19 replies to this topic

[-Emo-]

Hi everyone!
I currently own a website that works with subdomains. In each subdomain I have a different country version of my site. For example:
[http://us.mydomain.com] for USA with pagerank 5
[http://uk.mydomain.com] for UK with pagerank 4
etc
i'm planning to get the local domains for each subdomain site instead. For example
[http://www.mydomain.com] for USA
[http://www.mydomain.com.uk] for UK

This is my question.
I´ve been told, that if I put a 301 (permanent redirection) from my subdomains to my new local domains, all the attributes (pagerank) go to the local domains.

So, my new local domain www.mydomain.com should have a pagerank of 5
and www.mydomain.com.uk, should a pagerank of 4
Is this true?

[De-linked the inadvertant live links. -Randy]

Edited by Randy, 12 August 2004 - 10:32 AM.

[Randy]

Welcome Emo !

Genrally speaking that's true, at least where Google is concerned. Yahoo! does have some issues with at least some 301 Redirects. They're working on that supposedly.

The question I have is what is the goal of buying up the regional domains? Is what you're doing now not working or something? What do you hope to gain from the added expense of throwing individual country domains into the mix?

[-Emo-]

Thanks for your reply Randy!

The question I have is what is the goal of buying up the regional domains? Is what you're doing now not working or something? What do you hope to gain from the added expense of throwing individual country domains into the mix?

Easy.
I need to buy the local domains for each country to get better results in the amount of indexed pages by the local google of each country. My competitor site, uses it´s local domains for each country, and they have EXCELENT results with google. I didn´t.
I´ve acquired some of these local domains for my sites, and i´ve got very good results now. But im still using the subdomains also. So i want to stop using the subdomains and replace them by a 100% for the local domains.
For example, the amount of indexed pages by google i had with subdomains, was the 1% of the marketshare with my competitor.
In less than a month, I have the 13% of the marketshare. And it´s going up!
So that´s why I need a 301 redirect. I need all the attributes I have in my subdomains.
Does this make sense?

[Randy]

Gotcha Emo.

That technique will certainly work for Google. Just be aware of and sensitive to the fact that not all spiders treat 301's the same.

Something to keep in mind and keep a close eye on anyway. You don't want to end up having all of your eggs in the a single basket.

[-Emo-]

sorry for my late answer Randy. I´ve had some email issues. Why does it take so long to receive the email validation? (1 day)

what do you mean by "You don't want to end up having all of your eggs in the a single basket."

Also, what problems were identified with 301 redirections? You say google seems to work fine with it. What about, msn, Yahoo, etc?
Thanks

-Emo-

[BrianR]

I need to buy the local domains for each country to get better results in the amount of indexed pages by the local google of each country. My competitor site, uses it´s local domains for each country, and they have EXCELENT results with google. I didn´t.

Emo

Before converting your sub-domains to country-specific tld's, have a read of Ian Mcanerin's article 'Only in Canada' and relevant comments in this thread:

http://www.highranki...?showtopic=6585

Just a thought...

BrianR

[Randy]

Oh boy, I can feel a long one coming on. Let's see how succinct I can be.

1. Regarding my all your eggs in one basket comment above, just be cognizant of the fact that Google isn't the only game in town anymore. Certainly not the market dominator they were as recent as this past January.

Yahoo! collects their own data now, instead of using Google data. At this moment MSN is still using Yahoo!/Inktomi data, but that's likely going to change pretty soon. Their bot is already collecting data and they've already have their own MSN Search in beta. Also, each region of the world has smaller search properties that garner a look.

So that's just a quick warning not to concentrate so much on Google that you end up missing all the rest.

2. Re: email validation. It's a known problem since moving the forums to a new server. It's being worked on.

3. Re: 301's and the major search engines.

Google treats them correctly. No worries there.

Yahoo! Slurp has had issues with some 301's. Not all, but I haven't a clue what sets it off down an erroneous path. Last I heard, straight from a Yahoo! Search rep, they're aware of this and working on a solution.

MSN we don't know enough about yet to see whether they'll be able to follow them and whether the link popularity will pass through also. I do have a little test set up on an somewhat related front. MSNbot did follow the jump links of that test regardless of whether a 301, 302 or no header was included. No clue yet whether any link popularity passed though. Too early to really look into that area.

[DianeV]

I've noticed something else with Yahoo, which is similar to the 301 problem.

Let's you have a domain name which got into Yahoo. Later you get a new domain name, make that the main domain name for your site, and point the old domain to the new one. (To clarify: one website, new domain name is the "main" one and the old domain just points to the new domain name.)

Google will drop the old domains and associated URLs and will add the new domain/URLs, which is as it should be, assuming that you've set the domain names up correctly on your server.

Yahoo may not make the switch, and may show only your old domain name. Or may show both, but bury the new domain down in the listings.

Very annoying. I am not yet decided on wehther Yahoo is really having a problem, or is simply saying so.

[chrishirst]

Diane, that is how the problem with Yahoo and 301s shows up.

It is treated the same as a 307 (Temporary Redirect) or a 302 (Found), so they keep indexing the old URL as specified in RFC2616.

[leadegroot]

On an aside from the original question (sorry I can't help you , Emo )

[http://www.mydomain.com] for USA
[http://www.mydomain.com.uk] for UK

Can anyone explain to me why .us isn't considered the default domain for American businesses?
These has tickled my curiosity bone for just ages now and I'd really like to know.
I recommend .au domains to my locally-based clients, and .com (et al) to my larger clients with international businesses.
Why do I not see this happening in the States? (of course, its possible that, being overseas myself, I don't see all the local US businesses using .us domains, because they are local, but somehow I don't think so )

[Randy]

We are creatures of habit...

When the web took off, especially in the US, every piece of advertising you saw here had a .com (or Commercial) web address. So everybody was already using that before the .com domain names started becoming hard to get.

The reason this has continued IMO has more to do with advertising and habits than anything else. If you were to put your web address on some flyer and it was "www.anydomain.us" the fear is that the vast majority of people who type it in would first go to "www.anydomain.com" out of habit. Because .com is what the average person has heard or seen at least 10,000 times at this point.

Most US businesses won't even use a .net domain, if they can get the .com version. I kind of doubt they'll ever start using the .us version.

Also, for what it's worth, neither Google.com nor Google.us give those in the US the option to search only US-based sites like the other regional TLDs do. So there's no big push, or any advantage for US-based businesses to start using .us domains.

[DianeV]

Randy is right.

As well, earlier on, one registered domain names with InterNIC (and later Network Solutions), and I don't recall earlier on being given a choice of .us domains.

I do recall the site coaching us to buy .com if commercial, .org if non-profit, or .net if a network. Or something to that effect.

I'm afraid that the result of buying a .us domain at this point would be just as Randy describes it.

[leadegroot]

Thanks, guys.
I had wondered - what a shame

[leadegroot]

Being anal about these things ('*that* site shouldn't be using a .com!!!' ) I just wrote google at their suggestions@... address to suggest it.
I doubt anything will come of it, but you never know

<slyly> of course, all those clients who can't get the domain name they want in the .com space might be able to get it in the .us space

[Scottie]

At this point, if I couldn't get the .com, I'd pick a new domain name before registering a .us one as an alternative. I think it would be confusing and people would naturally type in com and be taken to a site that wasn't mine/my clients or possibly worse, a this-domain-for-sale or coming-soon page.

I would only advise buying a .us TLD if the client wanted to own all the TLD's for their domain.