I just got off the phone with a colleague. He asked me why his "vanity property URL's" (122applestreet.com ) Does not get found in Google.
My reply was that Google or the other engines do not really consider a URL until it gets a link from somewhere that is indexed in Google.
Your Brand is Not Your Own
That is why many Realtors and Brokerages expect that their name will automatically be found in an engine. WRONG!
Not unless that name is found on another website that links to the URL will the Brand really be fully appreciated on that site. This of course is counter intuitive and a shocker when I explain this to my broker clients.
Even the clients whom already have some links, gain a whole new combination of words that are related to their brand after about a few weeks with our system.
The Prescription
Get links! Now for his program he just wanted it to be in the index, and not too many people are searching for "123 apple street", except for his agent client and maybe the homeowner.
So I told him to start a blog at Blogger, and maybe another one at Wordpress (both free blogs). This should send Googlebot over to his new URL and get it indexed. And when he saw google bot in his logs, he will know mission accomplished.
The Twist
Right before he thanked me and we were saying our goodbyes, he told me that he is forwarding the vanity URL to some other main URL where many vanity pages are actually hosted.
In other words he buys the domain name at GoDaddy. He does not point it to a nameserver as if he is hosting it. Instead he forwards it, or some say creates an alias, and it goes to a web site that has several of these pages of address information.
The Second Prescription
Well now that changes things. Understand that Google may see that forwarded URL as what it is, a fake-unhosted domain. However, I have seen that Google forgives as links and specifically Page Rank rise. So I told my friend to test it with the few easy links I told him to create. If he is unsuccessful then he will need to point more links at his "fake" URL. In the end he is taking a chance.
Q: How do I get this non-web site domain name into Google's index?
A: It probably isn't going to happen.
If the domain forwarding is done with a 302 redirect, which is how many of the forwards work, Google never bothers to consider that domain name because the 302 redirect basically tells Google "This web site can temporarily be found over here at this other domain."
There are only two reasons I can come up with for doing the vanity domain:
1. To tell a seller "See? I set up a domain just for you!".
2. To give consumers an simple way to find information on a home via an easy-to-remember domain name (if they remember the street address of the home).
Also, if you have 10 listings and 10 domain names (one for each listing), and you forward all those domains to your main site's property-specific page, you might think you are creating inbound links and improving your main site's ranking.
I think you'd be very disappointed in your results because they aren't links at all. They are merely 302 or 301 redirects.
You can probably make the domain show up in Google with a bunch of inbound links to the vanity domain. But where do you want to invest your time? In a vanity address that probably will lose its usefullness after the property is sold or the listing expires or is cancelled?
Or do you want to put time and effort into a main site that will serve you for the duration of your real estate career?
Also, it might take up to six months to get the property into the Google index anyway. If the property is still on the market after six months, you've got bigger problems than a non-indexed vanity domain name.
If you or your clients want the vanity domain name, spend the $5 at GoDaddy, forward the domain to you main site's property-specific page, and be done with it.
At least that's how I see it.
Posted by: Chicago Real Estate | December 7, 2007 at 03:30 PM
Your logic is right on although the forwards are straight from the registrar. A 301 or 302 are from a hosted domain which isn't what he is doing.
---If you or your clients want the vanity domain name, spend the $5 at GoDaddy, forward the domain to you main site's property-specific page, and be done with it.---
This is what they are doing. Which can get indexed even though it is "a non entity", but it can lead to problems and isnt the best way. The best way is to actually have a real domain hosted.
I think the value is that it is something a homeseller can say is there own kind of.
Posted by: Tim O'Keefe | December 7, 2007 at 03:54 PM
The can certainly be 302 redirects from the registrar. That's how Yahoo! will do it if you are forwarding your domain name to another web site.
Here is a nifty tool to verify the type of redirect a particular page or domain is using.
http://www.internetofficer.com/seo-tool/redirect-check/
Hey Tim - how about enabling HTML comments so I can post links?
Posted by: Chicago Real Estate | December 7, 2007 at 06:08 PM
A quick google search shows GoDaddy uses 302 redirects also for domain forwarding.
I think it's pretty much standard.
http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=6149
Posted by: Chicago Real Estate | December 7, 2007 at 06:14 PM
Interesting. Since I dont trust forums and their propensity for disinformation , an uninformed answers, I went to godaddy themeselves.
My thoughts have always been that if it isn't hosted it must be an alias. But according to Godaddy (you are correct) they 302 the url to the main url.
--http://help.godaddy.com/search.php?topic_id=&q=forward&x=24&y=8
Masking works with domain name forwarding, which redirects all Web traffic for a domain to a specified URL. When someone enters your domain name into a browser, our system automatically forwards or redirects them to the URL. However, with masking, the domain name displayed in the address bar does not change.
Forwarding with Masking prevents visitors from knowing that they have been redirected by retaining your domain name in their Web browser's address bar. You can also add a title and meta tags to your masked domain. Title and meta tag information is important to a Web site’s search engine ranking, but it does not change the look of your Web site.
------
I still personally, am suspect of this technique (from a registrar not as a redirect technique from your own server)and would only do it under complete neccessity not choice.
Posted by: Tim O'Keefe Blog | December 9, 2007 at 07:07 PM
Like I mentioned earlier, buy the vanity domain name, forward with your registrar using the 302 redirect to your main site's property detail page, and be done with it.
There is no value to working the vanity domain hard enough to get it to rank in Google.
Throw the vanity domain into a Trulia data feed, Google Product Search feed, or whatever the flavor d'jour aggregator is.
That's about all you can do without wasting huge amounts of time with little to nothing to show for it.
Posted by: Chicago Real Estate | December 9, 2007 at 11:00 PM
You don't trust forums?
What is this? A forum with a slicker interface!
Posted by: Chicago Real Estate | December 9, 2007 at 11:03 PM
I say just host the darn thing and call it a day.
Get someone with limited design skills, or just use Godaddys simple build it your own tool and be done with it.
Really the idea of getting a 1 page site listed is not worth spending much engine effort.
Posted by: Tim O'Keefe | December 10, 2007 at 04:56 AM
I think a forum is certainly by definition about conversation.
A blog is more of the author leads, and the comentator might agree, disagree, ask for more information or advise, or lead someone off to their site to engage into conversation.
So yes it is like a forum but a very highly moderated category of a forum might be the best way to put it.
Posted by: Tim O'Keefe | December 10, 2007 at 05:09 AM
I was just giving you a hard time.
I double checked the info I found on the forum before I linked, so it was good info.
;)
Posted by: Chicago Real Estate | December 10, 2007 at 12:00 PM