Hi everybody, I hope this thread is in the correct place I have just bought some new key word rich domain names for my website and I'm wondering if it's too good to be true. I have only 4 main search words and last night I bought some new domains including 1 containing nothing but my 4 key words. Is is really so easy to SEO my site through linking a new site at my new URL(s) as the domain name is the search term in full? It just seems to be too good to be true that I can just buy a domain and link/SEO the new site to my main site.

For example my topic of discussion is a "theory of everything" commonly known as a "TOE." My main site is currently under a different domain and it's number 1 in Google and Yahoo for my theory's name. Anyway, I bought toetheoryofeverything.com last night so will this rank well assuming I SEO it properly and link back to my main site which is the one I'm promoting?

My current home page will become my new vB forum URL and I'd only be using my new domain to link to/advertise my main forum site but I'm worried that I'll lose my Google rank if I change my DNS nameservers to my new host (Siteground). Basically if you type "my theory[name omitted]" into Google it's number 1 as it's also the same case of the keywords being the URL in full.

Summing up this post.

1. Will I lose or affect my current Google ranking if I change my DNS servers?

2. Will I have to just copy the exact existing Meta text (keywords, description etc) from my current number 1 ranking site and Google will recognise my forum as the same site because the keywords and URL are unchanged? (this is assuming I take my current site down replacing it with a vB install).

3. Is it a good idea to create some kind of blog type site at toetheoryofeverything.com as this will (hopefully) rank highly for a search for "theory of everything" and/or "toe"?

Thanks in advance for your help and advice

Peace

Pro

From my experience having keywords in your domain name doesn't have as great an effect on search engine ranking as it used to, and most search engines ignore the meta tags keywords almost entirely now. Your content and back links are really the key to your successful ranking.

You will also want to be careful of duplicate content between your old domain and new domain name as that can have a negative impact on your page rank.

A domain name change can have a negative impact on traffic until your new domain name is re-indexed. You will also want to setup 301 redirects from the old domain so the search engines know the pages have moved. That is if you intend on swapping the content from one domain name to another.

Circular back linking between sites you own can also have a negative impact, but I have been successful in one way linking from an established website to a new one.

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Tippmann A5 Operators Group

Thanks for the reply. I've been reading a lot of the topics on here about SEO etc and I'm aware that circular linking may be a bad thing but I'm wondering if I can make the content different so as to not disguise the links but just link from a site themed a bit differently. I've noticed that meta tags seem to be less indexed but on my current site it's all the SEO I have and it shows up on Google as it is.

I'm not looking for advertising or any kind of revenue for my new forum as it's for charitable causes. I'm just looking to advertise when I get things set up right in the future, just because I might as well really. I don't really understand how Google et al can tell the difference between my main site and another one with different content but prominent links to my site.

I could always leave my home page up as it is I suppose, and leave it essentially like a portal page for my forum, perhaps hosting my forum on a sub-domain. I'm lucky in that I have a lot of other options, I'm on YouTube in a big way etc. I'm not willing to publicly post my current site's URL as it's embarrassingly outdated but I'll PM anybody the Google results I mentioned

I know that introductory front pages for websites aren't good on search ranks but isn't vBAdvanced etc the same as having my current site's main page hosted as a front page for my forum? It seems so to me as both can be emulated by normal HTML pages with scripting for dynamic content.

I'm not sure whether to set my forum up as a sub-domain, on a new URL with keywords as mentioned above, or whether to just update my current site's DNS record to point to my new forum space and be done with it.

Ideally I'm wanting to install vBAdvanced CMS as the portal or home page for my current site's URL. From what I understand, please correct me if I'm wrong, VBA and an HTML page as the portal are almost the same thing in effect. Both act as a front page to the forum so should I just make a content page with my current HTML home page and set it as the front page for my forum?

