Domain Names and SEO?
We are often contacted by potential customers with questions about domain names and how they should be set up, so we thought we would just clarify how domain names and SEO should work together.
1) Multiple domain names and multiple sites?
It might seem a natural thought. Why don’t I have lots of sites? These sites would all be of the same website and will surely mean that the site lists several times for the same keyword?
This set up is a definite ‘NO’. You would have multiple sites all with the same content and Google would detect this as duplicate content. Duplicate content is a big ‘NO’ within Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and you should under no circumstance implement a set up like this.
2) Multiple Domain Name and single sites?
Having multiple domain names that all point, via domain forwarding, to the same domain/website is an acceptable setup. Your main domain that you want listed in the search engines should be the domain that the other domains forward to.
3) What should my main domain name be?
Assuming you don’t already have a domain name, then this should be the best keyword rich domain still available. For example if you were a kitchen company specialising in Traditional Kitchens called, say, Williams & Son then you would want your main domain to be keyword rich rather than your company name. The domain williamandson.co.uk should therefore point to traditionalkitchens.co.uk. This will mean that the William & Son can advertise using their company name domain and list in Google with their keyword rich domain. Both visitors will ultimately arrive at the same domain meaning the known and the unknown markets have found your site.
