| Redirecting multiple domains
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Masca
msg:3602782 | 10:56 am on Mar 17, 2008 (gmt 0) |
Hi! This is my first posting here and I would be very grateful for any help that you can give me! I recently fell for a 'Someone is trying to register some domains which are very similar to yours...' scam - stupid I know :-(. However, I didn't register the threatened domains with the scammer, but with 123-Reg, so at least the scammer didn't make any money out of me! I now wish to redirect the new domains (there are 8 of them, all very similar to my main domain) to my main domain but it would seem that this is not as simple as I hoped it might be. From a SEO point of view, it would seem that a 301 redirect is the only way to go (anyone disagree?). The problem is that 123-Reg do not support 301 redirects (their redirects are 302's). 123-Reg have suggested that I change the nameservers to point to someone who does support 301 redirects, however, this is something I have no experience with and I am not sure whether this is the right solution to the problem, how to go about doing it (although I know that there is an option for doing this in the 123-Reg control panel), or which new nameservers to use - can anyone offer any advice, please? My main domain is hosted with Webfusion (linux, php, mysql), if this makes any difference. The other options, as far as I see it, are: 1 - To ignore the new domains completely, which seems a shame since I have now paid for them! If I do this, is there any way this could affect the search engine ranking of my main domain? 2 - To move the domains to someone who supports 301 redirect within their control panel. Can anyone recommend a domain host that allows this? Or, perhaps there is another solution that I am not seeing? I apologise if this subject is covered elsewhere on the forum - I have looked but couldn't find anything.
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jtara
msg:3604273 | 5:32 pm on Mar 18, 2008 (gmt 0) |
First of all, see if your web host supports multiple domains and redirection. Redirection, after all, is a WEB SERVER feature, NOT a DNS or registrar feature! While many registrars offer redirects as a free service to their users, it is NOT a part of the registration or DNS infrastructure. (As well, DNS is NOT a part of the registration infrastructure, and, again, is offered by most registrars as a convenience to their customers.) If your web host doesn't support multiple domains and redirects, then you can go to a third-party DNS provider. Almost all provide a redirect service. Again, this really isn't part of the DNS infrastructure - the DNS provider maintains a separate web server to do the redirects.
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Masca
msg:3604320 | 6:12 pm on Mar 18, 2008 (gmt 0) |
<quote>First of all, see if your web host supports multiple domains and redirection. Redirection, after all, is a WEB SERVER feature, NOT a DNS or registrar feature!</quote> jtara, thank you. I was, it would seem incorrectly, under the impression that redirection was a registrar feature - probably because all registrars seem to offer 'Web forwarding' as a feature of their packages. I have now contacted my web host. Fingers crossed! Thanks again.
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jtara
msg:3604352 | 6:47 pm on Mar 18, 2008 (gmt 0) |
| I was, it would seem incorrectly, under the impression that redirection was a registrar feature |
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A redirect is simply a response code from a web server - 301 = "moved permanently". 302 = "moved temporarily". Registrars and DNS providers often provide a handy redirect service, and don't mention the messy details about how they really are just running a web server that is set-up to provide a 301 or 302 response. So, there are many ways of accomplishing this. The first choice would almost always be to use your own web server.
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Masca
msg:3605112 | 10:19 am on Mar 19, 2008 (gmt 0) |
Unfortunately, my web host has advised that they can only provide a redirect service at at cost of GBP25 per domain per year. I am only paying a registration fee of about GBP50 per year for all of the domains, so unfortunately paying another GBP200 for redirection really isn't an option. I would think that I could pay for hosting for each domain and use .htaccess for the redirect for less than that! It would therefore seem that I am looking for a new web host rather than a new domain registrar - oh joy! Thanks again for your help jtara.
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jtara
msg:3605446 | 4:38 pm on Mar 19, 2008 (gmt 0) |
I think your cheapest option, then, is to use a third-party DNS provider which offers a redirect service. There are other benefits to this as well.
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Insomniak
msg:3605685 | 7:37 pm on Mar 19, 2008 (gmt 0) |
I had the same problem with a registrar that only does 302 redirects so I found a free DNS provider and that has worked fine for a couple of years. Thanks for the info, I was also under the impression that DNS was a registrar feature.
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onlineleben
msg:3605720 | 7:56 pm on Mar 19, 2008 (gmt 0) |
| 1 - To ignore the new domains completely, which seems a shame since I have now paid for them! If I do this, is there any way this could affect the search engine ranking of my main domain? |
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Why all the hassle with redirecting? You could develop these domain names into websites and compete with yourself.
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wheelie34
msg:3607189 | 11:36 am on Mar 21, 2008 (gmt 0) |
| Can anyone recommend a domain host that allows this? |
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daily.co.uk do, when I joined them they did 302, I moaned, stating for seo purposes they should do a 301, they changed it to 301, I thanked them :)
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