alias domain names and google

How does google feel about alias domain names

[EAHunt]

How does google feel about alias domain names. We are launching a brand new site for a customer and she has worked hard to brand herself as "great name to the walkin customer". She wants to use that name, but I am suggesting something like "productnameonline.com"
or "e-product.com" Her competition who ranks very high has "product.com".

Any suggestions? Without getting into duplicate content?

Would a site set up for informational content with links to the product site be considered spam?

[jonrichd]

You can have multiple domain names, but you should try to expose one to the search engines by using only one domain name for your inbound links. Pick one, but be consistent. This will build up your PR for that domain name.

You should probably use a 301 redirect on all other domain names. This will tell the search engines to only use the one domain name you choose for their listings.

HTH

[heini]

There are several threads over the last couple of days about brandname vs keyword name.
If your client has a good branded name and feels comfortable with it I would by all means go with that.
The advantage of keyword domains is not that huge, and may very well decrease further. The arguments in this case for using the branded domain name are much stronger.