November 5, 2024

leehotti

Technology and Computer

Multiple Domains and SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Because the search engines, including Google, place a lot of value on the actual words in the domain itself, many people are now trying to Search Engine Optimize their web presence by buying domain names that contain their target keywords.

It’s not a bad strategy because it doesn’t hurt you, but how much does it really help you?

Let’s say you now have 30 domains, all containing your target keywords, but not including your main website. What can you do with them?

1. Keep them registered and do nothing. This prevents competitors from registering them and using them for their benefit. End result: No SEO value, for obvious reasons.

2. Within your registrar’s account, you can set up 301 Permanent Redirects for each one, redirecting them to your main website. End result: No SEO value, but if someone types in the exact domain name of one that you have registered and redirected, he/she will be taken to your main website, so you might get some traffic, but not likely and not much.

3. Use them for a mini-site buildout. This strategy is to actually use each domain on its own by building a mini-website using around it. End result: Potentially a TON of SEO value.

Let’s take a look at this “mini-site buildout” strategy; the one with the most SEO value.

One by one, you take each domain and host a site for it. If you have a hosting account for your main website, chances are you can just add on new sites to that same hosting account. This is very common and you can easily find out if you can do this and how you can do this by calling your hosting company to inquire.

Once you have your hosting set up and each domain pointing towards its own mini-site, you then want to build each site.

To build each site most easily, you should do two things: first, plan all the content around your main keyword (the keyword that is in the domain name) to include both articles and videos; and second, develop the site using some type of ready-to-go website template with a built-in CMS (Content Management System). Probably the best CMS to use in this case would be WordPress because it is very user friendly, search engine friendly, easy to set up, and there are a ton of free (and well-designed) templates out there.

OK, so now you’ve got your domains pointing to their own respective mini-sites, you have created all the content for them, developed the sites, and finally published all that content you created on to the sites, hopefully using a CMS like WordPress to do it.

Now, keeping your main website in mind, you’ll want to make sure you drive traffic from your mini-sites to your main website. To do this, simply include content about your main website in those mini-sites and include links going back to your main website. Furthermore, if you have a business phone number and operate over the phone, make sure to include your main business phone number on all those mini-sites.

There are more advanced SEO techniques you should employ; however, that is way beyond the scope of this information piece.

In conclusion, if you have already invested, or want to invest, in buying multiple domains for SEO purposes, then put them to good use. Keeping them “locked up” unused or simply redirecting them to your main website are not effective strategies. You want to use them to build out an “Internet empire” with a lot of “Internet real estate” all focused on your target keywords and eventually leading people to your main website and business.