May 13, 2008

Dear Jill,
I have a client who has 2 domain names: namehere.com and differentnamehere.us pointing at the same IP address. Is it bad SEO to have multiple domain names for the same site? And will this negatively impact search engine results for each?
Patrick


++Jill's Response++

Hi Patrick,
Two domains for one website is not in and of itself a bad thing. I have tons of domains for my one website. But problems can arise if your additional domain is simply a parked alias of your main domain and it somehow gets indexed by the search engines. Even this is not really a problem, but it's best to allow only your main domain to be indexed so as not to inadvertently trip any duplicate content filters.

You may already be doing this, but if not, what you want to do is set up a 301-permanent-redirect from the additional domain to your main domain. This will ensure that all visitors end up at the correct site, and that only your main domain gets indexed by the search engines. It will also help to pass to the main domain any link popularity that the additional domain may have accumulated.
Hope this helps!
Jill

Post Comment

 Anonymous said:
Hi Jill,

What if Patrick's domains had unique content with some cross linking between the two?

Thad
 Jill said:
Hi Patrick,

You mean what if he had 2 completely different websites? (Rather than 1 website with two domains.)

Certainly nothing wrong with that assuming they're providing different information. And certainly nothing wrong with cross-linking them where it makes sense to do so either.

It's completely normal and natural for companies to have more than one website for various reasons.

Now, if you're talking about two websites that are basically the same, but with just minor changes, that's not a very good idea, nor is it necessary. One should suffice (which is what the search engines would believe as well).

Jill
 Hetal Patel said:
I have a site and has 18 subdomains, obvious subdomains point to the same ip address.
I list the products on based on category and categories assigned to the subdomains
Some of the category assigne more then 2 subdomains.

So product listing of that category is duplicate when u go through category..of subdomain.
like
http://1.mysite.com
http://2.mysite.com

some of the Categories of this two subdomain is same,
So my question is that does google consider Product pages of the same category spam or google will index. or any other impact.

If anyone can answer
Thank You
Hetal Patel
 Wyn Snow said:
Is there a way to do a 301 redirect without having hosting for a domain?

I have several clients with more than one domain name, and the secondary/other domains are forwarded to the main domain through the registrar (Bulk Register). I've been told that this is exactly the situation that can create an SEO problem of duplicate indexed content.

Thanks!
 Jill said:
@Hetal Patel

Google won't see it as spam, but it IS duplicate content so it may not all get indexed, or some of it may not be found in the main search results.

@Wyn Snow

There are ways to redirect via the .htaccess file, but it does depend on what sort of access they have. Take a look at our 301-redirect forum at the High Rankings Forum. There's more info there and also some techie gurus who can explain exactly how to do it if necessary.