Having two domains for the same site

xsurveys · #1 (**permalink**) 02-24-2006, 08:09 PM

My site has 2 domain names : x-surveys.com and thefreelogomakers.com

Is this bad search engine wise? I didn't intend to do it that way but the first domain was x-surveys.com which was fine but I switched the content of the site some years ago - and created the new domain name. Except the old domain persisted and I had loads of reciprocal links to the old site name. Now I have a lot of links to both domain names and the different URls have different page ranks for the exact same pages!

Is this hurting me as far as duplicate content ?

cyanide · #2 (**permalink**) 02-26-2006, 12:17 PM

Yes you could have a problem with duplicate content.
You will have to create 301 redirects from the old domain to the new one.

You should also contact the people that link to your old site, to change it to your new one

xsurveys · #3 (**permalink**) 02-28-2006, 08:18 AM

This is what makes me wonder about whether having 2 domains is really that bad. I've had 2 domains with identical content for about 2 - 3 years now - and I've had no real problems with page ranking. In fact it's just been growing on both domains ....

Are we really being punished for duplicate content for just 2 domains ? Or is it for large numbers of sites that have duplicate content ?

And if the sites are growing in traffic, search engine placement and page ranks, what's the benefit of me getting rid of one domain.

cyanide · #4 (**permalink**) 02-28-2006, 11:13 AM

Some good questions.
I have seen many people get away with doing things google doesn't like, then all of a sudden their ranks drop.

It's like being a criminal... do it long enough and eventually you get caught.

Quite possibly in your case, maybe you have just enough unique content that you fly under G's radar

ctabuk · #5 (**permalink**) 02-28-2006, 11:24 AM

It's confession time - I have mirror site too, which I won't post here, it's a back up in case of emergencies and it's been up for 8 years. And I've got over 50 top spots on G and well over a 1,000 in all.It's hosted, it links straight in and self updates. But Google ignores it!