Problem: the editors of the magazines want their own domain names. But I don't want to be penalized by G for a domain name farm? What are my options?
1. For each mag. create small one page intro site on the same server with 250 words of content and an html link to the rest of the mag pages?
2. Same as #1, except the intro site will have its own IP?
3. Same as #2, except the intro site will be located on a separate server.
4. Same as #3, except the intro sites will be located on several different servers.
Note: I want to avoid 302 redirects, because G penalizes them. I want to avoid 301 redirects, because I think they seem suspicious to some SEs.
Ideas?
The best advice I have ever received from "on high" is this: "Do things naturally." Don't do anything specifically designed to game the algo.
So, you want to know "Could this hurt?" The truth is, if you want to know - run some tests. Different server. Different domains. Vary the details. See what happens and understand - tomorrow may be a different story - and once you tank you may never come back.
Make the content compelling, get the natural links rolling in and you may stand a chance of some long term popularity.
Now, anyone else want to show poet the path to the cliff?
This is getting scary. A lot of these online magazines are run by authors who, at times, will do radio interviews and hand out fliers and want to have their own domain names for these purposes.
However, in a year, they might only do a few interviews. In the meantime, it would be great to have their content on one large site.
It would be extremely convenient (natural?) for me to manage their sites on my same dedicated server. But the SEs would probably like multiple distributed sites . . . or maybe not?
The very easiest (most natural?) would be to make the first page of each magazine a site with its own domain name and everything deeper in the magazine (including the db where the articles are stored) could be part of the larger site.?
OK. The cross-linking idea is just a bit suspicious and is not suitable for a long-term effort that does not closely monitor every detail for SEO implications.
Hmmm. If I give all the editors their own domain names and their own sites, then they do not benefit me or each other from an SEO standpoint. On the other hand, I can still advertise my products on their sites, in exchange for letting them use my cms software, bandwidth, and server space for free. But, presumably, their traffic will be limited because their PR will be low because they are setting up a small, new site. As new sites, Google may sand box them for a couple of years.
Doesn't sound like a good deal for me unless I am getting SEO advantages from them plus ads.
I guess the unknown is the motivating and branding advantage of having their own domain name. If the domain name in itself will elicit a ton more traffic, due to the Editor being more motivated and the public being able to more easily identify the site . . . then separate sites are definitely the way to go.
Otherwise, I should charge them if they want their own domain name and separate site--to make up for the loss of SEO advantages to my larger site.
What does everyone think of this equation? Or, what's going to create more traffic: more content on one site to make the SEs happy, or sharply defined individual domain sites that may/will bring more type-in traffic?
