Multiple Domains.

301's with free web hosts.

[lsawyer]

I have read in multiple sources that Google likes sites that have multiple domains through the use of 301 Permanent Redirects. Well, instead of purchasing 10 different domains and parking them, couldn't one sign up with a free web host and setup a 301 pointing to the real site? Do this 100 times, and now you are very popular with Google? Would this be good, bad, or do absolutely nothing with promotion and rankings?

Thanks,
Lucas

[jonrichd]

Hello, Lucas and Welcome to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com].

I think you may have been slightly misinterpreting the data you have seen. Many people own multiple domains, and point them all to the same page. This confuses the search engines, and they see it as duplicate content, which could cause a penalty. In addition, the benefit of links to the individual domains are spread out, and don't contribute to whatever primary domain the webmaster wants to use.

The solution to this problem is to use a 301 redirect from all the secondary domains to the primary domain. This tells the search engines which domain should receive credit for the content, and directs the link popularity to the primary domain.

There's no real benefit to registering multiple domains and using a redirect to the primary domain, particularly if you're starting from scratch. The main reason this is done is to catch common type in misspellings (e.g. their.com to there.com) or to merge rebranded domains, (e.g. site.net to site.com).

[lsawyer]

I can make sense of that now. I was wrong, oops :)

Thanks!
Lucas