Thread: Can having two domain names hurt your search results?

Hello,
I have two domain names www.nursingschoolstore.com and www.nursing-student-supplies.com and they both point to the same site. I've noticed the second one showing up more in search results ( i've never submitted it to search engines)
Does google consider this spaming or could this hurt search results in anyway..and do I have to submitt both to secrh engines..
Still figuring out how it all works...any help would be great..Thanks
John

If your sites are the exact same content, this can hurt you ...

You would be better off choosing one of these domains (the one that is ranking well) as your main and redirecting the other domain name to this one .. the one you are redirecting should have only one page published, and that is a blank page with a redirect script in the header tags ..

Thanks For the information..
Ok until I have time to do that do you recommend me just turning the one thats parked off.
John

well what you would do is sign into ftp for the quick way and removing the html files for the one domain that you are going to redirect - and once clean, publish the one blank page named index - redirect to the domain that has all the site files published ..

BE SURE of what you are doing - the safest way to clear files out of one of your folders is through the file manager, which when you delete goes into your trash and you can recover .. when in doubt remember you always have your back up files, right ...

A domain that is parked wouldn't have your site on it, so you would still need to do the above ..

A redirect is what you want to do to one of these domains until renewal date and then you might choose not to keep one.

Originally Posted by LadyEye

BE SURE of what you are doing -
A domain that is parked wouldn't have your site on it, so you would still need to do the above ..

A redirect is what you want to do to one of these domains until renewal date and then you might choose not to keep one.

Ok let me be sure i am explaining my situation clearly so that I do what I need..
I bought my domaine name through go daddy www.nursingschoolstore.com

Then I found voda host and signed up using the godaddy name- I did not transfer it to voda host(it was too new) -I just left it at go daddy.

I then asked blue voda to give me the free domain name offered in the sign-up so they gave me www.nursing-student-supplies.com

I had them park it ( my understanding was it would just be another way to reach my site)

So then i was reading about google and spam and thats where my question came up.

so I already ( before reading your last post)went into cp and unparked the doamine www.nursing-student-supplies.com because i really don't care about that domine -it was just free and I thought I could use it to help

Ok thats where I am ...so should I still do what you have suggested
thanks for all your help
John

Keep your domain that was the freebie here at VH.....if it doen't mean all that much to you, simply let it expire.

In the meantime, however, you should consider "forwarding domain" to your other (preferred) domain that has the store set up on it.....that way you can add to the Search Engine overall metric of having those "key word" show up on searches and be your first, best hard inbound link to your site.

To be really slick, a one page content-rich website to act as a "referrer" or a clever portal would increase the "relevancy" of that re-direction, and would give you the added boost for as long as the domain is active.

Great ... so let me make sure I understand
Leave www.nursing-student-supplies.com parked at VH
Transfer www.nursingschoolstore.com from godaddy to VH(after 90 days is up)

make a one page content for www.nursing-student-supplies.com -
( to you have any examples of this being done)

thanks for your help..John

Vasili is suggesting you make a one page design for one of your domain names. If you do this, then you need to ADDON this domain in your control panel and make this one page, and name save and publish it as index and publish it to it's directory. You would then link your main site from this page ...

It is not a bad idea, however, unless you intend on using this one page for a portal to other things, making sure it is not similar content in any way shape or form, you are much better just redirecting the domain to your main site, particularly if it is a domain name that you will let expire, I wouldn't do too much work for it ...

So you just need to decide which option works best for you ... in your case, I believe the redirect will ...

Also - you can use the domain at GoDaddy without transferring it - just point the nameservers here. No need to transfer.

Portals can hurt if done incorrectly - so if unsure - just do the redirect as LadyEye says. Spend your time putting the information and building the one site to be the best it can be.

Originally Posted by Bethers

Also - you can use the domain at GoDaddy without transferring it - just point the nameservers here. No need to transfer.Portals can hurt if done incorrectly - so if unsure - just do the redirect as LadyEye says. Spend your time putting the information and building the one site to be the best it can be.

You have it backwards: the domain to be "re-directed" is the freebie here at VH (nothing has to be transferred --- you have only succeeded in confusing him further). The only decision to be considered is if renewing the domain is worth the added value it potentially can provide when it comes time.

