Where to set up second domain?

Location of additional domain

[Ian_M]

I already run one domain, and I am thinking of setting up another. My host gives me two options. I can use my existing server space, make the new site in a subdirectory, and then set up the new domain name to be forwarded to the subdirectory. That way I won’t have to pay any more for hosting. Or I can buy new virtual domain space for the new site. I was wondering if the former method had any disadvantages with regard to search engine listing and rankings. Would search engine bots crawl the site twice, once as a subdirectory of my existing site and again under the new domain name and penalise me for duplicate content? Or would they detect that the new domain was really only a subdirectory of an existing domain and so not give it a separate listing? Are there any other issues / disadvantages I need to consider? I am new to this and would be grateful for any advice.

[Webwork]

It would help to know a bit more.

Why bother getting a second domain name, unless it's a traffic domain, if all you contemplate is doing a permanent redirect?

Hosting is soooo cheap these days. If the second domain serves a unique purpose and you have a monetization plan I'd go with the virtual shared server that allows you to set up multiple domain names.

[freewebsiteideas]

Many major webhosts offer unlimited add on domains now.

[Ian_M]

Thanks for these replies. My sites are mainly hobbies, but I am experimenting with bringing in a little pocket money with AdSense. I signed up for what my host calls a ‘virtual domain’, which has the advantage of not costing anything other than the cost of registering the name. It is sort of OK, but it does not act like a proper domain. It does strange things. For example there are several pages on the site, but whichever one I am on the Title at the top of the browser window always says ‘example.com’, even though all the pages have different <title> tags. Similarly, the address bar always says only ‘example.com’, no matter which page I am on, and when I click the link to my main domain the address bar still says ‘example.com’ even though I have changed domains.

Other things I have noticed: When I try to use an online tag checker it says it cannot access the tags (Title, keywords, description etc) on the home page. When I try to use Google’s ranking checker it cannot find the homepage either.

But it has got listed on Google and Yahoo, and maybe in time it will get on other search engines too. It's too early to say whether it is going to be OK. If not, I can ‘upgrade’ it to a proper domain if I pay the fee.

Thanks for your interest.