Mirror Content / Duplicate Domain Question

Is a domain registrar redirect the same as a 301 redirect?

[coldfused]

We have a client that I just found out that has about 30 domains pointed back to a single domain. The redirects for each one of the domains appears to be (can't check until tomorrow) done at the registrar level (GoDaddy). Will/Could the site be penalized for mirrored or duplicate content if the redirect is at the registrar level? Or does it act in the same way as a 301 redirect at the server level? If the server has 30 domains set up with 301 redirect back to one is there a problem there?

Could someone elaborate a bit more on this issue for me?

Thanks,
Carl

[coldfused]

Any help is appreciated guys.

[The Contractor]

Can the content be accessed under each of those domains/URLs after the redirect? If the answer is yes, there is trouble brewing if it hasn't happened already.

[edited by: The_Contractor at 2:48 pm (utc) on Jan. 19, 2007]

[tsdpsg]

With a domain on GoDaddy pointing to a different domain, it shows:

HTTP/1.1 302 Moved Temporarily

Do a Google search for: check status code and use one the tools to check yours.

[coldfused]

They all show up as:

HTTP Status Code: HTTP/1.1 302 Moved Temporarily
Content-Length: 0
Location: /?ffc23f58
Redirect Target: /?ffc23f58

TheContractor: I am not sure what you mean by can the content be accessed after the redirection? The answer to that I think is yes. Once redirected all pages can be accessed the same. The actaul files only reside in one place but all domains point to the same website in IIS.

[koan]

I once asked GoDaddy if it was possible to change a domain redirect to 301 instead of 302 and they said no. 302 redirects are not advised with Google. It shouldn't be a problem as long as these domains are not published on web pages and used as links also. Focus on just one domain, keep the others for "typed-in" traffic or to protect your brand (widget.info, widget.org, etc). Just don't publish them or it'll get tricky.

[tsdpsg]

I agree wiht koan. I have several keyword-keyword.com domains that are forwarded to specific different pages of one URL. No problems. The domains are not used in marketing at all. They are on a GoDaddy account.