|
|
Q&A: Stopping Domains From Competing With Each Other
By Kalena Jordan
Expert Author
Article Date: 2007-04-24
Dear Kalena...
We recently constructed an optimised e-commerce site for a customer which initially had some great ranking results on the primary domain name (a .com) which we wanted to promote for a global market as a brand name.
In the process we also picked up several keyword related domain names and pointed these in via A-record changes.
Unfortunately we now seem to have a pendulum effect going on between the non-primary domains and the primary ... one swings up Google the rankings, then the next, whilst the primary domain name raises its head occasionally but generally isn't ranking where it should be.
We're obviously want to remove the secondary domain names from the index so that we score simply on the primary and are concerned that this activity could penalise us for duplicate site content ... am sure the answer is pretty simple, would appreciate a point in the right direction rather than us poke about in a 'try it and see' fashion!
Many thanks in anticipation
Rob
Kalena's Answer:
Dear Rob
It sounds to me like your question is actually : "How do we stop our domains from competing with each other for search rankings?"
It all comes down to the way you've set up your secondary domains.
For starters, I don't know why you needed keyword-related domains unless it is for advertising reasons.
You haven't sent me the domain info so I can only guess, but it sounds as though you have the same site content duplicated on multiple domain names and each of them is being indexed by Google.
Effectively, this means your domains are competing with each other for rankings on the same search queries!
What you should have done (and should do immediately) is to park your secondary domains on the same IP as your primary domain so that search engines see the domains as a single site, index a single site and all your rankings and link popularity get attributed to your primary domain.
If you've got this set up correctly, when you view the Google cache of any of the domains, it will show your primary domain in the cached results page e.g."This is Google's cache of [primary url appears here]" or any parked domain entered in the browser URL field will automatically switch to your primary domain.
Instructions for setting up multiple domain parking correctly can be found in this back issue of HighRankings Advisor.
Comments
About the Author:
Kalena Jordan was one of the first search engine optimization experts in Australia and New Zealand and is well known and respected in the industry, particularly in the U.S. Kalena was one of the founders of http://www.SearchEngineCollege.com and is currently Director of Studies and SEO tutor for the online training institution. Kalena is a member of SEO Consultants and has spoken at the popular Search Engine Strategies Conferences. She is also a moderator at the Search Engine Watch Forums and author of the popular Search Light newsletter.
|
|
