Should I get multiple domains for my website?

February 24, 2012 3:18 PM

A Few Questions About Registering Multiple Domains. Is it worth it?

Hello there!

I have a few questions regarding registering a good amount of domains (5-10) for 5 years. What is your favorite place to do so? Does any one beats or matches Godady's prices?

I have a website right now and I want to register relevant domain names to it. Would plain direction of from the new domains to my main website would be the best way to benefit from them and put them to use? I thought about doing a small page with a lengthy article about the subject that redirects you with any clicking to the main site for SEO sake. What do you all think? Lets say my main website is pettraining.com, will directing any incoming traffic from ParrotTraining.com and AlbinoTigerTraining.com to pettraining.com would be better than having dedicated content on parrottraining.com that gently leads you to the main domain. That way I figure I can use the additional domains for their specific keywords and content thus get some extra SEO vs just directing the traffic to the main domain.

Another unrelated question is this: If I register the domain now, and in two years some one in my state opens a business that is called exactly like the domain (awesomepetz.com) will they have any legal grounds in snatching the domain from me although I registered it before their business was opened?

Thanks so much for any input and expertise!

P.S
I know very little about albino tiger training. Unfortunately.

Have a wonderful day!

posted by Sentus to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

Not worth it. Google's page ranking algorithms are designed to get around schemes like this (after all, what you're proposing is exactly what all the shady link-baity sites are trying to do). Even if you purchased 100 domain names to link to your main site, the value would be negligible compared to a few links from actual, reputable sites.

The standard advice is standard because it WORKS: Focus on creating valuable content first, and then network to build traffic and get links.
posted by ella wren at 3:28 PM on February 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

It's worth it because domains cost nearly nothing. $10/year to prevent someone from messing with your site is a good insurance policy. You can set up other sites on them to cover a wider swath of search rankings if you like (takes time/money), or just redirect (takes no time, doesn't give you a benefit.) There are some neat ways to take over a huge keyword by growing lots of sites and then folding them into each other if you want to run a massive strategic campaign.

If you want to not risk having your domain taken by a company with the same name, you need to show you're using it to some actual purpose and not just sitting on it. You'd need to do as little as brand it as AwesomePetz.com with a cheap logo and content about pets. If you did that, they wouldn't start a company with that name anyway.
posted by michaelh at 3:34 PM on February 24, 2012

Domain names are not particularly important these days. People discover things based on search results and things like this can only hurt your rankings.
posted by The Lamplighter at 3:36 PM on February 24, 2012

If you register good domain names, you might make some money. I just got asked about a domain name I reg'd for fun. The best way to get google cred is to create awesome or even pretty good content, and to be an active web presence. To make money on domains, register them, build a good site, and run it or sell it.
posted by theora55 at 4:52 PM on February 24, 2012

Namecheap is better than Godaddy for many reasons, if you do decide to go ahead.
posted by anadem at 8:10 PM on February 24, 2012

It is not worth it for SEO. It IS worth it to prevent opponents and competitors from seizing related domain names and either redirecting them away from you or creating attack sites.

Buy every domain name you can conceive of related to your business to block this from happening and consider the expense as insurance.
posted by Hollywood Upstairs Medical College at 2:30 PM on February 25, 2012

I agree with anadem. Namecheap is the better for domain names.
I purchased with Godaddy for 2 years. About 60 days ago I did some research. The main reason I am switching to namecheap is because they offer you whois for free. godaddy offers it for an additional 10 bucks or so. From my research, if a domain register offers a domain name for less then 9 dollars or so they will charge you more in the future. good luck.
posted by sylviaunlimited at 6:44 PM on March 1, 2012