Domain Hosting Impact on SEO - Advice Please!

[Kal]

Hi everyone

I have a rather complex domain situation and I'd like some advice on how to maximise my domain usage while ensuring I don't impact my current rankings or attract search engine penalties for having multiple domains.

I own the following domains:

a) high-search-engine-ranking.com (international site)
b) highsearchengineranking.com (international site)
c) webrank.biz (international site)
d) webrank.com.au (regional AU/NZ site)
e) webrank.co.nz (regional AU/NZ site)

a), b) and c) contain identical content aimed at the international market. d) and e) contain identical content aimed at the Australian/NZ market.

Here are my questions:

Q1 - Now to date, I have been promoting a) and submitting it to all the search engines. I have never promoted b) in any way. As of a few days ago, b) now resolves to a). Does this mean I am safe to start promoting b) in my sig files etc? I don't intend on submitting it to search engines, but if people start linking to b), will that impact my existing rankings for a) or will the search engines realize it is the same domain as it resolves automatically?

Q2 - I now own c) but I have never promoted it in any way. It is currently free hosted with the source pulling content from a). (I know I will need to change this BEFORE I promote it because of the duplicate content issue). c) is my preferred business name domain for my international site. Say I would like to start promoting this domain as my main one for my international site. Should I have it resolve to a) (like b) does) to retain all my rankings for a)? Should I change all my sigs and start promoting this site instead of a) OR b)? I don't intend on submitting it to search engines, but if people start linking to c), will that impact my existing rankings for a) or will the search engines realize it is the same domain as it resolves automatically?

Q3 - Domains d) & e) point to the same content. Originally I set up e) as the main site for hosting, email etc with d) reflecting the same content. But then I swapped them so that now I edit d) and the changes are reflected in e). Unlike a) and b) the two domain addresses for d) & e) don't resolve to the same URL (i.e. the AU and NZ URL's remain intact when you type each) even though the content is the same. Is this what's called "mirror sites"? If so, that get me into trouble with some search engines right? Or are they on the same IP? (and is that ok?) I only promote d) to search engines now, but there are a few listings out the for e) on NZ search engines. Can I be penalized for this if search engines spider both sites?

As you can see, I'm a bit confused about it all. I'm not very familiar with hosting or IP addresses etc. So any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

[chinook]

Now you are going test my ability to think logically, since this is a fairly convoluted query. I am not the expert on SEO that you are but I am a web hosting company and I am interested in SEO (primarily for my own self-promotion). So here goes.

Q1: It really depends on how the redirection to (a) has been done. For our clients, we used canonical names in the DNS entries themselves to point at the source web site and then use host headers to ensure that the site resolves properly.

.....will the search engines realize it is the same domain as it resolves automatically? .....Do any of the search engines really have the time or energy to compare all the words & tags on all the pages in the www to see if there is duplicate content? What they do look for are redirects embedded in the pages & cloaking etc.

Q2: biz has gotten off to a slow start (in spite of the hype you get from spammers) in terms of name recognition. I think that q1 and q2 really are the same question in essence. Consider this though, if you create multiple sites with different content on each and each gets its own ranking, it becomes a safe bet to try out techniques and strategies on one site and still be safe on your other sites. For instance we run about three sites that are related, recently one got penalized and thank goodness for our business the other two are carrying the load.

q3. Since the domains retain their extensions they really are viewed as two independent web sites. We have several examples of this without any penalty but different content would still be safer and preferred. It will also let you focus one site more on one keyword or group of keywords and the other on different ones. Another benefit of splitting them is the ability to pull two different themes from the sites.

To summarize, my advice to you is to seriously consider different content for each domain. Naturally this is a huge job in terms of maintenance but it can be done. Imagine if for your keyword all 5 domains coming up page 1 - no room for competition eh!

From my vantage point as an ISP/Webhost, all domains on our servers are related by the fact they run on our group of IP addresses and our DNS, so multiple domains are not an issue, otherwise every web host out there would be banned.

I sincerely hope my thoughts on this help you and of course the forum readership is welcome to disagree or correct anything I have mentioned.
:cheers:

[Kal]

Thank you chinook for your thoughtful reply and for spending the time to analyse this situation for me! A few of the things you say have been crossing my mind, but I guess the main drawback for me right now is the cost of hosting the additional domains. I don't pay any hosting for either b) or c) and e) is only a "virtual" domain cost (one quarter of the regular hosting fee).

I was suspicious that the d)/e) situation could get me into trouble, but thanks for clarifying. I guess I've got some rethinking to do. Thanks again :cheers: Anyone else got some advice?

[Kal]

Bumping this one to the top again, because now I have a client in almost the same situation as my d) and e) domains below. The client has bought a brand new domain that currently points to exactly the same content as their existing (well linked, well ranked) domain but wants to "re-brand" to the new one. Anyone else got some thoughts on this?

[ihelpyou]

This type of thing is always a dilemma and is always a truly big deal. I have seen sites stay in the indexes forever with no problems and others who get dropped instantly.

The biggest problem anybody has with multiple sites with the same content or pointing domains to a main site is the very fact that if an engine finds Both of the domains, they generally have no clue as to which one is the main and which one is the pointer. They could drop one or the other or both.

With sites with different extensions, it is virtually the same thing as above in that you have that risk.

The engines have 'duplicate content filters' set up to catch this sort of thing.

Your question Kal is a toughie and hard to accomplish easily. I would simply put up a page saying we have moved with a link leading to the new site.

If the old site has ranks already and the client does not wish to lose them, I have heard that doing something with the .htaccess file might solve it but have not heard any confirmation of this.

