Domain vs IP

[crxvfr]

I work for a place that has 2 websites. Its actually 2 different dealerships. Both of these dealerships have a website and when I run the domain names thru a convert 2 IP tool, the same IP comes up and its for the host.

The owner wants to open another website, same host, same script, and I'm trying to avoid a duplicate content penalty from the search engines but the very first thing I checked has confounded me.

I'm confused. How does this work? This host serves over 900 websites off the same script and all have the same ip, as far as what this tool says.

[LifeinAsia]

The duplicate content penalty is a penalty for having the same content as another site. I take it the dealerships are different companies (e.g., Ford, Honda)? If so, they're not going to have duplicate content- the Ford site will show content for Ford cars and the Honda site will show Honda-related content.

If the owner wants to open a site for a 3rd dealership (e.g., Mercedes), again, no problem.

However, if all 3 sites are identical (same brand, excat same content), then you risk the DC penalty. In that case, pick one domain and use 301 directs from the other 2 sites to the main site.

[crxvfr]

Thanks for the reply. I've come to find that ALL 900+ dealer websites this host serves comes up with the same IP address, which points to the host, when you check dns records.

I'm assuming they run their own name servers or something. I don't know server stuff very well.

They all run off the same script too. Do you think we will still have to worry about a duplicate content penilty?

[LifeinAsia]

See my previous post. The keyword here is CONTENT. If all the other sites have different content, then there's nothing to worry about.