx")
End Sub

You can also perform a redirect for your entire domain via code, by first checking the domain of the request, if the domain does not match the domain that you want to be the primary, then send a 301 redirect and redirect them to the appropriate file and domain. This could be done either in the global.asax or via a HTTP handler. Remember, in order to perform a redirect, the requested file will need to be processed by the ASPNet_ISAPI.dll, this means by default they're either aspx files. You can change this setting via IIS if you need to, but if you have that ability then you can change the 301 error at a server level.

Redirect Your Legacy ASP Files

If you may be porting ASP files over to ASP.Net. Here's some code to let the search engines know that your site should be redirect

<%@ Language=VBScript %> <% Response.Status="301 Moved Permanently" Response.AddHeader "Location", "http://www.someotherdomain.com/page.aspx" %>

So you may be asking yourself, "That seems like a lot of effort, can't I just use response.redirect("http://www.somedmoain.com") and redirect the client that way?"

Response.redirect is great for moving to another page within your application, but they do not send the 301 header which informs a client that this is a permanent change for the requested resource.

[Clarrie]

Originally Posted by dbramley

I've read about 301 redirects but unsure how to implement them, if I have an established site (.co.uk) and register the .com version, will standard web forwarding put in place through my 123-reg.co.uk control panel suffice or will google not be impressed?

Another thought I had would be to set up a subdomain on my site, point the name servers of my .com address to it, then have a simple default.asp page with the following code:

<%@ Language=VBScript %>
<%
Option explicit
Response.Buffer = true

Response.Redirect "my.co.uk website address"
%>

This would then forward the visitor to my .co.uk website.

Would either of these suggestions work? Any suggestions appreciated! thanks.

You seem to be getting some very helpful advice - if you actually want to have the complexity of two sites...

And if I understand you right, its not a case of migrating a site or content, but dealing with a parked domain, which means that redirects are a bit irrelevant.

If you only want to run a single site on your .co.uk domain, then simple web forwarding for your parked .com should be fine - the search engines won't get confused, because you've not given them anything to get confused about. If you don't put any content on the .com, there's nothing to index, so no problem.

Real people sticking the wrong URL in will end up in the right place, which is fine, search engines will never do it (unless some dongler links to the wrong URL - which is the only real reason you need to consider a redirect instead of forwarding).

[sysopdan]

I have a lot of domains for various businesses that are in various stages of development. One site in particular has six domain names pointed to it.

I always figured the seach engines would only look at the page with content and not look at DNS.

At the bottom of the page I have a list (not links) of the various domain names.

This site is in google but it does not come up in searches like it should.

Am I messing things up here? Thanks.

[marketing-helpersdotcom]

Originally Posted by sysopdan

This site is in google but it does not come up in searches like it should.

Am I messing things up here? Thanks.

I wouldn't call it messing up, but you can be watering down the importance of your domain.

For instance, people could be linking to your site using a possible six different domains, therefore watering down the number of inbound links for your domain. If they were all point to 1 domain, or your redirects were pointing all to 1 domain then the popularity of the site would be higher than spreading it out of six domains......

Also Google may consider your other domains duplicate content or even SPAM, since domains 2 - 6 have the same content as domain #1.

I suggest you simplify your domains to 1 by using redirects.

[marketing-helpersdotcom]

Originally Posted by Clarrie

And if I understand you right, its not a case of migrating a site or content, but dealing with a parked domain, which means that redirects are a bit irrelevant.

If you only want to run a single site on your .co.uk domain, then simple web forwarding for your parked .com should be fine - the search engines won't get confused, because you've not given them anything to get confused about. If you don't put any content on the .com, there's nothing to index, so no problem.

Real people sticking the wrong URL in will end up in the right place, which is fine, search engines will never do it (unless some dongler links to the wrong URL - which is the only real reason you need to consider a redirect instead of forwarding).

Why take the chance of someone ending up at a dead end? Using a 301 redirect properly will eliminate the "dongler".....A redirect in Windows takes about 2 minutes to complete, IMHO, 2 mins is hardly a headache and it could really help your site's SERP....

[sysopdan]

The domains are pointed in DNS. I got to have DNS for the domain names and I want them to go somewhere, so they all point to the actual web site. There is only one website in this case.

Are you saying redirects would be better than DNS pointing?

[marketing-helpersdotcom]

Originally Posted by sysopdan

The domains are pointed in DNS. I got to have DNS for the domain names and I want them to go somewhere, so they all point to the actual web site. There is only one website in this case.

Are you saying redirects would be better than DNS pointing?

No, it all depends on the situation. However in this case and in most cases involving SEO redirects are more logical to use over DNS aliases.

DNS pointing only translates domain names to and IP addresses. So if I have 2 domain that I want to regularly advertise, my sites (abc.com and def.com) will both point to an IP address. Now I can browse my 2 sites, abc.com and def.com, and the respective domain name will stay in the address bar of my browser.

This is where the problem starts. Google won't know that you want abc.com to be the site that it primarily indexes and Google won't know that any pages from def.com should not be indexed if you use DNS. The only way to tell Google that all indexed pages from def.com should be indexed as abc.com is by a 301 redirect.

If you don't use a 301 redirect and decide to use DNS then you will have the ability to access abc.com and def.com an you don;t want this. The address bar in your browser should change to abc.com when visiting def.com, no matter what!

[SemAdvance]

Here is the easy way

Create a .htaccess file with the below code, it will ensure that all your directories and pages of your old domain (.co.uk) will be redirected to your new .com domain.

