Forum Moderators: buckworks & webwork

Message Too Old, No Replies

Vanity/Redirecting URLs - best practices?

vanity redirecting urls

         

sodani

8:27 pm on Dec 12, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Does anyone know if there are best practices as far as buying up multiple domains and redirecting them all to one site as a way to increase traffic? Could I get vanity URLs listed in search engines, or is that grounds for getting banned?

Any info would be appreciated.

Webwork

9:25 pm on Dec 12, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Administrator 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Same IP address?

Unique content for each URL? Duplicate content?

Any authority inbound links?

Same WhoIs record for all domains?

On theme or off theme linking?

Transparency of the link network?

Rate of link acquisition? Source of IBLs?

Maturity of the website?

Simultaneous "birth" of the sites in the network?

Rate of page development for the sites in the network?

Deep linking to sites from authority sites?

Permanent redirects?

New domains or aftermarket older domains?

There are too many variables to give an answer and each search engine behaves a bit differently. Each has a flavor of spam that the SE cannot quite get out of its mouth. I just discovered some interesting webpages/files, directly ranking for valuable subjects that the pages are not about, that have embeded links to the real topical sites. Who woulda thunk that siteA, having nothing to do with subjectA, would rank for the subject and become the conduit for driving traffic to siteB! (No, it ain't paid linking. Much more interesting. I'm amazed at their skills, the guys/gals with the blackhats. Not my game and not that I'm saying I think it's good that search works in this manner. Just the never ending battle for position is so interesting.)

You can try brute force button pushing SEO with your new domains. Might work for some SEs for awhile.

Yes, multiple domains structured in a transparent attempt to game the SEs can and will get you banned, "sandboxed", or otherwise stuck in the netherworld of search either by an algo or by a hand edit (spam report) OR, if it's really as simply "as that" you will get knocked out by someone with a bigger budget and more powerful bot (if the niche is worth the trouble).

Making your multiple domains less transparent is a bit more of a challenge and such strategies are not laid out for public scrutiny on forums, though from time to time, if you read closely, you might pick up a few pieces of the puzzle. (Hint: Read extensively and, even then, don't expect the answer to be staring you in the face.)

Save your money. The only mutiple domain strategy for gaining traffic that works "as is" is domains that have type-in traffic.

OTOH, the best way to learn what works is to throw money at tests, so set a budget for testing and have at it.

HughMungus

10:40 pm on Dec 12, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Save your money. The only mutiple domain strategy for gaining traffic that works "as is" is domains that have type-in traffic.

What if the domain names are categories of product that your "main" website sells and is a word combination that is more likely to be searched for? Been wondering if I should register "widget-type.com" to be related (somehow?) to my "widgets.com" site... I'm thinking they would rank well in searches because people are more likely to search for "widget-type" than "widgets".

stu2

12:02 am on Dec 13, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



people are more likely to search for "widget-type" than "widgets"

In my experience it has been the opposite. Whenever I'm using the Overture tool I always see "widgets" as the most searched term and all the "widget-types" listed below "widgets".

stu2

12:07 am on Dec 13, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Same IP address?

Would this be a factor if it's only a simple 301 redirect? I think sodani is only trying to capture more type in traffic and send it to his "widgets.com". I think the search engine rankings was only an afterthought. (am I right sodani?)

HughMungus

12:08 am on Dec 13, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I couldn't really give a good example. The subcategory name that people would be searching for is a specific subcategory that is not derivitive of the main site category name. Hence, people would be more likely to search for the subcategory and hence, I wonder if getting the subcategory domain name would be useful...and what to do with it...

stu2

12:38 pm on Dec 13, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



If you think it gets more hits than your current domain then I think you should get it and 301 redirect it to your current website

HughMungus

10:54 pm on Dec 13, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



If you think it gets more hits than your current domain then I think you should get it and 301 redirect it to your current website

No. This is for a domain name I don't currently own.

sodani

5:28 pm on Dec 14, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I did a little research on this, and it seems that using other URLs and redirecting them as a strategy to get more search engine traffic is a black-hat technique.

It seems that this can get your site banned. I'm not sure if this would also be the case for 301 redirects as I don't know the technology well enough. It seems that if you're not the other URLs to increase search engine traffic, then it's fair play. So if you want to come up with vanity URLs to place on offline promotional pieces, I think you can do that and not worry about getting banned.

[edited by: Webwork at 5:53 pm (utc) on Dec. 14, 2005]
[edit reason] Link removed [/edit]