Pointing lots of domains to my site - will it hurt my rank

[adzleese]

Dear All,

I have just re-designed our company website (http://www.countryestatespain.com) and have developed it with lots of useful content for our clients. However, as many companies do we have a large amount of domain names and I would like to use some of the domains to point to specific pages on the website. For example - we have the domain www.countryestatemalaga.com which used to be used for a regional office but is now not in use - I would like to point this to our Malaga page (/php/malaga.php) which provides info about the area and links to properties in the area.

However, would this cause me problems with the search engines? Some domains have not been used as far as search engines are concerned but others, such as the above example have. I would like to use this method for alot of my pages and therefore alot of domains - good or bad idea???

Another question is we have varient domains of our company name (for example countryestatespain.com and countryestatesspain.com) I would also like to point these to our main page but would this be classed as spamming???

Many thanks

Adzleese

[bhartzer]

If these additional domain names aren't redirected properly all of your sites may end up getting banned in the search engines.

To redirect them properly, pick one main domain name. Then use a 301 Permanent Redirect to redirect all of you additional domain names to that one main domain name.

[garris]

I have the same situation. I've held off using the alternate urls because I was told that links from urls within the same Hosting server would be detrimental.
So how does a 301 get around this?
And how does one create a 301 redirect?

[bhartzer]

So how does a 301 get around this

The search engines tell you specifically that if you have additional domains that they should be redirected with a 301 Permanent Redirect. That basically tells the search engines and everyone else that the domain name has permanently moved to a new location. What's important is that you're not linking the domains together (one web page on one site to another page on another site), you're permanently redirecting them.

And how does one create a 301 redirect?

There are a few ways to do it, and it depends on what web server you're using. On a Unix web server you'll need to add one line to your .htaccess file. On a Windows server you can change it/add it in the Administrator's area.

[incrediblehelp]

I cant believe how many new comers ask this question over and over. Here is a recent post:

http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=31801

Moderators,

maybe you should think about adding a sticky post somewhere on the website so newbies can find the answers to redirect questions.

Everyones answer to this is always "set up a 301 redirect", which is not always the correct answer in many cases to these domain(s)parking and DNS questions.

[venividi]

Originally Posted by adzleese

Dear All,

I have just re-designed our company website (http://www.countryestatespain.com) and have developed it with lots of useful content for our clients. However, as many companies do we have a large amount of domain names and I would like to use some of the domains to point to specific pages on the website.
Adzleese

I have a couple of clients with many domains and use these normally as language or special sections. For example I use domain A for product A, domain B for product B, domain C for product C, etc. each of them completing the others, that is, each site has a different content and all have the same menu. Same thing for language sections. Of course I submit only one of the URLS to the SE's. I don't think it's spamming. What is your opinion?

Valeria

[DrTandem1]

Simply forwarding domain names to specific pages will not cause any problems. Let me be clear, duplicating content on different pages or servers will cause problems.

I believe your domain names are too long. They are also difficult to remember. There is no point to using a domain unless it is useful to the visitor. Mine, by the way, sucks. However, I own many that do not. At least mine is short.

The point of a domain name is so that a visitor doesn't have to remember an IP address. Keep it short, related to your content and in the .com domain.

[jamescorp]

Pointing - if you are talking about simply owning the domain names for offices,different product lines or so your competitors can't get them, then simply log into your domain name control panel and forward (you can also cloak the domain name so that url remains the same as the one searched for - although this sometimes will not work!) the url to the page you want shown.

You can change the forwarding at any time (should happen within a couple of hours) if and when you need. Just make sure that you never submit the domains that are being forwarded to the search engines. It will not hurt you much, but it is wise not to chance it (pr 2/10 would be the best you could hope for and very rare) - I would suggest you only use these names in offline stationary or ads etc.

Search engine wise it would be much better to create another page off your existing site eg.http://www.countryestatespain.com/co...ate-malaga.htm
(or variation)then optimise this page esentially for the one search term. The engines will not penalise you for pointing a parked domain at this page, nor will you get any benefit from the search engines by doing this. The benefit is only from advertising this parked domain offline ,etc (can also be used to track response rates online).

In future you should also register country-estate-spain.com as this is a much better url for search engine purposes especially google, however the importance of this is questionable in the whole scheme of things (not even a 5% boost). The domain name without hypens is read as one word by most search engines. Also your competitor could pick this domain up at any time and use it.

Final lowdown is this - you wont be penalised for spam by pointing parked domains to your 'live' site - just don't submit the parked domains otherwise I wouldn't be confident with the outcome. Second - you talk of many pages with many domains - start thinking separate hosting accounts, domains and sites and you will be heading along the right path - but that's another story!

http://www.seo-xpress.com/

[TrafficProducer]

alot of domains

How about doing this, Content Doorway Pages

-- edited by moderator--
-- no self-promotion, please --

[andyj]

How about creating an index page that just includes the target page or a domain?

