Masked URL Forwarding Stopped Working?

[Mandala72]

I have a paid hosting account where i host a 2 sites, I have one main site (www.bluewidgets.com) and was told by the host to use masked url forwarding from my domain registrar to point the 2nd domain to the 2nd site.

ie www.site2.com to point to www.bluewidgets.com/site2.

This worked initialy,with search results showing www.site2.com for the relevant keyword

However in the last few days, in search results i get the underlying url appearing :

ie www.bluewidgets.com/site2

which looks odd as the sites are unrelated. How do i ensure search engines dont pick this url up at all and just use the domains? Is it a problem with my domain registrars masked forwarding ability (namecheap.com)?

Cheers

[encyclo]

"Masked URL forwarding" is a marketing term, not a technology solution - it consists of a 100% frame of the other page.

It is normal, therefore, that search engines will index the underlying real URL rather than the empty frame document - as the content is actually on the underlying site.

You should stop using "masked URL forwarding" and host the domain normally - many hosts allow for multiple sites sharing the same hosting plan.

[Mandala72]

Thanks for the reply encyclo.

Im quite new to domains/hosting etc.

The exact advice i got from my hosting company was

"You can use your webspace to host an unlimited number of other sites by
using the domain name masked forwarding facility.

Try the following:

1) Create a root directory for your new site within /var/www/html such as
/var/www/html/site2
2) Upload your new website using your existing FTP details to
/var/www/html/site2
3) Register your desired domain name (eg. domain2.co.uk)
4) Login to your new domain name control panel and MASKED forward to
[domain1.co.uk...]
5) When you go to [domain2.co.uk...] it will appear hosted sharing
resources with your primary account"

Are you saying i should ignore these instructions and just point the domain at [domain1.co.uk...]

The odd thing is that the seach engines sometimes pick up the underlying url, then the next day might pick up the actual domain.

[encyclo]

Your host is twisting the meaning of "hosting other sites" - a masked domain is not proper "hosting" in the sense most would understand it - the files do not resolve directly under the masked domain - it's just a trick.

If your current host is unable to provide a solution where your site2 domain directly serves the content (ie. not via a frame), then I would look to another host.

[Mandala72]

Cheers encyclo

So does that mean if i point 3 domains to my hosting account, using their so called 'masking' method, would google read them not as 3 separate sites, but as one interlinked site, thus reducing seo efforts?

[encyclo]

In short, yes - they are the same site, as the real underlying URLs for the pages are on the same domain.