Great! You already have a website with your own domain. Why would you want another similar domain? There are several possible reasons. One could be because you may have a non-profit whose domain ends with .org but you know that some people (by habit) tend to type .com instead. So you might purchase the matching .com and redirect it to the .org. Another reason why you might do it is you own a great Greek restaurant called Mylos, but you also know that Milos is another proper Greek word (with a different meaning) so you want to trap everyone who misspells your name in the browser and/or search engine, to be instantly directed to your proper website. A third reason could be because your website has an ñ or an accent mark (or both) and you want to trap everyone who types it the plain way, to be instantly redirected to the proper website, where the ñ and/or accent mark appear like magic. In any case, you only pay for the inexpensive additional yearly domain, not any additional hosting fees. Ahead you’ll see other situations where this can be helpful, with detailed best practices, SEO ramifications, plus extra credit/extra fun.
Situations where you might want to do it
- Redirect a .com version to a .net version, for a non-profit like RedCross.com redirected to RedCross.org
- Redirect a nationalistic TLD (top level domain) to your chosen TLD or vice versa
- Redirect a homophone like Milos to Mylos, so MilosCoralGables.com instantly redirects to MylosCoralGables.com (and the Castilian version too, as you’ll see in the corresponding article in the language of Cervantes).
- When your actual domain contains an accent mark, so you purchase and redirect CapicuaFM.com (unaccented) to CapicúaFM.com or AllanTepper.com to AllanTépper.com.
- When your actual domain contains an ñ, so you purchase the one without the ñ to redirect to the one that has it, so AbrunaandMusgrave.com redirects instantly to AbruñaandMusgrave.com
- When your company name is nearly impossible to spell aloud (HotelChateauBleau.com) so you redirect BlueCastleHotel.com to HotelChateauBleau.com) in order to say BlueCastleHotel.com on the phone, on the radio or on an audio podcast.
In all of those cases, they are technically done using what is called a 301 Redirect.
Best practices for 301 Redirects
- It’s important to create the 301 Redirect so that the source URL functions regardless of whether it is entered with or without the WWW prefix.
- Nowadays, it’s essential to have the source domain have a proper SSL/TLS certificate (for HTTPS) to avoid the redirect getting stuck, not only because someone might type the HTTPS, but also because many modern browsers (by themselves or with a browser extension) automatically add the HTTPS in front, even when only used to redirect to another URL.
- OPTIONAL: Depending upon the situation, it is sometimes advisable to make the 301 Redirect include the wildcard option (amusingly called redirección comodín in Castilian). That way, if someone types not only the bare domain AbrunaandMusgrave.com (with n instead of ñ), but a specific subpage like AbrunaandMusgrave.com/gallery (with n instead of ñ), the individual will be instantly redirected to AbruñaandMusgrave.com/gallery thanks to the wildcard option. For more information about this case, visit AccentedDomains.com or Dominiostildados.com.
For all of those reasons (and others that go beyond the scope of this article), it is often better to configure the 301 Redirect on a platform outside of your domain registrar. Fortunately, all TecnoTur clients get these 301 Redirects as a courtesy, regardless of plan and regardless of whether they have their domain registered with TecnoTur or independently. We assure the proper SSL/TLS for HTTPS for both the source and the destination URL and (when appropriate) activate the wildcard option without any additional charge. All of the examples given above are hosted with TecnoTur with the current exception of RedCross.org.
SEO ramifications
After you implement all of the best practices indicated above, your SEO for the target domain will be prioritized whenever someone types the source domain(s), as long as you also handle SEO well for your target domain. That’s because popular search engines like Google and Bing understand, respect and handle 301 Redirects ideally, as long as the above suggestions are met. Note that it sometimes take several weeks for the search engines to notice the source URL and its 301 Redirect, but it indeed works, as indicated by many of the examples shown above.
Extra credit, extra fun
As an alternate of the standard 301 Redirect as covered above (where it goes directly to your target home page), if your branding and creativity find it appropriate, you could instead have the source URL be directed to a special unlisted subpage (i.e. it doesn’t appear in your menu), where your logo and your regular menus appear, and the following large text appears.
We see you typed it as XXX, but we spell it as YYY.
Where YYY is linked to your home page.
Optionally, it could appear and behave something like:
We see you typed it as XXX, but we spell it as YYY.
You’ll be redirected automatically in 11 seconds to our home page.
And have the special unlisted subpage appropriately configured to redirect within the desired number of seconds:)
If you do it this way, you can even (if desired) keep a count of how many people typed it as XXX instead of YYY. That information could be valuable to you.
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FTC disclosure
None of the listed individuals or companies mentioned above has paid for this article. All of the examples given above are hosted with TecnoTur with the current exception of RedCross.org. Some of the manufacturers listed above have contracted Tépper and/or TecnoTur LLC to carry out consulting and/or translations/localizations/transcreations. So far, none of the manufacturers listed above is/are sponsors of the TecnoTur, BeyondPodcasting, CapicúaFM or TuSaludSecreta programs, although they are welcome to do so, and some are, may be (or may have been) sponsors of ProVideo Coalition magazine. Some links to third parties listed in this article and/or on this web page may indirectly benefit TecnoTur LLC via affiliate programs. Allan Tépper’s opinions are his own. Allan Tépper is not liable for misuse or misunderstanding of information he shares.