Domain redirects = removal from Google

[YodaCows]

I had 10 domains redirecting to a single .com domain.
Everything was great for a few months and then Google dropped my main site (the .com that everything was being directed to) from the search results. Even searching Google specifically for the domain came up with "no matching records"

I've since removed all the redirects, and after a scary 3 weeks, my site is back in Google. Anyone know if it was just a coincidence? Or does Google ban sites that have too many domains pointing to it?

I now have 75 domains and I'd like to get this figured out before I start putting redirects back in place.

~YC

[goScooby]

I've often wondered this myself, especially after reading of people that have had experiences similar to your's. I've redirected up to three domains before without any issues (so far) but I hesitate to stretch it any further than that.

[FlyinBlind]

Not sure what the answer is to this.

A company I used to work for had at least 12 domains (and probably a lot more) that they no longer used point to their main site and they have had top ratings in Google for years within their particular niche.

I've got at least 7-10 of my other domains pointing to two sites that I have (Sorry, been about a year since I set them all up and I'm too lazy to actually sort through all the domains to see which one point where to give you an exact count). At least half of the "pointers" show up when you search Google for their specific domain name and the info displayed is that of the "main" site they point to. Have had no problems with the main sites.

(Ps. YodaCows - I PM'd you with the info you requested.)

[ridesign]

would redirecting be the same as parking domains on the cpanel account?

(sorry i am new to domaining)

[YodaCows]

would redirecting be the same as parking domains on the cpanel account?

(sorry i am new to domaining)

Parking is just when you have a "coming soon" page or a "this domain is for sale" page that is 'parked' for free by your registrar, web host, or by a parking company like Sedo or NameDrive. Parked domains have no effect on the other domains you own.

Redirecting is when you go to gogle.com and it takes you to google.com
You can set your domain redirects (if you want them) in your settings at your registrar (the company you registered your domain with).
Usually redirects are used if you move your site to a new domain or if you want to have yourcompany.net and yourcomany.org redirect to yourcompany.com

Some registrars offer domain masking (or url masking) in addition to, or instead of domain redirecting. Domain/url masking is like a redirect, but the domain in the address bar never changes. I can't really see a use for masking your domain because no one would ever be able to bookmark an exact page on your site, sort of like if you had a website built with frames (if you are familiar with html)

Hope that clears things up.

~YC

[poseidon]

Does too many redirects - like in this case 12 domains pointing towards one domain - caused the problem ?

[spellsre]

what if you forward domains and mask meta tags? anybody knows?

[spellsre]

I ve just checked coz i got scared lol, i have some domains forwarded and masked to another domain (just a few) and they are all in google.

i think it can be a dangerous measure if google does this, coz u can redirect some domain (which u dont care much about it) to a competitor of yours...