Mirror sites?

To all:

I put up a website a number of years ago after buying two domain names. One name apparantly "is" the website, and the other name "points" to it. I had no experience whatsoever when making up this site, and bought the two domain names thinking the search engines could locate my site easier.

After reading the information on this site, I suspect that this may constitute having a "mirror" site - even though I have used only one domain name in site submissions and so on. I think I made a big mistake through ignorance. Am I correct in this?

I submitted my site to this directory probably a month or so ago, and I wonder if there is anything that I can do (such as instructing my web host to cancel out the extra domain name) to prevent my site from being sumarily rejected - presuming this has not already happened.

Since I cannot remember how much time has passed since I suggested my site be listed here, I am reluctant to question the editors about it.

Thank you all for any help you can offer.

Regards,

jim

If you have submitted the right URL (the one that "apparently 'is' the website"), there is no problem at all. If you have submitted the other URL, the editor will probably change your submission to the right one, which might delay the review process a little bit.

It's good that you didn't submit both addresses, and it's good that you didn't submit to numerous categories. (I presume that you didn't.)

If you are in doubt what happened to your submission, wait until you are sure that the last submission is at least a month ago, then go to the Site Submission Status subforum and request a status check.

Uzs,

Wow, that was quick. Thank you. I feel relieved. I did submit to only one catagory, though I was somewhat undecided as to which of two was more appropriate. I chose the more specific, but think the next one up would probably have been better. Hopefully, the editor will move it up one catagory.

I'm beginning to wonder if the google search engine is penalizing me for having two domain names though. I have been getting top billing from nearly all but google when using a reasonable search string, and think I will cancel the other domain name anyway. There are not that many links out there to the "pointing" one
anyhow.

Thanks again for your help.

Regards,

jim

Make sure the "alternate" name points to the "real" domain with a "301 permanent redirect." All -- search engine spiders and humans alike -- will be able to find and identify the real site.

Many if not most commercial webmasters have mirror sites for one reason or another - protecting a name perhaps, marketing individual products, marketing at different markets, competing with the spam-merchants. None of it a problem to us unless a mirror is submitted to DMOZ - then we complain. Google? Try some of the forums with Google experts manning them - there could be a number of reasons like you are currently in their "sandbox" - I wouldn't have thought the existence of a single mirror would bother them but who knows...

Thanks Hutch and Oneeye,

I don't know what a permanent 301 redirect is, but I will check with my web page host Monday to make sure that's what I've got.

I went to a couple of webmaster sites a while back to say what they had to say about google, and decided I wasn't going to expend a whole lot of effort to please that engine. I don't use it much myself, and think it is way over rated. Seems that a lot of webmasters are frustrated with them as well. There are plenty of more important things to worry about. Just thought if the "mirror" were the problem, I could fix that quickly with little effort.

Thanks again. Have a good weekend.

Jim

Just if you want to read a bit about 301 permanent redirects, a random link from a google search which looks like it might be easy to understand: http://www.blog.website-development-training.com/archives/2004/09/06/301-permanent-redirect/