A Site is redirecting traffic to me...

[arod777]

Hello,

I noticed that a site which has a similar name to mine has apparently closed it’s doors and is now doing a redirect to my site and sending traffic to me.
I don’t know why they are doing this but I am afraid of multiple domain names in the google index. Their site is listed with google as a page rank 3.
Should I email the hosting company and ask not be linked to them?

Any advice is appreciated…

Thanks,

Angel

[janeth]

If they are redirecting their domain name to you, you should send them an email thanking them.

It is not going to hurt you but will help you.

[srblogger]

You can check the server header response of the domain here: Server header checker - Check a server header HTTP status

It will most likely show as a 301 redirect. In that case, it won't hurt your domain at all. And the additional traffic that you get will benefit you.

I wish I had those types of problems. lol

[BSmithTTS]

I guess the real question is how they are redirecting... does it update in the URL to your domain when following a link to their site? or does it still show their domain only your content?

Say domain1 is their site and domain2 is yours:

Going to domain1.com/page.html leads to domain2.com/page.html in the browser?
OR, going to domain1.com/page.html shows domain1.com/page.html, but shows content from domain2.com/page.html

If it just forwards the user over, then there should be now worries... if is keeps their domain in tact, then it might be considered dup. content. Same as www vs no www... etc.

[visio]

Originally Posted by srblogger

You can check the server header response of the domain here: Server header checker - Check a server header HTTP status

It will most likely show as a 301 redirect. In that case, it won't hurt your domain at all. And the additional traffic that you get will benefit you.

I wish I had those types of problems. lol

yes it is lovely, this kind of problems are a blessing, although it is the first time I have heard of such.
Why dont you contact the domain owner and enquire if he is interested in selling?

[ArthurNYC]

Send them a thank you note.

[microtekblue]

There is NO multiple domain name ranking issue.

You might just want to figure out why they are sending u the traffic...and what is their motive.

Otherwise send them an thank you as everyone here is saying.

[incrediblehelp]

Referrer Spam?

[Barefoottech]

Some one is giving you relevant, solid , FREE traffic and your complaining!!!!

I would send them
1/ Thank you note
2/ Offer to buy

[advancedmerchant]

As the song says: "Don't worry, be Happy!"

[jawn_tech]

I would just send them flowers, and remember them fondly.

[marcel]

Nothing to worry about ...

Be thankful.

[RichAtVNS]

only possibility I see is the guy going out and spamming on that other domain. and hoping you get negatiely affected...
after all wasn't he your competitor till recently...

this sounds way to good to be true!

[janeth]

Originally Posted by RichAtVNS

only possibility I see is the guy going out and spamming on that other domain. and hoping you get negatiely affected...
after all wasn't he your competitor till recently...

this sounds way to good to be true!

If it were that easy, I'd sell it as a service.

[CKarsting]

As long as they did not duplicate your home page and place it on theirs, you are in great shape. All the SE's will see this as is a one way link from a PR 3 site to yours. Remember, Google and the other search engines realize that you can't control in coming links (only outbound links). If they duplicated your home page or any of the content on your home page you may need to move your site to another IP address if their site has a higher PR than yours or is older than yours. I have experienced this with a site of mine where another website used all of my content on their site that had a higher PR and my site dropped in ranking as Google assumes that an older site with a higher PR would most likely be the original creator of the information. It stinks that this happens, but it does make sense. You can also report these things to Google now and they state they will look into your request. How much they really do.....I am not sure. Hopefully this works our well for you. If the other site appears to be shut down entirely, do a whois and email the owner to see if they would be willing to sell you the URL. You can then create a fantastic funnel site into your main site. Best of luck, Chad Karsting SEO -SEM

<snip please add your link to your signature file and not the body of the post CD>

[Raybman]

Congrats on the free traffic without even lifting a finger.

Enjoy it while it lasts.

[TryUsOut]

I'd also send them a thank you note or something and probably ask why they are sending me traffic for free. There might be a reason for it that is worth knowing IMO

[stevealmond]

Oh I wish one of my competitors would fold and send me their traffic.

I wish.

I wish.

When you wish three times proverbs say that you should receive.

I wait in hope!!

Anyway I don't think that you have any problems here. The only question that I have is why are they doing this. Is it in the hope that you might buy their domain, or is it just a good gesture towards an ex competitor.

As other posters have said, send them some flowers and enjoy while it lasts!

Regards

Steve

[subsystems]

Count your blessings.

