How can I consolidate my domains to one URL?

domain forwarding

[maximillianos]

Hello,

I am trying to figure out how I can consolidate my various domains that all point to the same site into one URL without affecting my SERPS and such. I am not sure how I got to this point, but basically right now I have about 5 or 6 different domains that all point to the same website/server. Is there any type of forwarding I can do using Apache to have the requests for all the domains get forwarded to the "main" domain? How does this look to the search engine spiders? I am trying to map out a best approach on how to proceed without losing all my indexed pages that are under the different domains. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[jd01]

Hi maximillianos,

The answer to your 'can I' question is, yes.

What the SE's see is dependent on what you decide on. (Usually etiher a 301, permanent move, or 302 temporoary move.)

Keeping the links intact ussally requires the use of a 301, redirect, and the effects may take time to populate through the SE's information.

I am not sure there is a way you can do this without waiting for a 'exchange' in the SERPs... Meaning if you redirect traffic and links, eventually the 'new' domain you are redirecting to should begin to populate through the SERPs instead of the current, multiple domains.

I'm not sure I understand the rest of the question, so maybe you can clarify a little?

Do the domains each contain unique content, or duplicate information presented on the main domain?

Are you wanting to forward the current domains to specific pages on your main domain, or to the index page?

Hope this helps.

Justin

[maximillianos]

Thanks for the reply Justin. Sounds like a 302 redirect might be what I need to try.

To answer your question, all my domains point to the same IP. So it is duplicate content (well it is the same content, same site, same logo, same everything, just the header URL shows the various domain names). I want to try and "turnoff" the other domain names and not lose all the traffic they are providing now, but instead cut it over to the main domain name. Does this help? I think I am confusing myself... ;-)

So to answer you next question, I would ideally like them to forward to the same page they are already pointing to, but just change the domain to my main domain name.

For instance, www.xyz.com/mypage.htm should forward to
www.maindomain.com/mypage.htm

Thanks again for your advice!