need some urgent advice please with regard to Google analytics and multiple domains, and how best to handle them.

Got a very sensitive customer who has a number of domains: EG somethingvauxhall.co.uk, somthing-vauxhall.co.uk, something-group.co.uk, somethinggroup.co.uk, somethinggroup.com etc

I was under the impression it was always best to "funnel" all domains down to a single "master" domain. For example all the domains hitting this site are forwarded to www.somethinggroup.com.

Now I'd heard it was best to do this using a 301 Redirect. if memory serves. For a number of reasons I was unable to do this due to the setup on our server, so instead had to code forwarding manually in the codebehind (asp.NET). Like this:

    if(domain != "www.somethinggroup.com")
    {
        string forwardURL = "http://www.somethinggroup.com/";
        if(path != "")
        {
            forwardURL = forwardURL + path;
        }
        if(queryString != "")
        {
            forwardURL = forwardURL + "?" + queryString;
        }
        
        Response.Redirect(forwardURL);
    }

This now looks like this was a really bad idea because although the traffic levels look fine across the site, it's screwed up things like referring sites etc.

My question is this really: a) Was this a bad move? b) Would a 301 redirect me better from an analytics point of view? Or is it best just to let people hit the site using whatever domain name?

Any advice would be really gratefully received.

Thanks,

Andy.

I need some urgent advice please with regard to Google analytics and multiple domains, and how best to handle them.

Got a very sensitive customer who has a number of domains: EG somethingvauxhall.co.uk, somthing-vauxhall.co.uk, something-group.co.uk, somethinggroup.co.uk, somethinggroup.com etc

I was under the impression it was always best to "funnel" all domains down to a single "master" domain. For example all the domains hitting this site are forwarded to www.somethinggroup.com.

Now I'd heard it was best to do this using a 301 Redirect. if memory serves. For a number of reasons I was unable to do this due to the setup on our server, so instead had to code forwarding manually in the codebehind (asp.NET). Like this:

    if(domain != "www.somethinggroup.com")
    {
        string forwardURL = "http://www.somethinggroup.com/";
        if(path != "")
        {
            forwardURL = forwardURL + path;
        }
        if(queryString != "")
        {
            forwardURL = forwardURL + "?" + queryString;
        }
        
        Response.Redirect(forwardURL);
    }

This now looks like this was a really bad idea because although the traffic levels look fine across the site, it's screwed up things like referring sites etc.

My question is this really: a) Was this a bad move? b) Would a 301 redirect me better from an analytics point of view? Or is it best just to let people hit the site using whatever domain name?