Multiple domains

I was browsing the forum for a while but couldn't find :P
If I have addon-domain on main-domain, what will a visitor see as url?

Check:
[ ] he will type in http://www.addon-domain.com, but after loading of the page will see http://www.main-domain.com/addon-domain/
[ ] all url's will be in form of http://www.addon-domain.com/stuff/people/mum.html and he will never see or know that main-domain.com even exists

Other:
does creating robots.txt (robots exclusion protocol) file make sens on an addon domain, or should the paths of the addon domain be included in the robots.txt of the main-domain?

The two answers will eventually match

[quietFinn]

Originally Posted by Zaphod

I was browsing the forum for a while but couldn't find :P
If I have addon-domain on main-domain, what will a visitor see as url?

Check:
[ ] he will type in http://www.addon-domain.com, but after loading of the page will see http://www.main-domain.com/addon-domain/
[X] all url's will be in form of http://www.addon-domain.com/stuff/people/mum.html and he will never see or know that main-domain.com even exists

Originally Posted by Zaphod

Other:
does creating robots.txt (robots exclusion protocol) file make sens on an addon domain, or should the paths of the addon domain be included in the robots.txt of the main-domain?

The two answers will eventually match

the robots.txt files in the main domain and in the addon domain(s) have nothing to do with each others.

[MachineDog]

No, Add-ondomain.com will load to add-ondomain.com in the browser. All files though on the server will be inside the public_html/addondomain/ folder.

[Serra]

Originally Posted by MachineDog

No, Add-ondomain.com will load to add-ondomain.com in the browser. All files though on the server will be inside the public_html/addondomain/ folder.

In other words, it will be its own domain with its own robots.txt file and index file.

The idea is that if you need to create a stand alone domain, but don't want to put it on another hosting account, the add-on domain will allow you to do two domains at once.

The alternative is the parked domain and I think this is where the confusion is. A parked domain acts like the main domain and has the same files and robot.txt file. The user sees the URL as the parked domain and email sent to that domain goes to the main domain.

So if the Presient of the Universe is looking to create a domain that is totally seperate and doesn't trace back to the main domain, then the add-on domain is what he is looking for. Think of it as a sub-domain with its own URL.

How search engines will see the add on domain. Will get rank on google or other search engines?
thanks

[Serra]

Originally Posted by unikbit

How search engines will see the add on domain. Will get rank on google or other search engines?

This is something that you need to consider because there are ways of doing what a addon domain does that effects search engines. In this case, because the domain is not being redirected, it will not effect search engines.
The search engine doesn't really care if it is an addon or not.

[jcarlson]

Originally Posted by Serra

So if the President of the Universe is looking to create a domain that is totally seperate and doesn't trace back to the main domain, then the add-on domain is what he is looking for. Think of it as a sub-domain with its own URL.

Without derailing the original intention of this topic, I have a related question...

When you create a sub-domain (i.e. in our case http://scs.sonalystsgames.com ) it redirects to another directory within the "sonalystsgames" public_html directory (i.e. http://www.sonalystsgames.com/scs/ ).

Is there anyway to prevent that re-direction from being displayed to the user? I'd really like to maintain the http://scs.sonalystsgames.com URL to the user if at all possible...

Is that pretty much impossible due to the re-direction nature of subdomains and HostGator?

[quietFinn]

Originally Posted by jcarlson

When you create a sub-domain (i.e. in our case http://scs.sonalystsgames.com ) it redirects to another directory within the "sonalystsgames" public_html directory (i.e. http://www.sonalystsgames.com/scs/ ).

Is there anyway to prevent that re-direction from being displayed to the user? I'd really like to maintain the http://scs.sonalystsgames.com URL to the user if at all possible...

Is that pretty much impossible due to the re-direction nature of subdomains and HostGator?

I don't know how that subdomain above is done but when I create a subdomain it is shown in the visitors browser, not the directory where the subdomain actually resides.

[MachineDog]

Originally Posted by jcarlson

Without derailing the original intention of this topic, I have a related question...

When you create a sub-domain (i.e. in our case http://scs.sonalystsgames.com ) it redirects to another directory within the "sonalystsgames" public_html directory (i.e. http://www.sonalystsgames.com/scs/ ).

Is there anyway to prevent that re-direction from being displayed to the user? I'd really like to maintain the http://scs.sonalystsgames.com URL to the user if at all possible...

Is that pretty much impossible due to the re-direction nature of subdomains and HostGator?

Go into cPanel in Subdomains and select the subdomain next to "Remove Redirection" and click it. After that then when you go to http://scs.sonalystsgames.com it will show everything in public_html/scs/ but the subdomain will stay the same in the browser address bar.