Within the .htaccess file you should have the following:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.newdomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]


REPLACE www.newdomain.com in the above code with your actual domain name.

In addition to the redirect I would suggest that you try to write all sites with backlinks to your site so they can modify their backlink to point to your new website.
[/yahoo]

[Conficio]

Originally Posted by marketing-helpersdotcom

No, it all depends on the situation. However in this case and in most cases involving SEO redirects are more logical to use over DNS aliases.

DNS pointing only translates domain names to and IP addresses. So if I have 2 domain that I want to regularly advertise, my sites (abc.com and def.com) will both point to an IP address. Now I can browse my 2 sites, abc.com and def.com, and the respective domain name will stay in the address bar of my browser.

This is where the problem starts. Google won't know that you want abc.com to be the site that it primarily indexes and Google won't know that any pages from def.com should not be indexed if you use DNS. The only way to tell Google that all indexed pages from def.com should be indexed as abc.com is by a 301 redirect.

If you don't use a 301 redirect and decide to use DNS then you will have the ability to access abc.com and def.com an you don;t want this. The address bar in your browser should change to abc.com when visiting def.com, no matter what!

Sorry to say this is a bad solution.

First a DNS alias will not result in abc.com and def.com being served as different sites, if the web server is set up correctly (See ServerName and ServerAlias for Apache httpd). If abc.com is the ServerName and def.com the alias, then a request on def.com will be responded to as abc.com (provided the DNS of one is an alias (CNAME) of the other).

However if you do a 301 redirect, it will mean an extra round trip to the browser. The server will respond to a request on def.com with a response containing a redirect 301 header and the browser will (most likely, because this behavior can be disabled and for example most spiders will not return immediately) request the new page on abc.com. This means this solution is slower, eats more resources on your server and any client and in addition on the DNS server, for the double lookup. It is inappropriate, as long as the site has not been existing before and is now folded into a new domain, or simply a single page has found a new home in the URL hierarchy.

Redirects have their purpose, serving the same content under two different host names is not one of them.

K<o>

[marketing-helpersdotcom]

Originally Posted by Conficio

Redirects have their purpose, serving the same content under two different host names is not one of them.

K<o>

Yes, I agree, assuming that this person can update (has access to) their own DNS info then they could use a CNAME.

I was only outlining what this person could on on their end if they aren't lucky enough or knowledgeable enough to manage their own DNS.

[dbramley]

Thanks for all the replies! I'm even famous now and featured in the newsletter!!

Just to clear up some confusion, I don't want to move away from my .co.uk site, I just want to make sure if someone types in .com they will still get my site. Obviously I don't want to duplicate it or anything like that.

In my hosting control panel, I have the option of setting up a domain alias - however when I set this it treats it as if I have two sites (the .com address stays in the address bar, .com/page.html etc.)

again, Thanks for your help.

[free-bet]

I have just asked a follow on question to this thread.

Thought it best to start a new thread as the issue related but not identical.

See below

http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?p=341861

[Clarrie]

Originally Posted by dbramley

Thanks for all the replies! I'm even famous now and featured in the newsletter!!

Just to clear up some confusion, I don't want to move away from my .co.uk site, I just want to make sure if someone types in .com they will still get my site. Obviously I don't want to duplicate it or anything like that.

In my hosting control panel, I have the option of setting up a domain alias - however when I set this it treats it as if I have two sites (the .com address stays in the address bar, .com/page.html etc.)

again, Thanks for your help.

I've already given my tuppence worth on the original posting - but for those of you looking for a practical guide to redirecting, this is a pretty good place to start:

http://www.stevenhargrove.com/redirect-web-pages/

[achronister]

however when I set this it treats it as if I have two sites (the .com address stays in the address bar, .com/page.html etc.

That's the whole reason for using a 301 redirect and not a DNS alias. Both versions of your site can get indexed that way resulting in duplicate sites.

You seem to be using ASP, so:

<%
Response.Status="301 Moved Permanently"
Response.AddHeader "Location", "http://www.newsite.com/"
%>

[Conficio]

[quote="achronister"]

however when I set this it treats it as if I have two sites (the .com address stays in the address bar, .com/page.html etc.

That's the whole reason for using a 301 redirect and not a DNS alias. Both versions of your site can get Sorry, I Strongly disagree!

This is a reason to switch the Hosting company to one that can do this kind of thing.

However, if you have access to your DNS at all, throw out the "Domain Alias" and get a DNS record (CNAME) for the extra host. If that does not work, write a ticket and have the support do it for you. that is what you are paying the big bucks for. If non of this works, switch hosting companies.

By the way, having hosting and DNS with the same company is highly risky. I always separate them. Register my domain(s) with, for example GoDaddy, and host DNS with them or on my own (at least as secondary DNS). Why? Because if hosting goes down, you can bring up at least a boilerplate page, saying it is down on another server. If all eggs are in one basket, then you are screwed. DNS going down, is much less likely than hosting going down, because it is build redundant by design. Make sure your Time to Live, TTL, is short = 1hour so the switch propagates quickly though all the caches.

Really if your business and personal income depends on it, do the right thing and make it as stable as possible.

K<o>

[le_gber]

Couple of points.

I think that the redirects from 123-reg are 302's so it's non advisable to use it if you are afraid that the .com might get picked up.

If the .co.uk is established and you want to keep it as your main domain (i.e. no inbound links that you are going to obtain will link to the .com) many solutions have been proposed by people here.

Here is the php version of the redirect (you can use any server side programming language to do it)

<?php
header("HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently");
header("Location: http://www.youdomain.co.uk");
exit();
?>