polishhill - 7:42 pm on Jan 6, 2009 (gmt 0)

OK, here's the deal:

I have a client that I just started consulting for. They have some SERIOUS duplicate content issues. I am not sure how to interpret some of the info that I am gleaning from google, wanted your opinions.

1) https pages indexed in google: BUT I can't find any duplicate pages indexed. That is to say that where the https is indexed, the http isn't and vice versa. Is this because some pages are being ignored b/c dup content? HERE's THE KICKER: All links sitewide use absolute https urls to point to other pages. YUCK!

a) If I fix the links and do a sitewide 301 fix, is this a good strategy? Will google penalize me for all the 301 wackiness? Will it hurt the site as approx 98% of the pages google reports in its index are https pages?
b) How in the world should I tackle this? Fix the links? Leave the links alone and use 301s? Use a conditional php 301 at the top of each page if "https" 301 to "http"?

2) They have purchased alias domains of "mypoorlydesignedsite.net" and "mypoorlydesignedsite.org" which use domain masking over the "mypoorlydesignedsite.com" web site. should I fix these with 301s as well?

I know this is a complicated one... that's why I took it to you folks. Thanks for your help. Let me know if I can provide any more info for you, or if I can help you out in any way in exchange for some quality advice.

Thanks!