Multiple Domain Names
I recently read an discussion on whether or not it is helpful to have several domain names for your website or if that practice would get you banned. I was surprised at the disagreement on the topic. Here is how I see things. I'm going to write this in a Q&A format:
Should I use multiple domain names? In most cases, yes. If your site has a really powerful domain name and cannot be easily confused with other sites, then you are probably okay. Consider MTV. They use mtv.com. This is good enough. Not much chance for visitors to go to the wrong site. But what if your company name is "Power Widgets". You would want powerwidgets.com, naturally. I would also recommend power-widgets.com, powerful-widgets.com, powerfulwidgets.com, power-widget.com, powerwidget.com, powerfulwidget.com, and powerful-widget.com. This covers your bases for names that might confuse your customers and also prevents other companies from registering names that are nearly the same as yours. In this case powerwidgets.com would be your primary domain and would be on your signs and business cards, etc. The other names are a safety net.
Will I get banned for using multiple domain names? Not if you do it in a reasonable way. What is reasonable? Registering extra names is okay. There does come a point when it becomes obvious that you are just doing it to get lots of sites in the search engines. Google, or one of your competitors, will eventually notice your behavior and you could get your domain banned. Use the guidance from above and you should be okay. Just don't go out and register hundreds of names solely to produce more results from the search engine.
Will I get better results from the search engines if I have multiple names? Yes, but not as much as you might think. The technical details which make your site show up higher in the search engines are based on the sites popularity and relevance. By having multiple domains you will establish multiple sites that are relevant to the search term, however the popularity portions of the equation will not be there for all your sites. You will actually do better if you work hard to promote your primary domain and let your secondary domains do whatever they do. If you have the time and resources, you could get more results if you promote all of your domains equally, but this increases your chances of being identified as a search engine spammer. If you have that much time and energy on your hands, then use the additional domains to access different areas of your site or entirely different sites. At least this way you haven't blatantly spammed the search engine.
If I create 500 sites, all on the same server, and link all the sites back and forth to each other, will this help me? This is a great question. Many people say "no", but I have actually tested this and it does work. It takes a long time and it is not as effective as links from other sites, but it does work. In fact, links from your site to your own site even within the same domain name can also help. I saw an example of a site where nearly every word on the site linked to a different location on the same site. All the links were to the same domain name and there were thousands of links. He had a page rank 6 or 7 and I could only find links to him within his own site. It did work for him. The thing to understand is that links from any domain with the same IP address as your site will get minimal value. There is value, however, and value accumulates over time. The most powerful links are links that come from entirely different IP subnets and that is where you should really focus your intention. Your goal should be to accumulate hundreds, if not thousands, of links to your site from other sites with content relative to your site. It's a huge project do to that but it will pay off in the long run.
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I hope this helps you understand linking just a little bit better. If you need help with reciprocal linking strategies, we can help. There are tools which will save you lots of time and help you get the results you need. It does take time, but it's worth it. Our recommendation is that you follow the advice above and simply focus on one domain name. Registering alternative spellings and variations of your domain is a great idea. We offer consulting on domain names and we do domain registrations as part of our full line of business class services.
Should I use multiple domain names? In most cases, yes. If your site has a really powerful domain name and cannot be easily confused with other sites, then you are probably okay. Consider MTV. They use mtv.com. This is good enough. Not much chance for visitors to go to the wrong site. But what if your company name is "Power Widgets". You would want powerwidgets.com, naturally. I would also recommend power-widgets.com, powerful-widgets.com, powerfulwidgets.com, power-widget.com, powerwidget.com, powerfulwidget.com, and powerful-widget.com. This covers your bases for names that might confuse your customers and also prevents other companies from registering names that are nearly the same as yours. In this case powerwidgets.com would be your primary domain and would be on your signs and business cards, etc. The other names are a safety net.
Will I get banned for using multiple domain names? Not if you do it in a reasonable way. What is reasonable? Registering extra names is okay. There does come a point when it becomes obvious that you are just doing it to get lots of sites in the search engines. Google, or one of your competitors, will eventually notice your behavior and you could get your domain banned. Use the guidance from above and you should be okay. Just don't go out and register hundreds of names solely to produce more results from the search engine.
Will I get better results from the search engines if I have multiple names? Yes, but not as much as you might think. The technical details which make your site show up higher in the search engines are based on the sites popularity and relevance. By having multiple domains you will establish multiple sites that are relevant to the search term, however the popularity portions of the equation will not be there for all your sites. You will actually do better if you work hard to promote your primary domain and let your secondary domains do whatever they do. If you have the time and resources, you could get more results if you promote all of your domains equally, but this increases your chances of being identified as a search engine spammer. If you have that much time and energy on your hands, then use the additional domains to access different areas of your site or entirely different sites. At least this way you haven't blatantly spammed the search engine.
If I create 500 sites, all on the same server, and link all the sites back and forth to each other, will this help me? This is a great question. Many people say "no", but I have actually tested this and it does work. It takes a long time and it is not as effective as links from other sites, but it does work. In fact, links from your site to your own site even within the same domain name can also help. I saw an example of a site where nearly every word on the site linked to a different location on the same site. All the links were to the same domain name and there were thousands of links. He had a page rank 6 or 7 and I could only find links to him within his own site. It did work for him. The thing to understand is that links from any domain with the same IP address as your site will get minimal value. There is value, however, and value accumulates over time. The most powerful links are links that come from entirely different IP subnets and that is where you should really focus your intention. Your goal should be to accumulate hundreds, if not thousands, of links to your site from other sites with content relative to your site. It's a huge project do to that but it will pay off in the long run.
---
I hope this helps you understand linking just a little bit better. If you need help with reciprocal linking strategies, we can help. There are tools which will save you lots of time and help you get the results you need. It does take time, but it's worth it. Our recommendation is that you follow the advice above and simply focus on one domain name. Registering alternative spellings and variations of your domain is a great idea. We offer consulting on domain names and we do domain registrations as part of our full line of business class services.
Jerry Hobby 
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