Question:

Is there an SEO advantage to having multiple domain names pointing to the same sight? (sic)

Answer:

Google will penalize you if you have duplicate content under two or more domain names, but if you have a domain you use for a print or tv campaign, and use Google Analytics or another web analytics program, you can set up to following situation to track the campaign.

www.2nddomainname.com points to a page that forwards to the following link : www.primarydomainname.com/landing_page/?campaign_code  This can be done with a meta refresh, javascript, or apache header, depending on the server technology you are using.

Use the Google URL Builder to create a URL that will work with Google Analytics.

Another thing to remember is the www.primarydomain.com and primarydomain.com are different domains in the eyes of Google, so make sure you pick one and stick with it for all your linking, SEO, and other online marketing.  You can also set the primary domain in Google Webmasters tools.

SEO is more than just domain name, so make sure the content of the site is strong and there are lots of high quality incoming links.  Google Webmasters tools are a free way to get some good insight in to your domain.  There are better tools out there, but Google Webmaster tools is a good first start.

In addition to this snazy logo and a link to a page verifying my status, I get access to promotional credits for new clients.  Credits may be applied to a new client account (no more than two weeks old) that I manage. Each $100 credit is good for 1-to-1 dollars worth of free AdWords advertising.

If you are on the fence about Google Adwords advertising, or just want to learn more, you should read the following overview document.  How to get the most out of your ad budget (PDF 944 KB)

Feel free to contact me via email or phone for more information about using a promotional credit or for help managing your online advertising.

Also, if you have not checked out my upcoming free class on search engine optimization and adwords, you really should attend.  It is a short, informative class, that will help you make smart online marketing decisions.

One of my clients, who shall remain nameless, used a free HTML WYSIWYG editor to make edits to the text of their website.  This editor created a block of text that was improperly wrapped in <MAP> HTML tags.  A MAP tag defines a client-side image-map,  an image with clickable regions.  As a result the text was hidden from the browser.

After a little more than a week, they received this message via email from Google. ( the url has been changed)

Dear site owner or webmaster of ********.com,

While we were indexing your webpages, we detected that some of your pages were using techniques that were outside our quality guidelines, which can be found here: http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html

In order to preserve the quality of our search engine, we have temporarily removed some webpages from our search results. Currently pages from ********.com are scheduled to be removed for at least 30 days.

Specifically, we detected the following practices on your webpages:

* The following hidden text on ********.com:

It then went on to display the text in question.

As a result they were dropped from the organic search results on Google.  This was particullly bad because it was over the weekend prior to the start of national television campaign.  The owner gave me a call on late on Sunday night and we started working on a plan.

1. We immediatly removed the offending text from the site
2. We requested reindexing from Google via the Google Webmaster’s Tools
3. We set up a new Adwords campaign using just the domain name and company name as keywords, that pointed to the home page.

Lucky for them, Google was handling request quickly and they must have seen that it was an honest mistake, because the site popped back up on the top of the search engines within 48 hours of the request.

To keep this from happening to you, do the following.

1. Design your site using standard practices and don’t try and trick Google.
2. Follow Google’s Guidelines.
3. Never hide text on your site by using any of the following techniques or any other method.
   1. Match the text color and background color
   2. Use CSS to set the display to “None” or the placement off the page
   3. Position the text behind images or other element
   4. Wrap the text in non-display tags.
4. Make sure to sign up for Google Webmaster Tools and monitor your account for errors.
5. Validate your web page using the W3.org tool to ensure your HTML is correctly formatted.

Remember, Google has more engineers working on Search Quality and more Ph.Ds in information retrivial working for them, than you do.

The class is for anyone who wants to drive more traffic to their web site through paid (cost per click) or free (organic) searches. You will learn the basics and some advanced tips on search engine optimization and building links and how to track your website traffic.

This is the same class I have taught at CFCC. Read more about it after the jump.

Topics:

• Basics of Google Adwords Advertising Program
• Setting up your first campaign
• Writing effective ads
• Tracking your success; ROI, CPC, and more
• Basics of Search Engine Optimization
• The 4 elements of SEO
• How to build traffic through inbound links
• Tips and Tricks
• Intro to Google Webmaster Tools

The Class is Free

This is the second time I will be teaching this specific class, and I was well attended last time, so you must register before hand.

Visit www.cfcc.edu/sbc/ for more information.

How Do I Register (Required)?

EMAIL OPTION: Download the Registration form, fill it out and email it as an attachment to sbc@cfcc.edu; OR

MAIL-IN OPTION: Download the Registration form, fill it out, and mail it to the Small Business Center, Cape Fear Community College, 411 North Front Street, Wilmington, NC 28401; OR

WALK-IN OPTION: Come by the Small Business Center at 419 North 3rd Street, Wilmington, NC and fill out the registration form.

I am teaching a class on how to boost your web traffic through paid and organic search traffic at Wilmington, NC’s Cape Fear Community College on Tuesday Mar. 25th from 6:00pm to 8:30pm.

The class is for anyone who wants to drive more traffic to their web site through paid (cost per click) or free (organic) searches. You will learn the basics and some advanced tips on search engine optimization and building links and how to track your website traffic.

Topics:

• Basics of Google Adwords Advertising Program
• Setting up your first campaign
• Writing effective ads
• Tracking your success; ROI, CPC, and more
• Basics of Search Engine Optimization
• The 4 elements of SEO
• How to build traffic through inbound links
• Tips and Tricks
• Intro to Google Webmaster Tools

The Class is Free

This is the second time I will be teaching this specific class, and I was well attended last time, so you must register before hand.

Visit www.cfcc.edu/sbc/ for more information.

Registration Information after the jump.

How Do I Register (Required)?

EMAIL OPTION: Download the Registration form, fill it out and email it as an attachment to sbc@cfcc.edu; OR

MAIL-IN OPTION: Download the Registration form, fill it out, and mail it to the Small Business Center, Cape Fear Community College, 411 North Front Street, Wilmington, NC 28401; OR

WALK-IN OPTION: Come by the Small Business Center at 419 North 3rd Street, Wilmington, NC and fill out the registration form.