Multiple domains on one hosting account

Bullajami

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In the past I have used GoDaddy as my hosting service. You can have multiple domains per hosting plan, but additional domains must point to a sub-domain of the primary.

For example, say I own [bullajami.com] as my primary domain on my hosting account.

I set up [poker.bullajami.com] as a sub-domain. I install Joomla and build a website on the sub-domain.

Then I buy the domain name [bullsheadpoker.com]. I host it on the same account as [bullajami.com] and point it to the [poker.bullajami.com] sub-domain. The content I built at [poker.bullajami.com] will now display under the domain name [bullsheadpoker.com], but is my SEO for bullsheadpoker impacted? Is it better to have separate hosting accounts for each domain name?

Thanks!
 
I've read arguments on both sides for this. Some say it does negatively affect your seo, others say it's so negligible as to be not an issue.

The fact is that if you're just starting out (as you appear to be) then it's cost effective to have multiple-hosting on one account and once you reach a size where a small % effect can have a larger impact move to independent hosting.

Sorry, not definitive but I did see a webcast about it but it was by Google's Matt Cutts who speaks in riddles at the best of times.
 
In theory if you only access the site through bullsheadpoker.com and nobody knows about poker.bullajami.com, then it wouldn't be a problem.

However, if google (or the other SE's) discover the poker.bullajami.com site then you could have some duplicate content issues - this could either be by accident or by a competitor figuring out what you're doing and placing a single link to the poker. sub domain.
 
Hello,

I always heard that it is important to have a hosting plan and a domain name in two differents companys. For example, when we are not pleased with the hosting plan, we can switch to another company without losing the domain name.

I think this is normal and google knows it.

Another thing, there are many companies that buy many domains for example: ibm.com ibm.org ibm.info... and goes to the same website.

cheers
 
If I am understanding you correctly, you are basically just using subdomains to build mini sites. For example:

mydomain.com - main site
poker.mydomain.com - mini site about poker, part the main site
casino.mydomain.com - mini site about casino, part of the main site

If this is the case, then using the same hosting account is absolutely the way to do it. In fact, I don't believe you can effectively use those sub-domains unless it is on the same hosting account as the main site.

However, the answer is different if you are talking about completely different sites that just happen to have a shared owner. For example:

mysite.com
mypokersite.com
mycasinosite.com

In this case, there is nothing wrong with having them all hosted on the same account, but from an SEO perspective, links between those sites will not be counted highly in terms of page rank or page authority. Matt Cutts has said this on more than one occasion.

To get the maximum benefit from cross-linking the sites, they need to each have their own IP address, which means either separate hosting or else a VPS so that you can add on IP addresses. Most "SEO Experts" (if such a thing truly exists) suggest even using different hosting companies, switching up which CMS' you are using, and basically having everything different from one site to the next. You should also have either private whois or different whois, as Matt Cutts has stated that this "could be" one of the signals Google uses to identify if two sites are related.

You're basically venturing into grey-hat SEO if you take those steps, but if you want the cross-linking to count for anything, that is the only way.


edit...

Then I buy the domain name [bullsheadpoker.com]. I host it on the same account as [bullajami.com] and point it to the [poker.bullajami.com] sub-domain.

Didn't catch this aspect on my first read. In this case, it depends on how you are redirecting the traffic. If you are using a 301 redirect in htaccess to say that bullsheadpoker.com is permanently located as poker.bullajami.com, then there is no issue to worry about with regards to the two sites, because search engines will view them as being the same.
 
Interesting thread...I've recently setup a few sites via a single web hosting account, I decided to implement dedicated IP addresses on some of the websites, from what I understand this is good practice for google, I've even seen some comments lately about adding SSL to sites that have a subscription or registration process (most of us these days)...not sure if this is true or not, if anyone has any thoughts here I'd be interested to hear them?

back to the OP - if your sites are completely different, i.e. different content and are not directly linking to each other then I think you will be okay having them all on one hosting account and IP. However, if you are planning on linking back to each other, you are definitely better off with separate IP addresses...imho
 

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