How Many Domain 301s Can You Have?

[RiceMedia]

A client owns around 10 different domains, each a slightly different version of their company name.  The main site is itself a new domain, therefore they'd like to know what the implications of redirecting the 10 other domains to the main one would be.

Any thoughts?  I have never done this before, so interested to know whether a) there's any benefit and b) if there is a penalty for implementing too many domain 301s.

Thanks.

[wildnerakademie]

I would like to ask you an other question: Why would you do this? Do these Domain 301s make sense for your users? You probably get more benefits if you think about putting content on a few of the domains. Sure, this is more work than redirecting, but aks yourself: what would you expect on these domains? As Google is trying to lower the importance of keyword-domains, you should think of future usage of the domains. Are all of them needed?

[RiceMedia]

Hi Philip, thank you for your quick response.

To be honest, I don't expect anything from them.  I am not managing these domains, my concern is with their main site.  They have bought the new domains for one reason or another and have asked me what the implications of putting 301 redirects to their main site would be.  Obviously putting content on there would be a good idea, however if I suggest that I'll be opening Pandora's Box!

I suppose the question would be, if they do put 301s on these domains, will Google see this as 'spammy'?

Thanks again.

[RiceMedia]

The answer appears to be that there's no problem - http://searchengineland.com/how-many-301s-are-too-many-16960

[mosaicpro]

I think 301 is good especially if you bought new domains and you wish to pass on the value from your old domain/domains.

I did it myself with 2 domains just the other days. Just remember it may take up to 3 months for google to properly move everything and also if you're not moving 1:1  -> every-old-url   to new-urls then you will have a loss in value.