Webmaster forum - Newbie questions

Author

Newbie questions

RichC

2007-11-15, 6:18 pm

Hi all,

I have a couple websites with about 70 webpages on Earthlink personal
webspace (i.e. the current domain is //home.earthlink.net/).

I have fairly decent Google rankings on a lot of these pages, and I
need to get them onto a regular webhost.

1) I have to pick a new domain name. Does the domain name itself have
any effect on future Google rankings? Is "xyz" as good a domain name
as one that has relevant keywords in it?

2) I guess I have to do 301 redriects from the Earthlink pages to
all
the new addresses once they're established, correct?

3) Does length of subscription on the new webhost have any
relevance?
Does multiple years subscription indicate to Google a non-junk-spam
website? (I've seen stuff on the web that indicates this is so,
based
on a Google patent application.)

4) Any suggestions for good quality webhosts?

Thanks, Rich

Scott Bryce

2007-11-15, 10:16 pm

RichC wrote:
> 1) I have to pick a new domain name. Does the domain name itself have
> any effect on future Google rankings? Is "xyz" as good a domain name
> as one that has relevant keywords in it?

It may have a small effect.

> 2) I guess I have to do 301 redriects from the Earthlink pages to
> all
> the new addresses once they're established, correct?

Yes. Earthlink mey expect you to keep a hosting account with them in
order for them to do the redirects for you. If Earthlink is your ISP,
that may not be a problem. You would have to check with Earthlink on that.

> 3) Does length of subscription on the new webhost have any
> relevance?

No. Besides, Google has no way of knowing what the length of your
subscription is. Since too many good hosts become bad hosts over time,
it is common to pay for hosting on a month by month basis.

> 4) Any suggestions for good quality webhosts?

That question has been asked here recently. I think HostGator, and Axis
Host were among the recommendations.

Chaddy2222

2007-11-16, 3:17 am

On Nov 16, 9:14 am, RichC <RichC...@XXXXXXXXXX> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I have a couple websites with about 70 webpages on Earthlink personal
> webspace (i.e. the current domain is //home.earthlink.net/).
>
> I have fairly decent Google rankings on a lot of these pages, and I
> need to get them onto a regular webhost.
>
> 1) I have to pick a new domain name. Does the domain name itself have
> any effect on future Google rankings? Is "xyz" as good a domain name
> as one that has relevant keywords in it?
>
Just make sure that your new domain name is easy for your visitors to
remember.
As an example of this try for one that does not have any simbles in it
such as your-name.example.com try for just yourname.example.com

> 2) I guess I have to do 301 redriects from the Earthlink pages to
> all
> the new addresses once they're established, correct?
>
Yes.

> 3) Does length of subscription on the new webhost have any
> relevance?
> Does multiple years subscription indicate to Google a non-junk-spam
> website? (I've seen stuff on the web that indicates this is so,
> based
> on a Google patent application.)
>
I must say I have not herd of that happening and I would also not
think it would be true. But I can't really say much on that as I
really don't know but I would think not.

> 4) Any suggestions for good quality webhosts?
>
> Thanks, Rich

I now use ServerGrade.
http://www.servergrade.com.au
--
Regards Chad. http://freewebdesignonline.org

Mark Goodge

2007-11-16, 3:17 am

On Thu, 15 Nov 2007 14:14:27 -0800 (PST), RichC put finger to keyboard
and typed:

>Hi all,
>
>I have a couple websites with about 70 webpages on Earthlink personal
>webspace (i.e. the current domain is //home.earthlink.net/).
>
>
>I have fairly decent Google rankings on a lot of these pages, and I
>need to get them onto a regular webhost.
>
>
>1) I have to pick a new domain name. Does the domain name itself have
>any effect on future Google rankings? Is "xyz" as good a domain name
>as one that has relevant keywords in it?

It doesn't affect Pagerank, but it does have some effect on result
rank (ie, your order in the list of returned results). A name that's
easy to remember and that contains the most common search keywords is
idea, but if you have to compromise, compromise on the side of
memorability.

>2) I guess I have to do 301 redriects from the Earthlink pages to
>all
>the new addresses once they're established, correct?

Ideally, yes.

>3) Does length of subscription on the new webhost have any
>relevance?
>Does multiple years subscription indicate to Google a non-junk-spam
>website? (I've seen stuff on the web that indicates this is so,
>based
>on a Google patent application.)

It can, but in most cases it doesn't. Repeatedly moving hosts is one
indicator of possible spamminess, but a single move isn't going to
trigger that particular flag.

>4) Any suggestions for good quality webhosts?

Dreamhost.

