Multiple domains redirecting to one forum

[Kim]

Hi guys,

Basically I am setting up a new forum, and have the main domain .com but also several variations including my regional variation that I purchased at the same time. Is it a good idea to have them all actively pointing to the one site?

What is the best practice about multiple domains for a site?

Is it a good idea to have several pointing to the one site, or does it detract from your SEO or anything?

Any advice on this would be helpful,

Also... any thoughts on XYZforum.com as opposed to XYZforums.com

Does the "s" mean anything, do people think in terms of forums, or forum do you think?

Thanks!

Kim

 

[Liam D.]

Try "parking" your domain to point to one server. Sorry, it's been a while since I've worked on big sites, so can't really help here.

About the "s", that depends. I don't think it really matters for most people.

 

[Reeve of Shinra]

I would probably park the domains as well. Not sure about S or no S ... depends on the specific domain

 

[Kim]

Thanks chaps...

Do you mean like this...

http://support.hostgator.com/articles/cpanel/what-is-a-parked-domain-how-do-i-create-and-delete-one

 

[Mike Edge]

Thanks chaps...

Do you mean like this...

http://support.hostgator.com/articles/cpanel/what-is-a-parked-domain-how-do-i-create-and-delete-one

Correct.

 

[Kim]

One of the things I want to achieve with this is that if someone types in the wrong url... say they type in forums rather than forum or if they type .com.au instead of just .com - that it still finds it's way there.

Just checking that the parked domain thing will do that?

 

[Reeve of Shinra]

I believe so, you should get an option to have it as an active domain or as a perm redirect. You want perm redirect.

If your doing different regions though, you may want to check up on how SEO around works in this case as google.com.au would probably rank site.com.au higher

 

[Kim]

Thanks for that

I am not sure how I could check up on the SEO thing, but I will do some research.

 

[Lee]

I believe so, you should get an option to have it as an active domain or as a perm redirect. You want perm redirect.

If your doing different regions though, you may want to check up on how SEO around works in this case as google.com.au would probably rank site.com.au higher

Would google not just see the perm redirect to the main domain and rank that instead of the .com.au domain? I'm not sure how google does things like that, to be honest.