And, explaining the use of a one page, content-rich relevancy worthy referring page (auto-direct, not a landing portal) as I did was as simple as could be to inspire and to make it possible for "newbies" to both understand the overall concept and to make it happen ..... and if done the way I mentioned, Beth, it would be more effective than simply letting it be purely a re-direct.

You comment on Portals is purely inappropriate: for the ultimate example, what do you think a php driven site is, like a CMS Joomla or an OSC site is? Since all the pages are dynamically created and have no real hard content (as would BV pages), the shell program is itself a "portal"! A "Portal" is nothing more than an 'entrance' or more commonly seen as a "directory" page....if constructed with the overall elements I have highlighted above (in Perfect Page Modeling) in BV, there is no "problem" worth mentioning just to strike fear in the hearts of your peers...... IMO

Vasili,

Only an experienced person half understands the double talk you just handed out so.. if the poor guy was already confused.. he certainly will be now because its too far over his head.. like it or not..

John...

1.) are both of these domains published with content? Or does one just automatically serve up the other?

If they both have content, then YES, it can cause duplicate content issues if they are the SAME web content just on two different domains.

2.) Solution: If both are identical except for the name.. decide which one to keep, delete all content on the second, and do a redirection via cpanel or your htaccess to auto load the domain you wish to keep.

3.) In SIMPLE ENGLISH.. you could take the second domain and Make it a Web Directory/Portal with content (articles, ads, news relevant to content) and LINKS to LIKE SITES ALL OVER THE NET and use it as a sort of INFORMATION PORTAL ..

I do NOT recommend trying to do a PORTAL to your site in an attempt to SILO CONTENT OR RANK to your other site. Very few succeed these days as its considered FLAT SPAM because its been used by the so called GURUS in the wrong manner...its not to be attempted by the amatuer with no EXPERIENCE.

So in answer to your main question, the answer is yes it can harm you, but there are ways to FIX it to work for you.

Karen

Not to repeat Karen - who went back to the basics with LadyEye's original post - and confirmed what LadyEye and I have posted, I simply wish to say that I was not confused about the domains.

It doesn't matter which one is being redirected or used - he does not have to move it to do either. No reason to wait for the time frame no matter which that domain name will be used for.

Yes Beth, I agree and in summary ....

1. Do not have two domain names containing the exact same content.
2. If you have one site that you wish to build strongly and you have two domain names, redirect one of the domain names to the other, either using the redirect icon in the control panel or the redirect script.
3. If you choose redirect - and use a redirect script - you need only publish up a blank page as index with the redirect script to the domain you are wishing to redirect. Here is an example of a redirect - the url in question is directed to one main site ...
4. If you choose instead to have a portal page, build this page and publish this page as index to this domain name - keep in mind that this page should be unique content and as far as your other domain name goes, this portal page would only provide a link to this main website. This portal page can contain other related information but cannot be anything like your website, or it is considered spamming the search engines.
5. You have a few choices to make.

a) A parked domain is exactly that, a domain which is parked by the registrar of your domain name and is not added onto your server or there are no pages published. This is an example of a parked domain .. It is a domain bought at go daddy and left parked ... not pointed to your servers and no pages published.

b) An add on domain is a domain that you pointed to your servers here at voda host. Once you add on a domain you should publish an index page to it, whether you choose a blank page and a redirect or you choose instead to prepare a portal page ...

The decisions are all yours John, you just need to decide whether or not you can make use of this domain name by simply redirecting it to your main domain or if instead you want it to be a portal page as suggested by Vasili keeping in mind a) the purpose of the portal and b) how to keep your content unique from your main domain ... because this is important in the eyes of the search engines as stated above.

Hope this helps ...

Yes it does.. thank you and everyone else for the information.Since this is my first site I get excited learning all the different possibilties I can explore for future sites..It seems like I might already have it set up like your suggesting..I have my free domain just parked and redirecting people to my main domain-at least I think thats how its set up- I have never uploaded anything to my free domain so I think it is set up like a simple redirect like your suggesting. Does that sound right? Thanks again

also it was mentioned that it might be better to transfer my main domain from godaddy over to BV to help the search engine .. is this something I should look into .. Thanks John

Ok now I see the redirect option in cp..is this what you have been talking about? I've been thinking they were the same thing..lol..
So I need to unpark it and do a redirect correct.
John

Correct. And the se's don't care if the domain is at GoDaddy or here -

once I unpark it do I need to erase any files or is the unpark enough.
Thanks again..John