Multiple Domain Names

Should I remove the pointers on my 'spare' dom names?

[michael heraghty]

Over the course of the years, I have registered around a dozen domain names that I liked ... thought they would be cool names for future sites. (In one or two cases, they are simply alternative spellings for existing sites.)

Of course, as time passes, I still haven't got around to creating those sites and they remain "pipe projects" -- a.k.a. procrastination ;)

In the meantime, I have set up pointers on all these domain names so that they resolve to my existing sites’ IP addresses.

My question is: is this harming my SERPS? Does Google regard them as duplicate sites? Should I change the pointers?

And -- not that I intend to do this of course, but in keeping with my worry (as expressed in other posts) that malicious SEOs can now harm competitor sites -- if I pointed all these domains to a competitor's IP address, would it then harm *their* SERPS?

[plasma]

I'd suggest doing a 301 redirect.
You never know what Google regards as duplicate content.

OTOH if someone links to one of the other domains it's PR would be lost.
Same with www. always do a 301 redirect to only 1 FQDN.

[michael heraghty]

Thanks Plasma, 301s it is...