Need clarification for client with multiple domains

[subgenius]

When a client has multiple domain names registered that point to the same IP address, is it best to:

1. have all the incoming links point to one of the domains (e.g. ten links to domain1.com and zero links to domain2.com), or

2. will the search engines figure out if domain1.com has six incoming links, and domain2.com has four?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[ccDan]

Are you talking about links, as in hyperlinks?

Or are you just talking about domain name forwarding/pointing?

In other words, you have companyname.com. You also have redwidgets.com and bluewidgets.com, both of which forward/point to companyname.com?

So, companyname.com/index.htm, redwidgets.com/index.htm and bluewidgets.com/index.htm are all the same page, correct? If someone types in "bluewidgets.com" they end up at companyname.com, but the URL shows up in the browser Go bar as "bluewidgets.com" is that correct?

If that is correct, you don't want to do that. Instead, keep companyname.com as your main domain. Then, have the other domains 301 redirect to companyname.com.

[gpmgroup]

1

(re 2 some do (sometimes) but some don't & you need a 301)

[subgenius]

So, companyname.com/index.htm, redwidgets.com/index.htm and bluewidgets.com/index.htm are all the same page, correct? If someone types in "bluewidgets.com" they end up at companyname.com, but the URL shows up in the browser Go bar as "bluewidgets.com" is that correct?

If that is correct, you don't want to do that. Instead, keep companyname.com as your main domain. Then, have the other domains 301 redirect to companyname.com.

Yes, that's correct. My client has two domain names. To use your example, redwidgets.com is their old domain and has several high quality incoming links. They've recently switched their primary domain to companyname.com in order to promote their brand. Both domains point to the same content (i.e. redwidgets.com/index.htm looks exactly the same as companyname.com/index.htm), and are hosted using the same shared server account.

So, would the best solution be to:
1. Have my client choose which of the two domains will be the primary one (for both e-mail and linking purposes), then
2. Try to get all of the incoming (hyper)links to point to the selected domain, and finally
3. Write 301 redirects for any additional domains that point to the selected domain?

Matt

[ccDan]

So, would the best solution be to:
1. Have my client choose which of the two domains will be the primary one (for both e-mail and linking purposes), then

Yes.

2. Try to get all of the incoming (hyper)links to point to the selected domain, and finally

If you can. But, with the redirects, if people click on those links, they'll just be redirected to the proper site. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong here.)

Just make sure you keep renewing those domain names. ;)

3. Write 301 redirects for any additional domains that point to the selected domain?

Yes.

[gpmgroup]

3) 301s for www & non www's is better

[subgenius]

One follow-up question: if my client has been using redwidgets.com and I write 301s so that other registered domains forward to redwidgets.com, will the 301s affect the way my client's e-mail works, or does the redirect only affect the domain names used to access the web server?

Thanks to everyone for their input so far.

Matt