8 replies to this topic

[djonline]

Hi everyone,

I have a main domain name that I use for my company's site. However, I also have a domain name that is the name of my company which I acquired just in case someone typed my company's name into the address bar by hand.

I have only the one site, which uses my main domain name but do have the other domain name pointing to the site via the name servers.

Should I be using a 301 redirect? Or is using the nameservers okay?

I just do not want the Search Engines to potentially find a link pointing to my site using my other domain name and have the SE think that it is a duplicate site and implement a penalty if this is the wrong way to do it.

Just want to make sure I am doing things right....

Can anyone advise?

Thanks so much!
Julie

[chrishirst]

definitely use a 301, A DNS alias on the nameserver will mean both sites will respond with a 200 (ok) so will appear as duplicates

[Jill]

I disagree with Chris on this one.

It's fine to have 1 other domain that is simply pointed at the DNS. The engines (generally) see them all as one site. Google at least does a good job of it.

It's definitely not considered duplicate content, either way.

[Ron Carnell]

I disagree with Chris Jill on this one.

The engine (generally eventually) see them all as one site.

The significant word there is eventually. I will agree, however, that it's fine to use DNS aliasing, and it's certainly not a matter of being penalized. You just lose a little link pop during the time it takes Google to realize the alias should have been a redirect. How long it takes Google to merge the two domains seems to be a function of how often the content changes and how frequently Google spiders. I haven't ever seen Yahoo merge two sites, though, and of course, the jury is still out on how MSN will handle aliases.

Like Chris, I think a 301 Redirect is a better, less iffy solution than using DNS. The only downside is that a redirect will possibly cost a couple bucks a month for hosting, while DNS forwarding is usually free.

[djonline]

Thank you all very much!

I see that there is some different schools of thought

Well, I am going to have my host implement a 301 redirect just in case.

See, I completely fell off my rankings on Google last night. I had been ranking really well with steady rankings in the top 10 on Google for many, many competitive keyword phrases. And my site is designed with all the collective knowledge from this forum (meaning all friendly techniques).

Anyway, I am now wondering if this pesky DNS vs 301 was the cause of the loss in rankings.....

Julie

[Jill]

Julie, it's doubtful that the other domain is the cause.

Check out the thread about a major Google algo change in the Industry News section...

[Randy]

I agree with Jill's last post (about the other domain not being a cause of the recent shift) and Chris and Ron's posts about 301s. How's that for riding the fence?

Aliasing is okay, Eventually. It usually starts out being okay and months or years later it's not, which ends up causing someone pain.

The question I always had in this type of situation is Why in the world would you leave it up to the interpretation of the search engines when there's such an easy and proven way to make sure they don't make a mistake?

[Ron Carnell]

And I agree with Randy on all of his agreements.

The only way an aliased domain can knock you out of the SERPs is if it takes your place in the SERPs, i.e., the engine decides to show only one domain and doesn't pick the one you want. By all means, fix what could be a minor problem by implementing the 301, but I think you need to look more deeply for the cause of the major problem.

[djonline]

Thanks everyone!

Julie, it's doubtful that the other domain is the cause.

Darn....

I agree with Jill's last post (about the other domain not being a cause of the recent shift) and Chris and Ron's posts about 301s. How's that for riding the fence?

Boy, talk about diplomacy

Seriously, I really thought that I had a good thing going with long term rankings. The past 9 months I have enjoyed top ten rankings in Google on many phrases. I can resite the "[url=http://www.highrankings.com/forum/index.php/topic/833-tips-for-new-seos/]Tips for Newbies[/url]" thread in my sleep. Only implemented what would be useful and non-spammy techniques. Wrote for my visitors with my keywords in mind and only link exchange when it would be useful for my visitors (and Google does show I have 231 "backlinks").

Anyway, I actually was hoping that it was the DNS pointing that contributed to the fall as that is an easy fix. Randy, you are right on that I should have implemented a 301 considering that it isn't too difficult to set up. I just read several places that DNS pointing was not spammy. Which is why I didn't put implementing a 301 redirect as a priority.....

And Ron, you too are right on with discerning the cause. I guess it is time for a site review from you all experts..... to see if there is something that I am not doing, or have done

Julie

Edited by djonline, 06 February 2005 - 05:57 PM.