Multiple Domain Name Quesitons

[JakeFrederick]

After doing a few searches on the issue of multiple domain names for one site I have gathered that it's generally not a good idea. My client would like to have one name that is promoted and used for any search engine related tasks, and a few others that are just used for users who may type the name directly into the browser. Is there a disadvantage to this, even if the other domain names are not promoted? I know there is a risk of someone linking to the names other than the primary one, how careful should I be of this?

[fathom]

The risk -- the keyword domain promoted through search gets deep-links that make Googlebot (and other bots) believe this is a small domain (entity) and standalone site/page. While at the same time the brandable domain is developing links as well - thus confusing which pages belong to which domain name.

If this )linked to page) is a middle-routing page where most low level pages are cut-off the higher level pages (e.g. - if -- delete page - can not move throughout the site via other routes) then your link structure (or link hierarchy) is broken.

The benefit - branding - "brands" people remember, and the keyword domain can produce a litte intial boost to help in ranking.

The work-around - zero ill affect to start - therefore monitoring logfiles must be a religous activity. At some point in the future host the second domain and develop a specific site around the primary pages being linked to (off-site) of the one domain that has the more links.

Also - note: many large corporations started this same way.... Macromedia - Shockwave, Adobe - Acrobat, Apple - Quicktime. All of these secondary sites -- were part of the original site and subsequently move to their own location (really don't believe this was the logic reasoning behind the move - but the principles are the same).

[JakeFrederick]

Fathom,

The client I am referring to is an organization with a long name. They want several domain names registered that use abbreviations of that name. So while I can appreciate what you are saying about developing a site around the secondary domain names, I don't think it's really applicable in this case. All of the names need to point to the same place.

[heini]

Jake, a permanent redirect should serve your purposes just fine. A lot of huge sites and brands operate that way. Heck, even Google does it.

[crashomon]

Hi, go check out www.netcraft.com and type in a few brand names and see how many 'multiples' (and variations) on the domain come up. I go here first before registering client domains so I can let them know what kind of 'neighbors' they have (so to speak) in any given URL.

HTH,

Patrick