Multiple servers hosting site - affect on Google rankings

[mzadorian]

We have a domain with Yahoo stores, i want to use the URL forwarding of a sub-domain and host it on another server, will that be seen as something negative by Google?

[tedster]

Whether it complicates your rankings or not depends on how "URL forwarding" is set up technically.

What you want to avoid is having two different URLs both resolving with a 200 OK - or one of them resolving with a 302 temporary redirect (or meta refresh) to the other. You need a 301 permanent redirect, but I don't know if Yahoo Stores offers that option.

[mzadorian]

I have an option of creating a cname, then pointing to an IP address, would that work?

[tedster]

Is this essentially the option you are considering for redirecting a hostname (subdomain)? Yahoo! Domain Redirect Setting [help.yahoo.com]

If so, then yes, you will get a 301 redirect by following Yahoo's instructions.

[encyclo]

creating a cname, then pointing to an IP address

Assuming I understand correctly, this is not what I would can "URL forwarding" - it is just hosting the subdomain on a different server from the main site. This is in no way unusual, and I can't imagine that it would be seen in any negative way by Google. Just remember that a CNAME does not handle canonical issues, so make sure that your subdomain doesn't have any duplicate-content problems.

[g1smd]

The whole point of subdomains is that each one can be on a different server, in fact each one could be in a different country!