Domain forwarding

[Eagle]

Is there an SEO penalty for forwarding sites to a different URL (main website)? I have my domain's .com URL mirrored but was just wondering whether there was any value in using forwarding from other URLs I own?...

[Brian Turner]

This is a potentially tricky issue, because Yahoo! and Google have both suffered high profile problems of redirected domains having a negative impact on the target domains.

However, forwarding domains should generally be safe - I forward a few to Britecorp - as these are domains that have never been websites.

I would advise, though, that if any domains that exist as sites in their own right be left as archive sites with links to the target site, as it can retain real SEO benefits. Removing a site to simply forward a domain can result in prior benefits of that domain's listings being delayed, though.

Hope that helps.

[Eagle]

Thanks Brian.

So, say I was to write articles on one but link to my main site - that would be good practice? A bit expensive to host though just for a blog perhaps...

[Brian Turner]

I think there are probably SEO's who would be fine to advise to redirect where possible - I know it's an actual method in blog spamming, where links are set up to a set of pages, which after the spamming run will then be set up to redirect to main pages - which is precisely why Google is especially wary of redirects.

My personal philosophy is that developing sites with content, no matter how small, is a good policy to have - I liken it to building property - the bigger you try and build the property, the higher the potential for monetising it, even if just from programs such as AdSense.

Then of course there's the positive benefits of keyworded links from those domains towards your business site...

[Eagle]

Originally Posted by Brian Turner

Then of course there's the positive benefits of keyworded links from those domains towards your business site...

But isn't that just the same as links from a blog?.....

And what of control panel forwarding, 301 redirects and 302 redirects?

[Brian Turner]

Links are generally a good thing - and links from a blog are not a bad thing.

I guess the distinction worth making is that if you're using redirects from domains that only ever exist to redirect anyway (ie, for type-in traffic), then you're generally fine to use forwarding.

However, if you have sites with any kind of established linkage, then using redirects from those domains to another means potential trouble with how search engines process the redirects - it can result in the wrong domains being listed, or even the original ranking benefits of the redirecting domain being entirely lost.

In case I'm confusing the issue, I'll try to summarise my personal position:

1. Domains with no sites - domains that have never been a website are fine to forward

2. Domain that are websites are perhaps best left as websites, because once redirected you lose the ranking benefits - left as is, you can point those benefits at your new site.

Hope that helps.

[TWD-Tony]

Maybe something else to consider is domain aliasing?

Your webhost *SHOULD* be able to set this up and you then only need to alter the DNS info for the other domains to point to the server that the main domain is on.

I use this to great effect on clients sites that have multi domains attached to them (.co.uk, .com, . net etc) but you can also do this with other domain names.
This cuts out any forwarding / re-directing of the domain

Unless Brian knows of any SEO issues with this method????

[Brian Turner]

If it cuts out redirect issues, then that's all to the good.

I have to admit, I thought I'd better bring in issues of redirects just in case, but I may well have inadvertently confused the thread by doing so.