If you’re considering purchasing multiple domains to forward from other domains to your main company website, you may be wondering about the benefits and drawbacks. Domain forwarding can help you build domain authority and stop domain squatting.
If done properly, having multiple domains point to a main website can increase your brand authority and your search engine rankings, ultimately leading to increased conversions.
Stop Domain Squatting by Purchasing Multiple Domain Names
It may be worthwhile for your company to own the same domain with multiple extensions. Purchasing these additional top-level domains add value to your marketing and SEO efforts and can help you build your brand.
A TLD, or top-level domain, is the domain extension, or the letters that come after the dot in your domain name. For instance, here at urllo, our main TLD is .com, and we redirect other TLDs like .ca and .io to this domain. Purchasing additional TLDs gives you added visibility on the web. Certain top-level domains can give your site visitors details about your company, such as the location or even the field you work in. For instance, you can buy the .app TLD, a .tech TLD, or even something like .realtor for your real estate agency.
TLDs to consider, in addition to the .com version of your website URL, include:
- .co
- .net
- .us
- .org
- Geographic domain extensions like .ca or .nyc
If you don’t buy these domains, cybersquatters — people who participate in domain squatting — can scoop them up. Domain squatters buy the domains of common brands, celebrities or even generic product names. Then they approach companies bearing those names or selling those products to purchase the domain at an incredibly inflated price.
If you don’t buy a domain when it’s on the market, you could pay hundreds of thousands of dollars or more to a cybersquatter to obtain it later. So, if you’re starting a new company or launching a new product, purchase as many of the domains available, including common misspellings of the main domain, plus any extensions of your main domain that are available.
Use Domain Forwarding to Build Your Brand
In addition to preventing domain squatting or keeping competitors from purchasing domain names similar to your company name or specific brand names, you can use domain forwarding to increase your online presence and build authority.
Target Different Market Segments Using Domain Forwarding
You may want to use domain forwarding to target different customer personas. For instance, if you have an ecommerce site that sells children’s clothing, men’s clothing and women’s clothing, your main site might be “XYZClothing.com.”
You can purchase XYZClothingforMen, XYZClothingforWomen and XYZKidsClothes. Then, redirect or point those domains to those pages on your main website so customers can easily find what they want.
Celebrate Product Launches with their Own Domain
If you’re launching a new product and have a landing page on your main site, you can purchase the domain name related to your new product. Again, redirect to the landing page on your main site. You’ll gain added search engine visibility without having to create additional content.
Use Vanity URLs for Marketing and Advertising
If you have a landing page with a complex URL, consider purchasing a short-and-sweet, easy-to-remember domain name. You can print the shorter domain on business cards, use it in social media campaigns, and even use it in any kind of marketing or advertising — online or off-line. Such vanity URLs make it easy for people to share and remember your domain name.
Understand the Pros and Cons of Domain Forwarding
Before you run off and buy every domain related to your company name, you’ll want to understand both the drawbacks and benefits of domain forwarding.
Pros of Domain Forwarding
The benefits of domain forwarding are substantial:
- Increase brand visibility.
- Prevent domain squatting.
- Give customers an easy Web address to remember.
- Help people find you online even if they misspell or mistype your computer name.
- Promote multiple products with what looks like their own websites without having to manage two websites.
- Re-brand or create targeted campaigns without losing the domain authority of your main website.
Cons to Domain Forwarding
Despite all the benefits, domain forwarding may have a few drawbacks, including:
- It can be time-consuming to purchase and forward domains.
- You’ll have to ensure all domains have the proper SSL certificates (a must).
- It costs money to purchase so many domains.
- If you don’t handle domain forwarding properly, you could hurt your brand and your domain authority.
How to Execute Domain Forwarding Properly
For domain forwarding to work best on your behalf, make sure your sites have proper SSL certificates so visitors won’t get a security message if they enter an HTTPS domain name.
Use a 301 redirect, or a permanent redirect, to send people who visit your vanity URL to your main website. If you’re doing a temporary marketing campaign, a 302 redirect might be a better solution because 302 redirects tell Google not to update the URL in the search engine result pages because it is not a permanent page.
Domain forwarding can be a complicated process. Having a team at your side that understands all the pitfalls to watch out for can help you maximize the benefits. Get the help you need from urllo with a free 14-day trial. Learn more now.