5 replies to this topic

[JWG]

I have purchased several domain names that are similar to or related to the domain name of my primary web site, and am considering redirecting them to the primary site with a 301 redirect. Purpose is to capture traffic when people key in those specific domains or when search engines include them on results pages.

1. Does Google consider this to be an acceptable practice?

2. Any negative considerations?

Thanks

[Randy]

1. Yes. Or more correctly, they don't care since you're using a 301 and are not trying to deceive them.

2. No.

FWIW, those domains are not going to end up being in the SERPs because of the 301 redirect. But you can sometimes get some type in traffic and it's a decent way to protect your brand if the alternate domain names are similar to your main domain.

[Darryl Payne]

I agree with Randy that the redirected domains will not show up in the SERPs. I do have a related question. I have a site at gatlinburg-rental-cabins.com and want to change the domain to gatlinburgrentalcabins.us. Should I do a 301 redirect on the old site to the new one? Will this transfer any link popularity to the new site? Or do I have to actually change the links pointing to the site? Will it affect my rankings?

[torka]

Changing the domain to a new one will potentially affect your rankings, as the new domain may be subject to the Google aging delay, while (presumably, if it's over a year or so old) the old domain is not. In the event you're talking about moving the content from an "aged" domain to a new one, you might want to take a look at Scottie's article on how to move from an old domain to a new.

Even if neither domain is subject to the aging delay, changing the URL of existing pages (which is what will happen if you change the domain name), could affect rankings for a least a couple of months while the SEs sort out the effects of the changes.

You definitely want to use a redirect (301 or 302, depending on whether you should be following Scottie's advice I linked to above), but you also need to get as many of the outside links as possible pointing to the correct domain. The SEs are pretty good about handling redirects properly nowadays, but they haven't always been, and I wouldn't want to hang my hopes on the idea that they always will be going forward. Glitches happen.

My

--Torka

[Darryl Payne]

Thanks Torka for the information. I read Scottie's article and it does make sense. I registered the new domain name about 6 months ago and just pointed it to the old domain. I have not used the new domain in any links to the site, so I am not sure if it is still subject to the aging delay.

Darryl

[Jill]

I have not used the new domain in any links to the site, so I am not sure if it is still subject to the aging delay.

Yes, it would be.