[jcarlson]

Got it... Thanks, guys!

I will use this same threat because it is related with the add-on domains.

Maybe it's my english but when Serra says: "The search engine doesn't really care if it is an addon or not." does it mean that the search engine will see it as pure domain?

Also, how about webmail in this case? Each add-on domain has it's own webmail control panel?

Thank you.

[Serra]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Maybe it's my english but when Serra says: "The search engine doesn't really care if it is an addon or not." does it mean that the search engine will see it as pure domain?

Yes, the search engine will see it as a pure domain. Domain forwarding is a problem, but not add-on domains. HOWEVER.... Google will count the number of add-on domains you are usings for a single domain. Some Google experts have said that too many domains will get the domain removed from Google. I use 5 as the max number for safety. Five or below is ok, Google will treat them normally.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Also, how about webmail in this case? Each add-on domain has it's own webmail control panel?

No, one webmail control panel where you can add email for all domains. Just like parked domains and sub domains. Domain forwarding will allow one domain to handle all email as well.

Thanks for the help Serra.

Originally Posted by Serra

Yes, the search engine will see it as a pure domain. Domain forwarding is a problem, but not add-on domains. HOWEVER.... Google will count the number of add-on domains you are usings for a single domain. Some Google experts have said that too many domains will get the domain removed from Google. I use 5 as the max number for safety. Five or below is ok, Google will treat them normally.

OK, you lost me here. The above seems contradictory to me.
If search engines see add-ons as pure domains, how does Google KNOW they are add-ons?

Beth

P.S. This was not my thread - but I'm checking the place out and this is one of my big questions!

[Serra]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

OK, you lost me here. The above seems contradictory to me.
If search engines see add-ons as pure domains, how does Google KNOW they are add-ons?

Right, Google can compare two sites at the same IP address because they have data on sites to compare. If IP address A has two sites that are exactly the same, then one or both are an addon domain. If Google finds 50 sites at IP address A and only two of them are the same, like in a shared hosting situation, then it knows they are all different sites, except the two.

Google dislikes listing a bunch of addons for the same domain, because it makes pages and pages of the same sites when people do searches (Because the URLs are all different). So, they take steps to remove dupes.

Edit: Let me make it clear that if the addon points to a different folder and the sites are different, then google doesn't care. They only care about domains that point to the same place, not different site. If you plan to have two sites that are different on the same account, google doesn't mind.

So what if I sold widgets on www.mydomain.com and gizmos on www.myotherdomain.com, my add on domain? If they were entirely different sites, not just different domains, but different content?

[quietFinn]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

So what if I sold widgets on www.mydomain.com and gizmos on www.myotherdomain.com, my add on domain? If they were entirely different sites, not just different domains, but different content?

For anyone who looks at them they are separate sites.
What is your question here?

Originally Posted by quietFinn

For anyone who looks at them they are separate sites.
What is your question here?

Will they look like seperate sites or add ons for Google?

Gosh, I'm just getting started with questions. You guys should be scared.

Beth

[quietFinn]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Will they look like seperate sites or add ons for Google?

Gosh, I'm just getting started with questions. You guys should be scared.

Beth

As far as I know Google does not care if a site is on an addon domain or not, but it does care if multible domains are pointing to exactly same site.

And because answering questions (here) is not our work we are not scared

These are some great answers concerning add-on domains.
So, if I understand correctly...

1. If all your add-on domains are "different sites with different content", search engines won't connect them to each other in any way other than being on the same ip?

2. We Do Not need to make any changes concerning the robots.txt to make sure that our add-on domain sites get indexed just like any other sites on Google?

3. If your add-on sites are different but similar (say, they are on the same topic, but not exactly the same content) does that create a risk with getting listed by the search engines?

Thanks!

[quietFinn]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

These are some great answers concerning add-on domains.
So, if I understand correctly...

1. If all your add-on domains are "different sites with different content", search engines won't connect them to each other in any way other than being on the same ip?

That's right.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

2. We Do Not need to make any changes concerning the robots.txt to make sure that our add-on domain sites get indexed just like any other sites on Google?

That's true also.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

3. If your add-on sites are different but similar (say, they are on the same topic, but not exactly the same content) does that create a risk with getting listed by the search engines?
Thanks!

Well I'd say that they must be really close to each others before there would be that kind of risk... but who really knows?

Anyway, everything I said above is "As Far As I know"

Other opinions?

[Serra]

Originally Posted by quietFinn

Anyway, everything I said above is "As Far As I know"

Other opinions?

Yea, that all sounds right. The "As far as anyone knows" because Google changes their mind often. What worked fine a week ago, might not work today.