<?php 
	switch ($SERVER_NAME){
	
		case "www.countryestatemalaga.com":
			define("TARGET_PAGE","/php/malaga.php");
			break;
			
		case "www.countryestatemarbella.com":
			define("TARGET_PAGE","/php/marbella.php");
			break;
		
		default:
			//go4watches.* and bernex.co.uk
			define("TARGET_PAGE","/php/marbella.php");
	}

	if(!include(TARGET_PAGE)){
		print("Unable to include '".TARGET_PAGE."'
\n");
		exit();
	}
?>

[buddhu]

Originally Posted by incrediblehelp

I cant believe how many new comers ask this question over and over. Here is a recent post:

http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=31801

Moderators,

maybe you should think about adding a sticky post somewhere on the website so newbies can find the answers to redirect questions.

Everyones answer to this is always "set up a 301 redirect", which is not always the correct answer in many cases to these domain(s)parking and DNS questions.

I think the sticky is a great idea. This does get covered *so* often... in fact, I think it was one of the first things I asked when I first came here ;)

Also, when this gets asked, some of the suggestions often (unintentionally) contain advice that may get newbies into trouble for spamming or duping if they aren't careful (the wrong redirects, doorway pages etc).

[MandyHaga]

Doorway pages are being frowned upon and could get you penalized or banned from an se. I'd stay away from them.

[incrediblehelp]

The worst advice I hear on this subject is people tell newcomers to do a 301 redirect on parked domains or domains that are simply using DNS to redirect to the main domain. First off it doesn't even make sense to do this. Parked domains do not exist on a server and until they do you cant do a 301 redirect.

Another issue with this is many time than not these parked domains have been indexed within Google or other engines. This happens when people switch from one domain to another or have used these domains with minisites. This can cause duplication issues within the index when they are simply parked to the main domain.

[bhartzer]

If you own multiple domains, the only recommended thing to do with them is to put a 301 Permanent Redirect in place so that they point to your real domain where the content is located.

If there's any doubt, just see what Google says about it (see item number 4 on that page).

Or, you can see what Google says here about changing URLs. This applies to having multiple domain names.

[incrediblehelp]

Originally Posted by bhartzer

If you own multiple domains, the only recommended thing to do with them is to put a 301 Permanent Redirect in place so that they point to your real domain where the content is located.

If there's any doubt, just see what Google says about it (see item number 4 on that page).

Or, you can see what Google says here about changing URLs. This applies to having multiple domain names.

bhartzer what if the domain(s) are not hosted at any real location anymore and are just pointing to the main domain in the DNS?

For a 301 redirect you would have to have the domain hosted somewhere right?

The Google directions only apply if you are making a clean switch from ONE domain to another domain. They are many other situations where simply stating "do a 301 direct" is not enough instruction. This is what is meant by my post above. In the end a 301 redirect is part of the solution but not always the whole solution.

[Mac 5]

On the alternate sites could you put up a one page site with links to your real site? Don't exactly copy your real homepage so you get penalized for duplicate content.

[ctabuk]

Not my subject matter, but how about a FAQ page especially for new members?

[bhartzer]

what if the domain(s) are not hosted at any real location anymore

If the domain isn't being hosted, then that domain isn't being redirected to your main website. There's no problem because when someone types in the domain nothing is returned--you get an error page.

If the redirect is being done at the registrar level through a parking service or a forwarding service, then a 301 still should be used. Otherwise, I don't recommend redirecting the domain name at all--it can end up being very messy, with potential duplicate content issues and potential bans involved for all domain names.

For example, if you have a domain name and the domain name is forwarded or redirected to the same content as your main domain especially if it's forwarded or redirected in such a manner that the url stays in the address bar then you're asking for trouble.

If you have a site that has hosting and you purchase new domains (or have additional domains) then you should point them to your main site with a 301 Permanent Redirect. I recommend that you contact your hosting provider and tell them about these additional domains and that you would like them to be redirected using a 301. There's usually no problem doing this, and since you would be taking up virtually no additional hosting space then it's usually not a problem to set it all up.

I wouldn't rely on a registrar to forward domains, I would have your hosting company do it for you--and do it right with a 301 Permanent Redirect.

[incrediblehelp]

Originally Posted by bhartzer

If the redirect is being done at the registrar level through a parking service or a forwarding service, then a 301 still should be used.

So if this parked domain is not hosted anywhere and is just parked where does the htaccess file go? Do you put the 301 redirect code for the parked domain in the htaccess file of the domain being redirected to? Can you please clarify how this a 301 redirect would work for parked domains.

[bhartzer]

If the domain is parked (i.e., something--a page--is actually being displayed when the url is typed into the address bar of the browser) then it actually does have hosting. That's where the .htaccess file would reside, which has a 301 in it.

If you are redirecting to a real site, then it's really not a big issue to have the hosting provider set up hosting for a additional domain that only includes an .htaccess file with a 301 in it to the real site.

You would then change the nameservers of the parked domain to the same nameservers of the real site and set up the 301 redirect in the .htaccess file.

[scallihan]

Originally Posted by garris

I have the same situation. I've held off using the alternate urls because I was told that links from urls within the same Hosting server would be detrimental.
So how does a 301 get around this?
And how does one create a 301 redirect?

I assume that Google will simply ignore the URLs with the 301 redirects, while indexing the page the URLs are being redirected to. Otherwise, you take the chance of Google simply ignoring the whole kit and kaboodle.