You own a single site, but several domains - perhaps you wanted to make sure that even if your customers misspelled your domain name theyd get to your site, or perhaps youd like to have a specific domain name direct to a page deep within your site - whatever the case, there are some important considerations surrounding multiple domain names routing to a single site and search engine submission.
Search engines like Google and Yahoo wont always wait around for you to submit a site - Googlebot and Yahoo Slurp (which you may recognize from your server logs if your site has been up for a few weeks) are constantly running across new domain names to index. Its a good thing - unless your domain names are being forwarded incorrectly.
What constitutes and incorrect forward
Many major domain name registrars offer a Domain Name Forwarding feature which, while it may be the easiest way to forward your domain, can cause some real problems when search engine spiders like Googlebot or Yahoo Slurp visit your site.
Heres what happens:
But what went wrong Your domain name registrar did its job, and sent the spider to your actual site when it visited the domain name you registered. The spider did its job and read the content of the page or pages it found, and then incorporated them into the search engine index. Everythings copacetic, right
When the search engine spider read the page, it associated it with your alternate domain name, the one that was supposed to be forwarding to your primary domain name. This means that the search engine has effectively tracked down what it will quickly identify as duplicate content - and, after years of dealing with sites trying to sell Viagra on the sly by duplicating their content across hundreds of pages, todays search engines will respond to duplicate content with a drop in your ranking.
Given enough time, you may find your site has been banned from the search engine index.
Whats the solution
Your domain names need to be routed from the domain name registrar to a hosting account - from the hosting account (and this varies - consult your technical support provider for the account) youll need to set a Permanent Redirect to your main site.
A Permanent Redirect is logged as a code 301 (thence, it is often referred to as a 301 Permanent Redirect) - if you have multiple domain names which you wish to direct to a single site, it may be especially useful for you to consider a website hosting account which offers multiple add-on domains and subdomains to accommodate all the domain names youll need to forward.
Dan LeFree is a Web Design and Development Consultant specializing in database applications for e-Commerce storefronts, custom realtor websites, and other small business tools.
When it comes to choosing your domain name, do not allow yourself to get stressed out or worry over choosing the perfect domain name that will make your website a success. When it comes down to it, there are several things you can do to ensure you choose the best type of domain for your business, and after that any number of domain names will work effectively for you. However, you need to read the following suggestions and follow them in order to avoid any costly mistakes to your traffic and business due to a bad domain name.
Tip #1 Short and Sweet
You will want a domain name that is short and sweet. There are many reasons for this, however if you have a short domain name it will be easier for people to remember and revisit not to mention tell others about. Also, if your domain name is short, other websites linking to your site will not have to worry about broken URLs and invalid web pages.
Tip #2 Make a List
You should definitely make a list of the domain names you like the most, but it is best if you make a list of themes rather than exact domain names. The reason for this is there are so many domain names on the Internet that finding an easy one is not so easy. So, come up with themes you are interested in and then start searching from there.
Tip #3 Be Open
Do not set your heart on one particular domain name, especially if it is a generic one because odds are it is taken. You will only be disappointed and unhappy with any other domain name. Do not set yourself up like this and realize ahead of time that you will need to be really creative with your domain name and open to new ideas and options.
Tip #4 Search for Options
Once you have your list of themes and ideas you want for a domain name you can start searching online. There are plenty of websites that will allow you to search and register different domain names. Most likely, several that you search for will be taken and the program might suggest you take that domain name with a really large number on the end or other variations that are available. In general, you do not want to do this because it is more difficult to remember your URL and you will get a lot of your traffic misdirected.
Tip #5 Dot Com
There are many kinds of extensions or suffixes available for URLs from com to .net and .biz to .info. While all of these are options and your particular desired domain might be taken under .com and available under tv you should consider long and hard before doing this. The reason for this is everyone knows about .com and if they are thinking of your website they will probably search for it as .com first. So, having a .com will keep people from getting confused. Also, if your keyword URL exists as a .com and you choose .net, you will probably lose customers and traffic to the other site because people know to go to .com.
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