Re: Mirror sites vs Multiple Domains

From: Fred Showker <DTGNews_at_aol.com>
Date: Sun 7 Nov 1999 20:05:51 EST

Greetings Havah and others...

HAVAH HOPE WROTE:
> The question is if we submit to the search engines 10 or
> more domain names all pointing to the same site will they
> censure us for spamming.

Havah and others interested in getting wider coverage on the
web, we've done a great deal of study of this situation,
both by reading and following the various SE tracking firms
and through our own testing.

Last week at MultiCom EXPO in Washington D.C. I was
fortunate to catch the workshop on "Status of Search
Engines: 2000"... to learn both disturbing and welcome
news.

First let's answer your questions: SEs with spiders or
robots do NOT like redirect sites. It's too easy to set up
multiple domains all pointing to the same entry page. (A'la
the Porno Sites) particularly if they are at the same IP
address.

> Should we set up one or two mirror sites
> so that we would be able to have fewer domain names
> pointing to each site?

This is an effective technique ONLY if they are at different
IP addresses, and the sites are NOT mirrors... meaning you
would need to develop different layouts. Additionally, link
rankings is what will truly raise your chances of getting
found in a general search. Why do you think ZDNet's new
"makeover" (which they're promoting as a 'design' face lift)
includes 225 text links into their own site on nearly every
directory page? (Their face lift was for thw sole purpose of
clickthroughs -- which shows how badly advertisers are
wasting their money and getting ripped off! Ask me about
that, some day!)

AltaVista is now in the process of purging their databases.
Much to the dismay of many people posting to the web design
news groups and lists, they're finding that smaller sites,
or those seeded some time ago are dropping completely from
the 'found' list. We tested this and found it to be true.
Pages that got on the top three pages in 1997 are no longer
to be found at all -- even with specific strings we know to
exist in the database.

Additionally, AltaVista is hooking into the "Open Directory"
which is the new "fair" search engines with thousands of
volunteers checking and double checking each and every link
on an ongoing basis. (it's actually very admirable, and will
help the general searching public, but HURT smaller
entrepraneurial sites.)

I had a professional "search engine placement" specialist in
my "Print to Web Publishing" workshop at MultiCom come
forward and share with me some very interesting information
about AltaVista's continued "sales" of keywords behind
closed doors, as well as Yahoo's "pay to play" policy. I
came home feeling like I should just give up. (I have
several hundred biz cards from attendees, I'll wade through
them and attempt to find hers)

Without getting longwinded (which I fear I've already done)
we've discovered what we feel is an all round solution not
only to the search engine condition, but to the ranking and
popularity picture as well. I explained this with her and
she immediatly wanted to get involved herself. Toward this
end, we've purchased 25 unique keyword domain names for a
repeater portal program.

My recommendation to anyone who wants to spread their
exposure, without going poor buying banner-spam, should look
into sub-domains at different ISPs, and get as many
Content/Text links on portal pages as they possibly can.
That's the only way to make a dent in the 'big boys'
(About.com, ZDNet, Internet.com and others) takeover of the
web.

Oh my... this is really getting long... I'm sorry. I don't
want to pad this list, but I'm happy to share our findings
with anyone who wants to discuss this with me off-list at my
regular office address: showker_at_graphic-design.com.

Fred Showker, Director
The Design & Publishing Center
Editor/Publisher: WebDesign & Review Got News?
http://www.news-serve.net/





Received on Sun Nov 07 1999 - 19:05:51 CST