Domain variations

[OfficeNinja]

I have a particular product, and I want to create a microsite for it.

I have the following domains:

makemodel.com
makemodel.co.uk
make-model.com
make-model.co.uk

I'm going with makemodel.co.uk as the main domain, but what is the best thing to do with the others from an SEO point of view? Should I redirect them to the main one (what type of redirect) or just leave them with holding pages?

(ps. just to be clear, that's the make of the product and the model number, not literally "makemodel.com"...)

[Andy Walpole]

I'd redirect them with a 301 to the main domain

[OfficeNinja]

Is that something I can do if I don't have hosting for the domains? ie. if they're just registered with a provider? or would I have to pay monthly hosting just to be able to set up the redirect?

[fisicx]

No, if you go to the cpanel for each domain you can set up the redirect. Their registrars help files will tell you how.

There is no SEO value to having all these domain names, the only time anyone is ever going to activate the rediect is if they type in the URL.

[KM-Tiger]

There is no SEO value to having all these domain names, the only time anyone is ever going to activate the rediect is if they type in the URL.

But is that actually true?

I can think of a site that is top of page one for <keyword>, where they have www.<keyword>.com redirected to that site, and no particular SEO for <keyword> on that site. I've always assumed that the position came from the redirect.

[fisicx]

If you set up a redirect then this tells the search engine that domain/page is no longer in use. It's not going to pass any link juice as there is no link.

Putting the keyword in the page title will have a gazillion times more effect than using the keyword in the domain or file name.

[Webtistic]

If you set up a redirect then this tells the search engine that domain/page is no longer in use. It's not going to pass any link juice as there is no link.


I agree that a 301 wont pass link juice if there is none coming into the URL being redirected (obviously), but a 301 redirected domain with link juice will pass on some value to the page it redirects to.

Wow, that was a mouthful! :)