What Should You Do With Extra Domain Names? via @sejournal, @tonynwright

1 year ago 172

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Today’s Ask An SEO comes from Elisa from Hyde Park, who asks:

I person a lawsuit who owns astir 20 domains with keywords intimately related to his product. They are presently each forwarding to his 1 website.

Should helium support these names? Is determination immoderate vantage to doing this oregon adjacent owning them. Is determination thing we should beryllium doing with them?

I cognize of nary strategies for utilizing much than 1 domain, yet galore radical ain respective conscionable truthful nary 1 other volition ain it. What should we beryllium doing with each these other domain names?

Recently, Google’s John Mueller stated that “keywords successful domain names are overrated.”

Yet, we inactive person radical whose full concern exemplary is to bargain keyword-rich domains, physique a elemental tract that ranks, and past merchantability oregon rent the domain to an unsuspecting tiny business.

And the bigger problem?

According to immoderate well-respected SEO experts – and maine – the hunt motor results pages look to contradict Mr. Mueller’s edict, peculiarly successful specific, competitory verticals.

So, what’s a confused SEO pro to do?

Long-Term: Do What Google Says

My champion proposal – and this goes acold beyond aggregate domain names for a azygous marque – is to bash what Google says.

One caveat: Do what Google says successful public.

And we each cognize it’s hard to bash what Google says erstwhile seemingly incontrovertible grounds appears to warrant different action.

But unless you are Mueller, oregon idiosyncratic of his ilk, you don’t cognize what Google has connected the drafting committee for the adjacent future.

My acquisition is erstwhile Google tells webmasters something, it whitethorn not beryllium existent astatine the contiguous moment, but it volition beryllium the champion proposal for what Google is putting retired successful the chaotic successful the adjacent future.

So, if you are disquieted astir the resources it volition instrumentality to get your tract up-to-snuff based connected the latest proposal for Google’s webmasters, spell up and commencement readying the task anyway.

More than likely, you volition person to put successful the changes soon if you privation to succeed.

Short-Term: Look For Opportunities

Our occupation arsenic hunt motor marketers is to look for opportunities to assistance websites supply the accusation that our extremity customers privation and need.

If you look astatine hunt from that perspective, you volition find opportunities to beforehand your content, marque and website.

When an enactment spends an inordinate magnitude of clip and wealth researching what exertion is going to enactment for their elemental website, the mislaid opportunities tin beryllium enormous.

And of the hundreds of frameworks retired there, determination are lone 4 oregon 5 that I would see mainstream and mature.

Unless your tract has a circumstantial occupation that is solved by a circumstantial technology, and/or you person the interior resources to support a tract with cutting-edge features that whitethorn not ever enactment correctly, you are champion utilizing 1 of the mainstream and mature technologies.

Examples of these frameworks see WordPress and Drupal.

Of course, adjacent these mature platforms person their ain issues.

But, determination are documented fixes for astir each contented you volition tally crossed successful a mature platform.

If you aren’t prepared and take a little mature platform, you will extremity up missing opportunities due to the fact that you are excessively engaged warring with technology.

Other Reasons For Lots Of Domains

In astir cases, it’s a atrocious thought to person aggregate domains for 1 business.

In bid for aggregate domains to rank, you indispensable enactment enactment into each tract wherever a domain points.

You indispensable physique the site.

You indispensable make compelling, rankable contented for the site.

You indispensable get different sites to nexus to each tract you build.

In short: you person to tally arsenic galore SEO campaigns arsenic you person sites.

That tin beryllium time-consuming, expensive, and necessitate unnecessary effort.

Having one, authoritative domain with a tract architecture that services each of your audiences is the champion option.

But, if you person circumstantial promotions oregon programs, it’s communal to physique a tiny microsite to beforehand those items.

Just don’t expect that microsite to fertile organically.

You don’t really privation those sites to fertile organically, due to the fact that the promotion is typically implicit earlier optimal rankings tin footwear in.

You mightiness besides person communal typos that radical participate looking for your site.

If that is the case, I bash urge buying those typos and redirecting them via a 301 imperishable redirect to your main site.

If you are disquieted that radical are going to bargain domain names that you don’t ain and bargain postulation from you, past you mightiness person bigger problems.

There is nary mode you tin deliberation of each permutation that mightiness harm your brand.

Only bargain domains that radical successful your enactment are disquieted about.

If idiosyncratic finds a domain is already purchased, that’s not going to halt them from moving to harm your company’s reputation.

You request to beryllium prepared to respond to disgruntled customers.

Buying domain names is not reacting.

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Featured Image: Tero Vesalainen/Shutterstock

Editor’s note: Ask an SEO is a weekly SEO advice column written by immoderate of the industry’s top SEO experts, who person been hand-picked by Search Engine Journal. Got a question about SEO? Fill retired our form. You mightiness spot your reply successful the adjacent #AskanSEO post!