Reminds me of a local Carl's Jr owner story. The owner went to a city meeting and started ranting about there being too much traffic near his business. Eyebrows raised all over the place! Most smart business owners would try to figure out how to expand or put in a faster drive thru. Not this guy. He even started trying to get another businesses in that area buried in environmental report nightmares. Nearly cost that business $800,000 but the city investigated and found no legitimate reason since one had been done in that area recently for road improvements. It was all over the local papers. So a large section of the community decided to stop eating there and help him out. Traffic hasn't changed but I'm sure his income did.

Moral of the story. Don't drive away the very thing businesses spend good money attracting. CUSTOMERS or VISTORS.

[subsystems]

Oh, some of the registrars will let you prepurchase expiring domain names. If the former owner doesn't renew it then they automatically register it for you when it becomes available. If the owner renews it then they refund your purchase.

Here is what my registrar says...

How do I register an expired domain?

Different registrars have different policies in regard to expired domains. Most registrars allow a grace period after a domain name expires to renew it. If the current registrant does not renew it in the time allowed, the domain name should be released later.

The actual grace period is different for each individual registrar.

On 28-Dec-2002, a new Redemption Period for domain names was instituted by ICANN, the governing body of the Internet. This means that when domains expire and go through the holding period through the registrar, the domain is held by the central registry for an additional 35 days before being released.

You need to contact the registrar to find out when they are going to release the expired domain.

[Hal in Texas]

A possible reason why they redirected to your website....

If I was selling widgets and and found out that I could make more money selling whizbangs, and didn't want to sell widgets anymore, I would gladly redirect all the widget customers to another website so they wouldn't be bothering me and take up all my time.

[copywriter39]

I'd be sending them a thank you, as well. And keep an eye out on when the domain expires. If they don't renew it, try to snap it up.

[r5416]

That would just be totally wonderfull, Wanna redirect it to me? hehehe

Good Luck

<snip please add your link to your signature file and not the body of the post CD>

[edhan]

Wow! It is simply like winning a lottery. How we wish that we are having it as well. I do believe there is no harm having traffic to your site.

[ron angel]

Originally Posted by arod777

Hello,

I noticed that a site which has a similar name to mine has apparently closed it’s doors and is now doing a redirect to my site and sending traffic to me.
I don’t know why they are doing this but I am afraid of multiple domain names in the google index. Their site is listed with google as a page rank 3.
Should I email the hosting company and ask not be linked to them?

Any advice is appreciated…

Thanks,

Angel

They might be starting up again in the future, and want people to keep using and or remembering the name for when they all of a sudden go back on line with a big shiny competitors site. I presume they have no site not even one page up just direct 301 redirect which shows YOUR site name instantly when somebody puts in theirs, not a framed redirect where their site name is shown with your content. could be nice people giving you the business out of the kindness of their hearts instead of a holding page with adverts. or something new & diabolical we have not figured out yet. I have just noticed something else interesting might be an idea to look at all other posts started by arod777 if you are a member by clicking on her name......watch this space as they say!

[astro]

Better and smarter than me has said it all here.

But a question, what happens if it is not a 301 but a 302? Does a search bot treat this differently?

Also moving at a slight tangent to this how come a 302 on one URL to a holding page on another URL with nothing on apart from coming soon in 2006 (????) can rank 3 in G? (I've been a bit slow delveloping it!!) Reluctant to point this out by name here as I am about to start these sites now!

Astro

[confettiguru]

Wow...I would love to have this problem

For what it's worth I closed my brick and mortar store about a year ago to focus strictly on my ecommerce business. I'd had a party store for 22 years. I kept my phone number because of my online business so now, when I get a call from a walk in customer, I immediately refer them to this new store...20 - 30 times a day. We have their phone # posted by our phones.

I've been wondering why I haven't received even one thank-you...maybe, like you, they think I have an ulterior motive. My motive is simply to service the customer

Interesting to think about
LOL
Confetti Guru
PartyConfetti.com - Confetti by the Pound Confetti by the Packet

[Fibo]

Except if this site is some kind of adult / casino type site, AND yours is not... these are good news

I would probably contact them with 3 items on the agenda
1 - Thank you
2 - If you are considering stopping business in this area, I would like to buyback your domain
3 - Can we explore if we have areas of common business?

[jenteh]

Please redirect the traffic to my website if you don't want them!

[sofomor]

I would disagree here...

If possible kindly post the name of the redirected and redirecting websites. There may be issues buried deep which may require attention.

You may enjoy traffic for short time but getting penalized may bring you completely down...

Thank you

[arod777]

Hi guys and thanks for the advice..
I went to Server header checker - Check a server header HTTP status and here what I found when I typed in their domain name.

HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
Date: Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:00:35 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.9 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.9 OpenSSL/
0.9.8g DAV/2 mod_auth_passthrough/2.1 mod_bwlimite
d/1.4 FrontPage/5.0.2.2635
Location: The Free Fun Stuff Portal
Content-Length: 424
Connection: close
Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1

Any suggestions...

Thanks,

Angel

[srblogger]

That is exactly what you want to see. You are in good shape.

[tombstoneweb]

Originally Posted by BSmithTTS

I guess the real question is how they are redirecting... does it update in the URL to your domain when following a link to their site? or does it still show their domain only your content?

Say domain1 is their site and domain2 is yours:

Going to domain1.com/page.html leads to domain2.com/page.html in the browser?
OR, going to domain1.com/page.html shows domain1.com/page.html, but shows content from domain2.com/page.html

If it just forwards the user over, then there should be now worries... if is keeps their domain in tact, then it might be considered dup. content. Same as www vs no www... etc.

The way it should work is if you type in the domain, let's say Legends Bed and Breakfast - Tombstone, Arizona - Welcome Page (formerly Curly Bill's B and B) that has a 301 redirect, when it loads in your browser, it should show the website it redirected you to, let's say Legends Bed and Breakfast - Tombstone, Arizona - Welcome Page (formerly Curly Bill's B and B)

IMO, thank your lucky stars and go on!!!

My 2cents.

[ron angel]

Originally Posted by jenteh

Please redirect the traffic to my website if you don't want them!

Be VERY careful what you ask for.....
I have a few names registered which have no sites but point into internal pages on my main site, one of them is

True weird sex stories (weird-sex.co.uk)

would you like me to forward it to your site? you may get the WRONG type of clientèle(grin) thought not.....

[Terry Van Horne]

With IBLs now possibly having the potential to provide negative impact. I'd be wary of gifts like these. It may be a trojan horse so... you better know why it's happening not "Don't worry be Happy". IMO, that's whistling past the graveyard! Many of the reasons above for this are best implemented with a refresh to your site. Thereby allowing the owner to alert the user to the reason for the referesh. I'd be wary... and definitely checking the "wayback machine" to see what the site was displaying before the 301... perhaps a spammy affiliate page with links to your site all over it? It's now easier for a BH to screw you rather than Google!

[directorygurl]

Originally Posted by arod777

Hello,

I noticed that a site which has a similar name to mine has apparently closed it’s doors and is now doing a redirect to my site and sending traffic to me.
I don’t know why they are doing this but I am afraid of multiple domain names in the google index. Their site is listed with google as a page rank 3.
Should I email the hosting company and ask not be linked to them?

Any advice is appreciated…

Thanks,

Angel

be thankful. for giving you good result..
but for your peace of mind ask them..

[1stgirl.com]

More domains (.com, .net, .org, .info...) are being added. As such it does make sense to be afraid of a similar domain.

[Peter (IMC)]

Originally Posted by arod777

Hello,

I noticed that a site which has a similar name to mine has apparently closed it’s doors and is now doing a redirect to my site and sending traffic to me.
I don’t know why they are doing this but I am afraid of multiple domain names in the google index. Their site is listed with google as a page rank 3.
Should I email the hosting company and ask not be linked to them?

Any advice is appreciated…

Thanks,

Angel

There's no such thing as a free lunch. You should try to find out why they´re doing this. Does the redirecting domain still have pages indexed in Google. It may give you some info on who they are. Also use the way back machine (search for it in Google) to find out more.

[eugie17]

if the traffic is good you can forget about it

[businesscredit]

they use a 301 or 302 redirection on their .htaccess. You can whois their site and contact them directly. If they have been banned or not a G-Rated site, maybe you should cut it out. If it cause you no harm, you're just lucky!

[Feydakin]

Originally Posted by RichAtVNS

only possibility I see is the guy going out and spamming on that other domain. and hoping you get negatiely affected...
after all wasn't he your competitor till recently...

this sounds way to good to be true!

Didn't we have a long thread recently where people swore up and down that there wasn't anything someone could do to hurt your website??

I've seen it before.. Not so much these days, but back before people thought that domains alone were worth millions it happened a lot..

[activeco]

Originally Posted by Peter (IMC)

There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Why is that? In my house you are always welcome.
Nothing in return. You can even forget me the moment you are out....
And I'm not religious at all. On the contrary...

[Peter (IMC)]

Thanks,.. I might remember that when I'm in the neighborhood..

But I'm sure you know what I meant wth no free lunch.

[locking]

I have also redirected my pages to other domains, better that then close entirely.

[williamc]

As many people have already pointed out, be happy and thank them.

[luigip]

Hi arod777,

is the redirect still there or has it gone ... with your best backlinks?