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Redirecting One Domain Name to Another

Does it affect rankings negatively?

         

sr123

5:10 am on Jul 8, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I have a website that when I initially started I couldn't decide what I should use for the domain name. I ended up purchasing two domain names and just having the apache virtual hosts set up for them such that they both point to the same site.

I never really thought much of it. I just developed the site and in the past few years almost all of the inbound links to the site are for one of the domain names. Let's call the domain with the higher PR DomainA and the other one DomainB.

I have noticed that some of the search engines, including Google picked up on DomainB, and that some referrals from search engines were going to DomainB. The vast majority of visitors visit DomainA but DomainB does get about 5% or less of the visits to the site.

Anyway, I only recently discovered threads on various forums talking about a duplicate content penalty. Since both of the domains are pointing to the same site, could I be vulnerable to this penalty?

Also, suppose I redirect all the visits to DomainB to go to DomainA instead using 301 redirects. Will that cause any problems? Does Google mind that I have a second domain name for my site? I can't see why.

In fact, the second domain name is a good name, and I'd like to keep it pointed at the site if at all possible (ie. no penalty will be incurred). I just want to do the 301 redirect instead.

What are your experiences, thoughts, suggestions, etc?

Thanks in advance,
sr123

sr123

8:41 pm on Jul 8, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



bump.

Sorry, the topic had moved near the bottom of the page. If anyone has any thoughts on this I'd appreciate hearing them.

Regards,
sr123

sr123

11:58 pm on Jul 13, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



bump...

(sorry... really would appreciate some insight on this matter)

jd01

12:09 am on Jul 14, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



[webmasterworld.com...]
[webmasterworld.com...] (in post 3, 301 is the correct answer, not 302 as the poster thought.)
[webmasterworld.com...]
[webmasterworld.com...]

I think these are a good place to start. For more try:

should I redirect duplicate domains to one site:webmasterworld.com

on your favorite search engine.

Justin

sr123

12:23 am on Jul 14, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Thanks a mil Justin!