Webmasters - Domain Masking Question

[J A M E S]

Gents (and ladies?),

I have a question about domain masking and subfolders/subdirectories, and was hoping that someone here would be able to guide me down the right path. Currently, I am paying for two different webhosting plans with unlimited storage and data transfer, but I'd like to cut that back to only paying for one.

What I would like to do is keep one of the hosting plans going and cancel the other one, while still keeping the second's domain name. I would redirect that second site's URL to a subfolder/subdirectory of the first, and use domain masking to make it appear as if it exists as its own entity. In essence, using this method, I'd be hosting two sites on one hosting plan.

I am wondering if this is even possible to use domain masking with a subdirectory; a friend of mine told me it only works if you're trying to mask a regular domain extension with another.

Secondly, if this could work, I want to know if it would effect my SEO at all. I would like each site to appear in search results as independent destinations on the web, and it would be pretty wack if the second site came up on Google as www.firstsite.com/secondsitedomain, instead of just www.secondsite.com (hopefully I'm explaining it correctly).

If anyone is knowledgeable about this stuff and could offer their insight, it'd be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[yeah]

Your ability to do something like that depends on a couple of things:

1. The Platform that you built the site on. Is it Wordpress? Is it Google Sites? Some platforms (like WP) have URL functionality designed to prevent domain masking due to scamming/duplicate content/etc. You can typically get around that kind of stuff with a little PHP, but that varies on the functionality.

2. Do you own the domain name? A lot of people think they own their domain name, but in reality, they only rent it from their provider. And if you rent it, they may have regulations against this kind of thing.

3. If you want both domains to appear as independent results, even though they are essentially pointing to the exact same content, you may be penalized.

I would not recommend doing all of that... Instead, simply have your second URL redirect to the first (or vice versa.) Will save you time & effort.

 

[J A M E S]

Much love, thanks for the reply.