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  4. Domain Forwarding - SEO Impacts?

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Domain Forwarding - SEO Impacts?

Intermediate & Advanced SEO
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  • webbmason
    webbmason last edited by Apr 24, 2014, 1:08 PM

    I have a site that has been active for years - thinkbiglearnsmart.com. Awhile ago I had purchased about 50 domain names that were relevant to my company. I still have those urls and would like to use them to point to different pages on my site - just because they have good key words in the URLs.

    For example - one is dreamweavertrainingclassesonlinelive.com.  Currently they are all redirecting to my homepage.

    A. is that hurting me?

    B. I would like to redirect to the more relevant page. ie the page dedicated to Dreamweaver training (http://thinkbiglearnsmart.com/dreamweaver-creative-cloud-training-course/ ) Will this hurt my Dreamweaver keyword for example because there is already a 301 redirect on that page from a very old Dreamweaver link which was something like thinkbiglearnsmart.com/dreamweaver

    C. On my hosting account where I can select where the URL forwards to - it has an option for "Location forwarding" and "Frame forwarding" - currently they are set to Frame forwarding - which one is best?

    Any help is much appreciated!!! Thank you!

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
    • VirginiaC
      VirginiaC last edited by Apr 24, 2014, 2:14 PM Apr 24, 2014, 2:14 PM

      ok William fair call. I was taking the question in general way though as he asked for the best way to do this, frame or location. Most do location. End of the day we know neither is of any use and should research this.

      Virginia

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
      • WilliamKammer
        WilliamKammer @VirginiaC last edited by Apr 24, 2014, 2:06 PM Apr 24, 2014, 2:06 PM

        Unless I'm mistaken, frame forwarding is masking: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Masking

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • VirginiaC
          VirginiaC last edited by Apr 24, 2014, 2:00 PM Apr 24, 2014, 2:00 PM

          I'm not sure if 'masking' is the right term here for the answer?

          Domain pointing for SEO provides no value anyway. You would need to review the older pages that you are wishing to redirect and determine if they had any authority before you redirect. If not then there is no point. Any redirect from a page that has SEO link value may or may not pass link juice. If it does it is less, but there are tools in google webmasters that can help but mostly site overall.

          Virginia

          WilliamKammer 1 Reply Last reply Apr 24, 2014, 2:06 PM Reply Quote 0
          • WilliamKammer
            WilliamKammer @webbmason last edited by Apr 24, 2014, 1:46 PM Apr 24, 2014, 1:36 PM

            This looks extremely spammy to Google. It makes for a bad user experience, since you're trying to trick the user into believing they are going to one site, when they're actually at another. Even if this isn't your intent, Google doesn't like it. Not a guaranteed penalty, but a way this set up could possibly hurt you.

            You won't get any value SEO-wise, any keyword indicators the domains may have directed to your site should already be on your pages anyway (if freshly bought domains being 301'd were indicators in the first place).

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
            • webbmason
              webbmason @WilliamKammer last edited by Apr 24, 2014, 1:26 PM Apr 24, 2014, 1:26 PM

              Hi William,

              Thank you for your response.

              Can I ask why for C? And what the difference is?

              As for the SEO value - I know that it won't pass any link juice - I was just wondering if the fact that the URL had my keywords in it if that would help a little?

              WilliamKammer 1 Reply Last reply Apr 24, 2014, 1:36 PM Reply Quote 1
              • WilliamKammer
                WilliamKammer last edited by Apr 24, 2014, 1:25 PM Apr 24, 2014, 1:22 PM

                Hi Enam,

                Your questions are answered below, but there is a larger issue here. Buying 50 domains to redirect for SEO value will not hurt you, but it will also not help you in the slightest. None of those domains have any juice to give, and they aren't doing anything for you, good or bad. There are reasons to do this sort of thing (branding), but not for SEO. Also, PLEASE SEE ANSWER "C" BELOW.

                A. No.

                B. No.

                C. Location forwarding, for the love of all that is holy. Right now you are masking your website with 50 different domains.

                webbmason 1 Reply Last reply Apr 24, 2014, 1:26 PM Reply Quote 2
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