What to do about all of the other domains we own?
-
So I had asked this question a while back in a previous thread and thought I had the correct answer to it, but just actually heard differently on a webinar by Dr. Pete.
Basically, we have a large number of domains that just replicate our website. Some are brand names, some are exact match keyword domains, some are clever plays on words. This is a tactic that our marketing department thought was a good idea. Obviously its not.
My question is - Some of these domains actually have a significant amount of link value coming into them. How people found them I'm not sure, but nonetheless, I want to try to take advantage of the incoming links somehow if possible.
Dr. Pete recommended against 301 redirecting back to our main domain all at once because that would be a signal to Google that something fishy is going on.
This is what I was going to do, but now I'm really not sure what to do now... If possible, it would be great to get Dr. Pete in this thread to get his comments. I wasn't able to get an answer on the SEO in 2012 Pro Webinar.
-
Sounds like solid advice to me. I'm very glad I attended today. I was about to pull the trigger on 75+ redirects
Thanks for taking the time to Chime in Dr. Pete and thanks to Robert as well for the great answer.
-
"It's important not to go overboard with this approach. The content should always be top-notch so that these smaller sites still have significant value to the visitor."
Exactly. The Devil is in the details. Strong micro-sites with unique value can work. 500 carbon copies of your home-page are going to make a mess.
-
Thanks for the suggestion.
This may work for some, but we're not really looking to create any kind of mini-sites. With the way the trends are going it seems that having one property is going to be the way to go, unless there is a really good reason to separate your brands, which, in our case, there is not.
-
I think Robert's right - it's a matter of moderation. Sites change domains, for example, and 301-redirects are perfectly valid. Sometimes, sites consolidate and, again, that's natural. The problem is that people have also bought tons of domains and redirected them to game the system, so Google is watching.
The gradual approach is very sensible. You don't want to lose this link equity - absolutely agreed on that point. So, start with the most powerful sites and redirect one by one. Measure what happens and adapt along the way based on the data.
When you get to the weaker sites, it may be time to let them go (especially if they looks like duplicates). This isn't all or none. I'm definitely not saying to NEVER 301 or to always 301 - it's a balancing act. My fear is that if you do this with dozens of domains in one day, you'll get smacked down. So, ease into it.
-
One approach that we have found to be successful is to build mini-sites on the other domains with links to the other sites. A platform like Wordpress makes this easy and you can give each site a different look-and-feel. Throw in a $27 logo from LogoNerds.com and you have a completely descent brand. Put a few pages of good content on the site and link back to your main site.
It's important not to go overboard with this approach. The content should always be top-notch so that these smaller sites still have significant value to the visitor. Often adding things like video can help here both in helping the visitor and increasing their time on your site.
Hope this helps - I think this is my first time on the forum but I thought it was time I dove in!
All the best,
Morgan
-
I would listen to DrPete. It's conservative advice.
-
Seems solid to me. Kinda what I was thinking, but also looking forward to other replies. This seems to be something there is a lot of confusion about. Appreciate the input Robert.
-
Cody
Well, since I have accepted his advice in the past I should agree with Dr. Pete again. That said, why not take it one step at a time. I have done this with one client (three sites redirected to one over time). First, take whichever other domain you decide on and redirect it url to url to your main site. Sit on that a month or so and then do the same with site two. Again, wait a while, then redirect another.
To me, I do not see where it would present a problem done this way. You state that [some of the domains have a significant amount of link value] and this would seem to say others do not. If that is true and ultimately you are only going to redirect 3 or 4, I do not think it would be a red flag to OZ...I mean Google.
Looking forward to other responses.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Moving Pages Up a Folder to come off root domain
Good Morning I've been doing some competitor research to see why they're ranking higher than us and noticed that one who seems to be doing well has changed their url structure so that rather than being www.domain.com/product-category/product-subcategory/product-info-page/ they've removed levels so for instance they now have: www.domain.com/product-subcategory/ and www.domain.com/product-info-page/ basically everything seems to come off the root domain rather than having the traditional structure. Our rankings for the product-subcategory pages, which are probably what most people would search for, are just sitting below the first page in most instances and have been for a while I'm interested to know other people's thoughts and if this is an approach they've taken and had good results?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Ham19790 -
Duplication Effects on Page Rank and Domain Authority
Hi Does page rank and domain authority page rank drop due to duplication issues on a web domain or on a web page? Thanks.
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | SEOguy10 -
New Domain Name or Keep going - Help not Recovering after Penguin
Hi Moz Friends I wonder if you can help me , a while ago we had a Penguin Penalty and lost our Rankings. After Months of work Disavow and Reconsiderations , Google sent me a message in Webmaster Tools to confirm the Penalty had been uplifted. Since then we havent recovered. I have been working with Bloggers to build relevant safe links, each having a DA of between 10-30. We have developed a Mobile Friendly Website and ios and Android Apps. We have improved Site Speed and moved to a Server within the same Country. We add lots of content and believe we have ticked all the boxes for onpage optimisation. However our DA and PA seems to have dropped slightly after Moz update today. We seem to be jumping in the serps, one day page 4 for "fancy dress" the next day nowhere to be found. I'm not sure what to do next. I'm not expecting to jump back to page 1 for the main keywords but some positive movement would be nice, especially as there are Lower DA Website, not mobile friendly or as fast above us in the serps. What I am looking for I guess is any ideas from you and also what you think about this idea A few people have mentioned that we might stand more of a chance using our domain name example.com instead of example.co.uk. example.com has never been used and is totaly clean (no penaltys ect..) Do we use example.com and move the website and content away from example.co.uk ? if so do we use redirects or would that just pass any hold thats on example.co.uk to the .com version Ideas Welcome Thanks Adam
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | AMG1000 -
Do you choose PA/DA over PR when purchasing expiring domains?
Hey guys, So a lot has been said about private blog network. I have but only 1 question: Do you choose PA/DA over PR when purchasing expiring domains or PR is most critical? Thanks a lot!
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | nicenike0 -
Are multiple domains spammy if they're similar but different
A client currently has a domain of johnsmith.com (not actual site name, of course). I’m considering splitting this site into multiple domains, which will include brand name plus keyword, such as: Johnsmithlandclearing.com Johnsmithdirtwork.com Johnsmithdemolition.com Johnsmithtimercompany.com Johnsmithhydroseeding.com johnsmithtreeservice.com Each business is unique enough and will cross-link to the other. My questions are: 1) will Google consider cross-linking spammy? 2) what happens to johnsmith.com? Should it redirect to new site with the largest market share, or should it become an umbrella for all? 3) Any pitfalls foreseen? I've done a fair amount of due diligence and feel these separate domains are legit, but am paranoid that Google will not see it that way, or may change direction in the future.
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | SteveMauldin0 -
Moving from www.domain.net to domain.com?
We're thinking about moving our domain from www.domain.net to domain.com as we just acquired the dot com domain. www.domain.net receives roughly 20million pageviews per month and gets about 90% of it's traffic from search engines. What is best to do in this situation? Should we start using .com instead of .net? 301 redirecting traffic to the .com from .net? Should we drop the www in front?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | mschianoyo0 -
302 redirects - redirecting numerous domains into main primary domain
302 Redirects - We are a digital agency carrying out some SEO analysis for a potential client. The client has bought over 150 different domains and redirected (302) them into his main domain. The domains were bought up based on relevant industry keywords and protection. On first instance this seems like a Black hat technique that Google would most definitely punish - buying up domains and redirecting them to main website. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks...
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Seanbain0