Mark
--
http://www.BritishSurnames.co.uk - What does your surname say about you?
"We're not the ones who're meant to follow"

Chaddy2222

2007-11-16, 6:17 am

On Nov 16, 6:39 pm, Mark Goodge <use...@listmail.good-stuff.co.uk>
wrote:
> On Thu, 15 Nov 2007 14:14:27 -0800 (PST), RichC put finger to keyboard
> and typed:
>
>
>
>
>
> It doesn't affect Pagerank, but it does have some effect on result
> rank (ie, your order in the list of returned results). A name that's
> easy to remember and that contains the most common search keywords is
> idea, but if you have to compromise, compromise on the side of
> memorability.
>
>
> Ideally, yes.
>
>
> It can, but in most cases it doesn't. Repeatedly moving hosts is one
> indicator of possible spamminess, but a single move isn't going to
> trigger that particular flag.
>
>
> Dreamhost.
Your point about moving hosts is an interesting one.
I did not even think of that one.
--
Regards Chad. http://freewebdesignonline.org

Secret Agent X

2007-11-17, 6:15 am

RichC <RichColo@XXXXXXXXXX> wrote:

>1) I have to pick a new domain name. Does the domain name itself have
>any effect on future Google rankings? Is "xyz" as good a domain name
>as one that has relevant keywords in it?

It does for those keywords. Or rather, if a domain name matches a
search term, that page will be returned higher in the results by
Google.

>
>
>2) I guess I have to do 301 redriects from the Earthlink pages to
>all
>the new addresses once they're established, correct?

You don't have to do anything. Contrary to the impression given, this
is not a dictatorship (yet). But it will redirect existing requests to
your new addresses.

>
>
>3) Does length of subscription on the new webhost have any
>relevance?

Not in the real world.

>Does multiple years subscription indicate to Google a non-junk-spam
>website? (I've seen stuff on the web that indicates this is so,
>based
>on a Google patent application.)

No more than not sacrificing chikens at mifnight.

>
>
>4) Any suggestions for good quality webhosts?
>

Yes. Spend money. Talk to the sales staff.

X

Toby A Inkster

2007-11-18, 6:17 pm

RichC wrote:

> 1) I have to pick a new domain name. Does the domain name itself have
> any effect on future Google rankings? Is "xyz" as good a domain name
> as one that has relevant keywords in it?

Pick a domain name based on what is right for you and your visitors. Don't
let Google's algorithms dictate your choice of domain name: Google often
change their algorithms anyway.

Choose something short, appropriate and memorable.

> 3) Does length of subscription on the new webhost have any
> relevance? Does multiple years subscription indicate to Google a
> non-junk-spam website? (I've seen stuff on the web that indicates this
> is so, based on a Google patent application.)

I'd be very worried if I thought my web host was sharing my private
financial arrangements with anyone else (e.g. Google).

--
Toby A Inkster BSc (Hons) ARCS
[Geek of HTML/SQL/Perl/PHP/Python/Apache/Linux]
[OS: Linux 2.6.12-12mdksmp, up 11 days, 21:07.]
[Now Playing: ./hard-fi/cash_machine.ogg.]

William Tell: 700 Years On
http://tobyinkster.co.uk/blog/2007/...lliam-tell-700/

Red E. Kilowatt

2007-11-18, 6:17 pm

Toby A Inkster <usenet200707@tobyinkster.co.uk> wrote in message:
6rt515-rdo.ln1@ophelia.g5n.co.uk,

> RichC wrote:
>
> I'd be very worried if I thought my web host was sharing my private
> financial arrangements with anyone else (e.g. Google).

I've seen GoDaddy make the assertion that Google favors longer
registration periods on domain registrations. Any truth to that?

--
Red

Toby A Inkster

2007-11-18, 10:17 pm

Red E. Kilowatt wrote:

> I've seen GoDaddy make the assertion that Google favors longer
> registration periods on domain registrations. Any truth to that?

I'd be surprised if it were true. For many domain registries it just
wouldn't work anyway. (.uk domains are always registered for exactly 2
years. It is impossible to register them for shorter or longer periods of
time.)

--
Toby A Inkster BSc (Hons) ARCS
[Geek of HTML/SQL/Perl/PHP/Python/Apache/Linux]
[OS: Linux 2.6.12-12mdksmp, up 12 days, 6:23.]

USD/EUR Exchange Rate Graph
http://tobyinkster.co.uk/blog/2007/11/18/usd-eur/

Mark Goodge

2007-11-19, 3:17 am

On Sun, 18 Nov 2007 23:27:16 +0000, Toby A Inkster put finger to
keyboard and typed:

>Red E. Kilowatt wrote:
>
>
>I'd be surprised if it were true. For many domain registries it just
>wouldn't work anyway. (.uk domains are always registered for exactly 2
>years. It is impossible to register them for shorter or longer periods of
>time.)

I think GoDaddy are misunderstanding, or possibly misrepresenting, a
statement by Google that moving content repeatedly from host to host,
or from domain to domain, is one indicator (of many) of possible
spamminess, and thus can cause a page to be downgraded in the results
list or even be removed from the index completely.

Assuming Google's algorithms are working correctly though (and there's
no reason to suspect that they're not) this is extremely unlikely to
penalise a genuine user who merely likes to shop around regularly for
the best hosting deal. Spam pages, particularly those used by
phishers, don't just move around more than average, they move around a
*lot* more than average. Like other things which can downgrade your
Google position (such as keyword spamming, cloaking, hidden text,
etc), it's not the sort of thing you can do by accident.

Mark
--
Blog: http://Mark.Goodge.co.uk Photos: http://www.goodge.co.uk
"My light will shine so brightly it will blind you"