Redirecting multiple domains

[Masca]

Hi! This is my first posting here and I would be very grateful for any help that you can give me!

I recently fell for a 'Someone is trying to register some domains which are very similar to yours...' scam - stupid I know :-(. However, I didn't register the threatened domains with the scammer, but with 123-Reg, so at least the scammer didn't make any money out of me!

I now wish to redirect the new domains (there are 8 of them, all very similar to my main domain) to my main domain but it would seem that this is not as simple as I hoped it might be. From a SEO point of view, it would seem that a 301 redirect is the only way to go (anyone disagree?). The problem is that 123-Reg do not support 301 redirects (their redirects are 302's).

123-Reg have suggested that I change the nameservers to point to someone who does support 301 redirects, however, this is something I have no experience with and I am not sure whether this is the right solution to the problem, how to go about doing it (although I know that there is an option for doing this in the 123-Reg control panel), or which new nameservers to use - can anyone offer any advice, please? My main domain is hosted with Webfusion (linux, php, mysql), if this makes any difference.

The other options, as far as I see it, are:

1 - To ignore the new domains completely, which seems a shame since I have now paid for them! If I do this, is there any way this could affect the search engine ranking of my main domain?

2 - To move the domains to someone who supports 301 redirect within their control panel. Can anyone recommend a domain host that allows this?

Or, perhaps there is another solution that I am not seeing?

I apologise if this subject is covered elsewhere on the forum - I have looked but couldn't find anything.

[jtara]

First of all, see if your web host supports multiple domains and redirection. Redirection, after all, is a WEB SERVER feature, NOT a DNS or registrar feature!

While many registrars offer redirects as a free service to their users, it is NOT a part of the registration or DNS infrastructure.

(As well, DNS is NOT a part of the registration infrastructure, and, again, is offered by most registrars as a convenience to their customers.)

If your web host doesn't support multiple domains and redirects, then you can go to a third-party DNS provider. Almost all provide a redirect service.

Again, this really isn't part of the DNS infrastructure - the DNS provider maintains a separate web server to do the redirects.

[Masca]

<quote>First of all, see if your web host supports multiple domains and redirection. Redirection, after all, is a WEB SERVER feature, NOT a DNS or registrar feature!</quote>

jtara, thank you. I was, it would seem incorrectly, under the impression that redirection was a registrar feature - probably because all registrars seem to offer 'Web forwarding' as a feature of their packages. I have now contacted my web host. Fingers crossed! Thanks again.

[jtara]

I was, it would seem incorrectly, under the impression that redirection was a registrar feature

A redirect is simply a response code from a web server - 301 = "moved permanently". 302 = "moved temporarily".

Registrars and DNS providers often provide a handy redirect service, and don't mention the messy details about how they really are just running a web server that is set-up to provide a 301 or 302 response.

So, there are many ways of accomplishing this. The first choice would almost always be to use your own web server.

[Masca]

Unfortunately, my web host has advised that they can only provide a redirect service at at cost of GBP25 per domain per year. I am only paying a registration fee of about GBP50 per year for all of the domains, so unfortunately paying another GBP200 for redirection really isn't an option. I would think that I could pay for hosting for each domain and use .htaccess for the redirect for less than that! It would therefore seem that I am looking for a new web host rather than a new domain registrar - oh joy! Thanks again for your help jtara.

[jtara]

I think your cheapest option, then, is to use a third-party DNS provider which offers a redirect service.

There are other benefits to this as well.

[Insomniak]

I had the same problem with a registrar that only does 302 redirects so I found a free DNS provider and that has worked fine for a couple of years.

Thanks for the info, I was also under the impression that DNS was a registrar feature.

[onlineleben]

1 - To ignore the new domains completely, which seems a shame since I have now paid for them! If I do this, is there any way this could affect the search engine ranking of my main domain?

Why all the hassle with redirecting? You could develop these domain names into websites and compete with yourself.

[wheelie34]

Can anyone recommend a domain host that allows this?

daily.co.uk do, when I joined them they did 302, I moaned, stating for seo purposes they should do a 301, they changed it to 301, I thanked them :)