Confused About Addon Domains and SEO
-
I find addon domains really confusing. Everyone I've asked so far says that they don't affect SEO but I find that really hard to believe considering the same content is on both a subdomain and a subfolder and also has it's own unique domain. PLUS (in my case) completely different niche sites are sharing the same hosting.
I really don't want to pay for hosting for all of my different sites but at the same time, if it's better/safer to do so for Panda/Penguin reasons I'm happy to do that.
Thank you for your time. I look forward to your opinions/suggestions!
-
Thanks again Zach!
Are you saying that in my htaccess I should be forwarding addon.maindomain.com and maindomain.com/addon to addon.com?
OR is it more complicated/involved than that.
I'll def get a developer to do this for me, but I just want to make sure I know what I'm telling them to do and why.
-
The virtual host is what tells your web server (Apache) basic details about your website. Where to find it (path), where to store error logs, the domain name, and so forth.
Unfortunately you will need a developer to do something for you if you aren't too sure about how to go about the process, and especially if you aren't familiar with Linux platforms.
I'm not suggesting to get a hosting account for every domain -- addon domains are perfectly fine. Just make sure you are redirecting correctly (whether through .htaccess or through cPanel config). I had well over 100 addon domains many years ago when I still used cPanel
-
Thank you Zachary. I really appreciate you taking the time to answer this question for me.
Can you (or anyone) please clarify what it means to "edit the virtual hosts on the server directly". I'm not really sure what it means and I don't know how to do it either.
Also, are you suggesting that it's just easier/better to get a complete hosting account for every single domain name?
-
I'm assuming you are using cPanel? You are able to enable redirection within your panel. (I haven't seen this issue outside of cPanel)
Ideally, you are right, you shouldn't have mirror content up. If you can edit the virtual hosts on the server directly that would be another option.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Can setting up a Domain Forward lead to sudden drop in Rankings?
Hi there, Our website www.porcelainsuperstore.co.uk has been ranking on pages 1 and 2 of Google for the past 12 - 18 months for a number of our key search terms. There has been the odd fluctuation but nothing major. On Wednesday of this week (2 days ago), we purchased the domain www.porcelainsuperstore.com and without thinking I enabled Domain Forwarding on this domain to go to www.porcelainsuperstore.co.uk
Algorithm Updates | | piazza
Today our rankings have shown quite dramatic drops, e.g Wood effect tiles position 1 to position 3 Metro tiles position 9 to position 12 Quartz tiles position 4 to position 9 Floor tiles position 14 to position 25 Can anyone advise on this? Do you think the domain forward could have created this sudden drop?
I have now disabled the domain forwarding but am worried that this might be irreversible in Googles eyes? I have now disabled the domain forward - I assume this is the right thing to do?
Any help much appreciated. Thanks Ben0 -
With regards to SEO is it good or bad to remove all the old events from our website?
Our website sells tickets for various events across the UK, we do have a LOT of old event pages on our website which simply say SOLD OUT. What is the best practice? Should these event pages be removed and a 301 redirect added to redirect to the home page? Or should these pages remain in tact with simply SOLD OUT on the page?
Algorithm Updates | | Alexogilvie0 -
Local SEO NAP - Two Different Cities....Same Zip Code
I've come across this recently and wanted to get your thoughts. I personally live in a city called Greenacres (yes, it's the place to be) but my zip code is also for Lake Worth. I'm a local SEO company so doing Local SEO stuff is pretty pointless (Google changed that in 2010) but I am sure other people have this issue for their business. Question, What do you do when your zip code is for two different cities. Do you try to make all NAPs (Name Address Phone Numbers) the same city. What if you cant'? Does having the NAP show up different cities hurt your efforts? etc. Obviously I think you'd try to keep the NAP as consistent as possible but what do you do if the citation source changes it or only uses the major of the two cities? There isn't a right or wrong answer (or maybe there is) but I wanted to get some thoughts on it. Darin.
Algorithm Updates | | DarinPirkey0 -
SEO for FMCG
Hi folks I'm basically hoping for some tips for great resources specifically focusing on SEO tactics for global FMCG ... Obviously I'm doing my own research but would love help from the community if possible with; 1- material on general SEO 2- Material on local SEO 3- Material on Image SEO 3- material on Video SEO any help would be greatly appreciated
Algorithm Updates | | Intrested0 -
Increased importance given to spammy/educational domains in SERPs!?
Hey guys, Can anyone shed some light on these bizarre and confusing SERPs which Google seems to be producing following their latest update?? For example, we have a client who targets "payday loans" with another targeting "IT services". However, since the update, the former keyword brings back a host of spammy domain results while the latter seems to have given all focus to educational institutions like universities. This just seems utterly ludicrous considering that if I'm searching for "IT services" I don't want the help desk of a local university - that's completely irrelevant, right? Can anyone provide some information on what seems to be going on? Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | Webrevolve0 -
Big site SEO: To maintain html sitemaps, or scrap them in the era of xml?
We have dynamically updated xml sitemaps which we feed to Google et al. Our xml sitemap is updated constantly, and takes minimal hands on management to maintain. However we still have an html version (which we link to from our homepage), a legacy from back in the pre-xml days. As this html version is static we're finding it contains a lot of broken links and is not of much use to anyone. So my question is this - does Google (or any other search engine) still need both, or are xml sitemaps enough?
Algorithm Updates | | linklater0 -
How does my blog help in SEO
Hi I have recently put a wordpress blog on my site and have employed a few blog writers, each putting 2 or 3 posts per week up. There brief so far has been to write interesting, humorous and topical articles. Stupid as it may seem I have done this only because the general consensus seemed to be "you must have a blog for SEO" Does it help? Assuming it does: Should I post the same articles to my facebook page and or anywhere else? Should the articles have anchor text linking back to my site? What should I do to make it work well? Thanks in advance Andy
Algorithm Updates | | First-VehicleLeasing1 -
Are multiple domains for my website hurting my Google ranking?
Hello, I currently have two domains showing up in google search: shwoodshop.com shop.shwoodshop.com These domains are currently ranked in the #2 and #3 spot, however my page is much more trafficked than the current #1 ranking. I am wondering if the fact that I have two domains competing for the #1 spot is hurting my search ranking. If so, what is the best way to remedy this issue and get back my #1 spot? I'm rather new to SEO and teaching myself as I go, so I appreciate the feedback!
Algorithm Updates | | shwoodshop0