Sorry I'm writing so much, I'm just outlining my situation a little and looking for general 'best practice' advice really. I don't want to go over the top with advertising my forum but I want it to at least be respectable enough in the SEO stakes for me to post about it on here and share my experiences with everybody without feeling embarrassed ;)

Yes, you can run completely identical interfaces but different content without a problem. I run 3 forums that all share the same overall look but are related to different equipment and each ranks well. I have to remind my forum members to avoid cross posting on each forum tho as some members have accounts on all 3 boards. I link from the most popular of the forums to the others as well as provide signature images and links for my members to use on other boards to get the backlinks started. On that note if you have any links to the old domain on other websites it would be a good idea to message them and ask to update your link to your new URL.

Google cross references all your domain names by the name and address you used to register them with. That's how they know what websites your running.

You can switch domain names successfully. You may however notice a drop in traffic and rank for a few months. I would just move the content to the new domain and 301 redirect from the old domain until your new forum had the ranking you wanted. You can do this while you build a second 'sister' forum or whatnot from the old domain name. It is a very good idea to have each domain on a different IP address during the transition.

Yes vbadvanced works great as a home page! As long as your content coincides with the search terms you want to rank with. It doesn't hurt to seed your new forum with tutorials, articles and information to populate the home page of your forum and speed up the process of indexing your new site.

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Tippmann A5 Operators Group

Thanks for the information, this has clarified a lot of things for me

Basically the search terms and key words are sorted as in they're rich but not too rich, I've got loads of different content, I can link to my site from various blogs instead of certain domains pending further ideas and future projects. Sorry I can't show you my vB install yet but I'm here purposely to ask questions first and see what I can come up with, having not bought vB yet.

As I say the main thing worrying me was that my page would rank lower or not at all but this isn't actually as big a problem as I thought. My main advertising is on YouTube and on Google results 3 and 4 are thumbnails of 2 of my videos. I think this must have been a random SEO by me in the titles but I'm going to look further into it and see if I can re-tag and re-title a few videos to see what happens. Also I now realise that YouTube offers me an unlimited extensible marketing source. I can keep making videos forever.

I'm planning to have each forum introduced by embedded video of me (or my future mods etc) and to have many more embeds. I'd be off topic to explain further but I think I've got a plan now. I now realise that my current main domain will be ok to change as it's more than accessible through external links and it's a unique URL as well, as far as I know from search results.

I think I've said before I have youtube.com/mydomain myspace.com/mydomain and obviously mydomain.com. I can link infinitely through YouTube and promote content via viral video and all the while the videos I currently have (over 130 last count) spread ever further. Lots of my videos are linked by StumbleUpon and some others at no request from me. I have over 130 videos to re-tag etc at my convenience. Almost every video begins with a title picture saying 'My Slogan/Keywords' mydomain.com youtube.com/mydomain and some also quote the MySpace URL as well.

I'm linked to from the largest forum (to the best of my knowledge) for my content on the internet, my username on both vB.org and vB.com are my 2 main keywords.

Sorry again about rambling on here

Anyway, summing up if I update my DNS to point to my new forum at Siteground does the browser still display mydomain.com/examplethread.php? As I understand it a DNS isn't a simple redirect or mask it should make each forum topic show as mydomain.com/exampletopic.php? I ask all this because all I want to do is convert my awful old website into a vBulletin forum with CMS and full SEO etc, using my promoted main URL mydomain.com

I've decided that the rank isn't so much of an issue right now and so I'm limiting my questions to (assuming it has propagated) "what will the URL look like after the DNS change?" and "is DNS redirection a recommended method for me having outlined my situation?"

Thank you for helping me

EDIT - There's also MySpace video, Google video, and a million others where I can upload my videos to spread the word virally. I can do some research on how best to write the text for my videos. I'm not after making any money ever, I'm doing this purely to help people. I just figured it can't hurt to be visible online too. I'm planning to link back to lots of the sites that I like in all my sites and blogs as a way of saying thanks.

You are correct, when you update your DNS to point to your new forum, it will point to the root of your new website.

Best of luck to you, and let us know when you have your new forum up!

BnF

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Tippmann A5 Operators Group

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated

I've set up a new domain DNS change on another domain and it updated within 10 seconds for me so I know that it's definitely what I'm looking for. I am aware that DNS is slower for some people though (48 hours). I'll be sure to let you know when my new forum is up, I have bought vB via e-cheque so it takes about 5 days to clear.