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Cutting Rank: How an Improper Domain Name Redirect Can Forfeit
Your Top Rankings, By Tom Shivers (c) 2009

Can my site rank better with a keyword-rich domain name? Sure.

Can my site rank better without a keyword in the domain name at
all? Absolutely.

I get questions (or assumptions) like this regularly. Actually,
there are many other things going on behind the scenes that
impact rank, and the domain name is rarely a significant
factor.

Let's say your website has been out there for 6 months or more
and you assume, for whatever reason, that you can get a higher
search engine ranking if you were using a keyword in your domain
name instead of the one you have. In addition to your company
web domain, maindomain.com, you rush to purchase keyword1.com,
keyword2.com and keyword3.com.

From Google's perspective, there is both a good way and a
detrimental way to assign these additional domain names to your
site. This can cause a much greater problem in terms of organic
ranking if you get it wrong in terms of duplicate content and
trust. Have you ever heard of duplicate content? Which domain
name does Google have more history and trust with, your current
domain name or one you just bought?

Common methods webmasters use to point multiple domain names to
your web server include:

  * Domain Mirroring/Masking
  * Domain Cloaking
  * Domain Alias/URL Alias
  * Domain Redirecting

Domain mirroring/masking is sometimes called a pointer domain.
It looks like it is the domain name when it is used in a
browser, but it is simply a mask overlaying the real domain name
and its content. When someone types in www.domain.com, it's
really forwarding to domain.blogspot.com without the address
changing in the address bar. The user continues to see
www.domain.com in the address bar, although the site and its
contents are really from domain.blogspot.com.

Domain cloaking uses an iframe or embedded frameset to display
the content of another site.

Domain redirecting (also called URL redirecting) requires all
traffic that is sent through the new domain name to be
redirected to the main domain name. This can also be a domain
redirected to a subdirectory of the main domain, or multiple
domains redirected to a complex URL. This is different from
domain mirroring/masking and domain cloaking because, when a
user types in www.domain.com, they end up on www.maindomain.com
and the address changes appropriately in the address bar.

But, let's back up a second and look at the issues you must
consider before making this decision.

1. To limit confusion, it's better to change the brand (or
company) name to better reflect the keyword-rich domain name.
This could be as simple as recreating the company logo, but you
might consult your customer base first.

2. The technical procedure of redirecting domain names must be
done so that the search engines do not get confused about what
you are trying to do. Otherwise, you risk tripping a duplicate
content filter, which would force Google to accept only one
domain with that content (explained below). But the biggest risk
is setting off an alarm at Google that you are trying to trick
them to get a better rank.

Just for fun, let's say you've gone through the trouble of
changing the company name to reflect your new keyword-rich
domain. Now it's time to get technical.

If you use any method other than domain redirecting, you are
going to be disappointed with your search rank. Domain
mirroring, masking, cloaking and aliases confuse search engines
because they see the same content under a different domain name.
Google then selects one of the domain names to display that
content and leaves the others out of the search results. Google
chooses for you - since you are not aware of how to manage your
duplicate content issues - and no one knows which domain name
Google will choose. You could be saying "bye-bye" to all the
hard-earned link juice pointed at your main domain name.

The more serious issue with domain mirroring/masking is the
probability that Google suspects you are trying to manipulate
search rank by suddenly using keywords in additional domain
names. The result is either loss of whatever good ranking you
did have or your site is banned from Google altogether. Ouch!

This is precisely what happened with a client. Despite my
warnings, but thinking they might change the company name
eventually, they bought additional keyword-rich domain names and
had the webmaster point them at their server (using domain
masking). Within a couple weeks Google dropped their domain
ranking across the board, but did not ban them.

Of course they came to me with their issue. I gently reminded
them about how this should have been done, redirected the domain
names properly (using a 301 redirect) and asked them to consult
me next time they're considering a marketing or technical
decision regarding the website. It took about 6 weeks - a long
and painful 6 weeks - for Google to restore their good rank
again.

When a company acquires additional domain names, they should be
permanently redirected to the main domain name - the one,
central location on the web for all of the company's or
brand's content.

Redirecting a domain name should be handled differently
depending on the type of server hosting your site (Apache or
Windows), how much control you have over that server (hosted on
a shared or dedicated server) and the purpose of the redirected
domain name.
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Tom Shivers is an SEO consultant (http://www.capturecommerce.com/
seo-consulting.php) and president of Capture Commerce, Inc. - a
professional SEO company (http://www.capturecommerce.com/about.php)
focused on tailored Internet marketing.
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