[Advisor]

Kal, in your situation, are all the domains pointing to the same IP address? (i.e., parked domains on the same IP) If so, I don't think there should be any problems.

At least that's my experience with my various domain names that all point to one IP with all the same content.

Jill

[Kal]

Yep, they both have the same IP. Same for my client's situation, so that's good. Thanks for the advice everyone!

<edit>actually just discovered that my au/nz sites are on the same IP as my HSER site. Is this a bad thing?</edit>

[ihelpyou]

Again, if a pointer is In a database somewhere and both url's are in that database, you could have problems. One of the url's could be dropped with the wrong one being singled out. It's possible as I have seen it happen.

If only one url is in the search databases, no problem at all.

[Advisor]

Yes, the one you want in the engines may not be the one that gets in, if you care about that. For me, I don't usually care as long as one of the domain names show up.

I have a client who has 2 domain names at same IP, and in some engines one address shows up, in others the other one. Doesn't matter, either way people get to the site. Same thing with my 2 domain names.

Jill

[kneelsit]

Thanks all of you for your input on this. ( And thanks Alan for pointing me to the right thread.)

My problem is similar to Kals but with fewer domains, looks like I might finally be able to get back in to Google - here's hoping.

Would you believe that googlebot has crawled my pages 3 times since we did a thorough clean up of the site and got rid of a mirror site but their cache for my site still shows a January date.


:mad:

[Kal]

Ok, now I'm really confused. When I ping my HSER and Web Rank AU sites, I get the same IP address. When I ping my personal hobby site which has completely different content and domain name, I get the same IP as for HSER & Web Rank AU.

Shouldn't each different domain be on a different IP? I am paying my hosting company around USD20 per month, per domain. Am I getting ripped off? Should I ask for different IP addresses or does that usually cost more?

Is it possible that search engines would penalize or refuse to index my individual sites if they all had different content but used the same IP? I don't get it!

[kneelsit]

Kal,

Seems like your problem is similar to mine, my existing IP has only the one IP number for several hundred sites, as a result I am unable to do a smooth re-direct from a new domain I have registered to my current one. (Something needed to get around the google foul up).

Try writing to Mel, he may be able to help sort your problem.

[kneelsit]

Kal,

IMO you are bing ripped off at $20USD. Try Pacific Internet at http://www.zipworld.com.au
They recently quoted me $10AUD monthly for hosting one domain
curtrently I pay $10 AU month for a /~ site which includes 12 hours online midnight to midday.

[Kal]

Thanks Greg - what stats package do they use and are they detailed in terms of search engine and keyword referrals? I'll go check out their hosting packages. :cheers:

[kneelsit]

Kal,

Sorry can't help you with the stats package as I have always just relied on my tracker as a rough guide. I kept them on because of their low cost and the fact that I started with them way back.

My current ISP gives me a great deal charging only $41AU a month for hosting,multiple emails, ssl. and having my graphic artist partner also online from a different area code. Only problem is one I spoke to you about in another thread.

[Advisor]

For that price you should definitely have a separate IP for different domains. Plenty of sites don't have them and seem to do okay in the engines, but I would never have my own sites with an ip that has hundreds of sites on it. No way!

Try www.webwizards.net also.

Jill

[Kal]

Thanks Jill I am checking them out now. You use them don't you? Do you pay extra for your unique IP's?

Hostway.com have a good set up at $20 per month + $5 per month for unique IP's, but their Analog stats are useless. I guess I could just pay for the hosting and use a different stats package...

[Advisor]

No extra for unique IP. Yes, I've used them about 9 months or so now. I believe it's $20 for the first domain and $10 for additional (all with their own IP).

Rob gives very personal service. Many who post to the Adventive discussion lists use him.

They also have a stats package, although it could be better. I think you may get access to your raw logs though if you need 'em. Not quite sure on that though.

J

[kneelsit]

Kal, You may also like to check out

http://www.NoMonthlyfees.com

I am currently looking at them as a possibility.

Greg

[webwizards.net]

Hi all, :hi:

Nice to find this forum.

Yes, our pricing is $20/month for your first site, and $10/month for each additional site. You receive a unique IP address for every site, with 100MB and 5GB of bandwidth. More can be added if you need it.

I can set up any parked domains for free if you like.

We have an awesome control panel, and fairly detailed stats, including referer tracking, and raw URLs in the stats to see keywords searched on etc. You also have access to your raw log files if you'd like to use a third-party program as well.

Tons of other features, listed at http://www.webwizards.net/services/hosting/.

(Be leery of choosing a web host that will suspend your site if you go over your bandwidth use, has a ton of fee-based "add-ons" for basic things like SSH, DNS modifications, backup retrievals, Perl module installations, etc. Don't base your decision on cost alone, either...)

Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns! :)

[ihelpyou]

Welcome to the forums webwizards.net! :hi:

[Advisor]

Welcome, Rob. Good to see you here! :)

Jill

[Kal]

Glad you checked out the forums Rob! Thanks for answering my questions in here - that way others can benefit. Sounds like WebWizards has everything I need in a host. Will look at the big move in a few weeks.

By the way - anyone else see Bruce Clay's post in I-Search re unique IP addresses? Seems he is convinced they assist search engine ranking (when all else is equal).

cheers

[Alan Perkins]

Originally posted by Kal
By the way - anyone else see Bruce Clay's post in I-Search re unique IP addresses? Seems he is convinced they assist search engine ranking (when all else is equal).Yep. I am sceptical.

the fact that your site has the resources to have a dedicated IP makes you first among equals ... my cost per IP number is $2 per monthGuess that blows the little fish out of the water then.

It makes sense that those willing to spend the time on competent content are going to spend a little cash on a dedicated IP.Competent content. That might just have something to do with good rankings.