QUESTION -- multiple domain names, and frames

I just started a new job a couple of weeks ago and replaced their terrible
website with something just enough to get it by for the moment. I did it in
a few days and was then overwhelmed with other tasks so the design really
needs work -- at least it is taking reservations...

Here is the strange part:

It seems that they registered the name of the site
www.thesouthbeachhostel.com and put the website under that domain. Then
they apparently got other domain names and had something set up with a
company called Network Solutions where they have other domain names like
www.miahostel.com, www.miamibackpackers.com, www.odysseyhotel.com, and maybe
others -- these other sites open up the site at www.thesouthbeachhostel.com
inside of a frame. Anything you navigate to in those framed addresses stays
in a frame under that one domain name.

I am wondering what effect this has on search engine rankings and if its a
good idea. My common sense would tell me to just abandon the other framed
addresses, but there is something odd happening. If you type in keywords
like "miami hostels" into Google, you won't get our site. But if you type
in those keywords into the search bar on www.msn.com, the framed addresses
are ranked very high already. For example, www.miahostel.com, and
www.odysseyhotel.com show up on the first page of MSN search results when
searched for our keywords ("miami hostels", "hostels in miami", etc.).

Our main site is not getting a good ranking (but it has only been a couple
of weeks). Why are the framed versions of the site getting ranked but not
the actual main site?

Hi there

What you are describing is not that uncommon and can have uses - although
there are some dangers!

By framing the site with the other Domain Names it enables you to use
multiple Domain Names without having multiple copies of the same code. If
all Domain Names were set up in the same way the code for www.mywebsite.com
would be identical to the code for www.mywebsite.co.uk . As Search Engines
don't index pages with similar content this could lead you into problems,
the Frame prevents this issue.

The benefit is that if you want to run some type of conventional advertising
campaign and use the other Domain Names for those campaigns, you can track
the referrals from the advertised Domain Names through to the real site i.e.
the referrals should show up on your site stats. This enables you to get
some type of evaluation of for instance magazine advertising.

The Downside is that if your client doesn't understand the implications they
may start giving away all sorts of Domain Names all over the place and this
dilutes the link popularity i.e. you get 4 Domain Names each with 25 in
bound links rather than 1 with 100. The latter is preferable as it will push
you higher up the rankings.

Hope this input helps.

Martyn Fewtrell
mfewtrell (AT) networkclub (DOT) co.uk

http://www.networkclub.co.uk



"Josh" <joshsbh (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

I just started a new job a couple of weeks ago and replaced their terrible
website with something just enough to get it by for the moment. I did it
in
a few days and was then overwhelmed with other tasks so the design really
needs work -- at least it is taking reservations...

Here is the strange part:

It seems that they registered the name of the site
www.thesouthbeachhostel.com and put the website under that domain. Then
they apparently got other domain names and had something set up with a
company called Network Solutions where they have other domain names like
www.miahostel.com, www.miamibackpackers.com, www.odysseyhotel.com, and
maybe
others -- these other sites open up the site at
www.thesouthbeachhostel.com
inside of a frame. Anything you navigate to in those framed addresses
stays
in a frame under that one domain name.

I am wondering what effect this has on search engine rankings and if its a
good idea. My common sense would tell me to just abandon the other framed
addresses, but there is something odd happening. If you type in keywords
like "miami hostels" into Google, you won't get our site. But if you type
in those keywords into the search bar on www.msn.com, the framed addresses
are ranked very high already. For example, www.miahostel.com, and
www.odysseyhotel.com show up on the first page of MSN search results when
searched for our keywords ("miami hostels", "hostels in miami", etc.).

Our main site is not getting a good ranking (but it has only been a couple
of weeks). Why are the framed versions of the site getting ranked but not
the actual main site?

Thanks


"BT News" <mfewtrell (AT) networkclub (DOT) co.uk> wrote

Hi there

What you are describing is not that uncommon and can have uses - although
there are some dangers!

By framing the site with the other Domain Names it enables you to use
multiple Domain Names without having multiple copies of the same code. If
all Domain Names were set up in the same way the code for
www.mywebsite.com
would be identical to the code for www.mywebsite.co.uk . As Search Engines
don't index pages with similar content this could lead you into problems,
the Frame prevents this issue.

The benefit is that if you want to run some type of conventional
advertising
campaign and use the other Domain Names for those campaigns, you can track
the referrals from the advertised Domain Names through to the real site
i.e.
the referrals should show up on your site stats. This enables you to get
some type of evaluation of for instance magazine advertising.

The Downside is that if your client doesn't understand the implications
they
may start giving away all sorts of Domain Names all over the place and
this
dilutes the link popularity i.e. you get 4 Domain Names each with 25 in
bound links rather than 1 with 100. The latter is preferable as it will
push
you higher up the rankings.

Hope this input helps.

Martyn Fewtrell
mfewtrell (AT) networkclub (DOT) co.uk

http://www.networkclub.co.uk



"Josh" <joshsbh (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:10s1gujaegvtofc (AT) news20 (DOT) forteinc.com...
I just started a new job a couple of weeks ago and replaced their
terrible
website with something just enough to get it by for the moment. I did
it
in
a few days and was then overwhelmed with other tasks so the design
really
needs work -- at least it is taking reservations...

Here is the strange part:

It seems that they registered the name of the site
www.thesouthbeachhostel.com and put the website under that domain. Then
they apparently got other domain names and had something set up with a
company called Network Solutions where they have other domain names like
www.miahostel.com, www.miamibackpackers.com, www.odysseyhotel.com, and
maybe
others -- these other sites open up the site at
www.thesouthbeachhostel.com
inside of a frame. Anything you navigate to in those framed addresses
stays
in a frame under that one domain name.

I am wondering what effect this has on search engine rankings and if its
a
good idea. My common sense would tell me to just abandon the other
framed
addresses, but there is something odd happening. If you type in
keywords
like "miami hostels" into Google, you won't get our site. But if you
type
in those keywords into the search bar on www.msn.com, the framed
addresses
are ranked very high already. For example, www.miahostel.com, and
www.odysseyhotel.com show up on the first page of MSN search results
when
searched for our keywords ("miami hostels", "hostels in miami", etc.).

Our main site is not getting a good ranking (but it has only been a
couple
of weeks). Why are the framed versions of the site getting ranked but
not
the actual main site?