Targeted Keywords as Domain Names
No SEO upside: Buying lots of keyword domains and pointing each at a subsection of your main site doesn’t help rankings; at best it’s neutral, and at worst it looks like a “doorway” setup and can hurt you. Use one canonical domain, build out topic pages in subfolders, and 301-redirect any extra domains to the matching URL on the primary site. (Google for Developers, Bing Blogs)
What actually happens:
- Google treats mass redirects as consolidation, not a boost. A 301 is a (strong) canonicalization signal to show the destination URL; it doesn’t add extra “authority” just because many parked domains point in. (Google for Developers)
- If you let multiple domains resolve the same content (no redirect, or masked/iframe forwarding), that’s risky: it fits Google’s “doorway pages” pattern and can trigger spam actions. (Google for Developers)
- Keyword-rich / exact-match domains don’t provide a ranking shortcut anymore; quality/content matter more. (Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Land)
Best practice if you own extra domains anyway:
- Pick one primary domain. Put your sections at
example.com/topic/…(subfolders vs subdomains is mostly an ops choice). (YouTube) - 301 each vanity/keyword domain to the exact destination URL on the primary site (no 302, no meta-refresh, no masked forwarding). (Google for Developers)
- Keep only the primary domain in your XML sitemaps and internal links; if you ever merge or rebrand, follow Google’s site-move guidance and the Change-of-Address flow. (Google for Developers, Google Help)
When multiple domains do make sense: offline/print “vanity” tracking (still 301 to the real page), defensive brand protection, or true country sites on ccTLDs with unique localized content. Otherwise, concentrate all signals on one site and invest in content, IA, internal linking, and links to that one domain.