One of the questions I often get asked as the Search Engine Optimisation specialist at Alltraders, is what can we do with a client's additional domains relating to their business, although they only have one website. For example, you may have a main website, and to try and gain some additional Google ranking, have bought some different domains containing your target keywords.
“ How can we best utilise these domains to improve our business's Google ranking? ”
The thing to keep in mind, is that techniques that may have worked only a few years ago may not work these days, and this holds especially true for Search Engine Optimisation.
If additional domains simply redirect to your main domain, Google notices this and chooses to index and show only your main domain.
Alternatively, if you were to clone/shadow your other domains such that your same website content is showed on them, Google might show these domains in the short term. However, once it identifies that the content is exactly the same for two or more domains, you run the risk of being removed from Google results altogether.
The best way forward, assuming a smaller business, can be to design and develop specific landing pages written for and related to the keywords in the domain name, with logical call to action links going to the relevant page within your main website. Google will see the content for each domain is different, and by treating these as different websites, will index them all, allowing you to better your ranking, and increase your visibility in Google result pages (as well as other search engines).
Also by deep linking your landing pages to relevant content in your main website, you will be leading your potential customers directly to what they need, removing steps and making their lives easier. If your main website is designed well enough, the user can then look around for more information should they need, or if they like what they see, convert to a sale / contact / whatever goal you may have set up.
If you're a small business and would like your website optimised further for Google organic results, contact Alltraders on 08 7324 7170 and ask to speak to August about SEO.
