Duplicate domain name, different suffix penalty

Seeking advice on best action after penalty

[HenryUK]

Hmm. I now know what I should have done in the first place, but now I am seeking advice on the best course of action.

We have two domains pointing to exactly the same site: www.example.com and www.example.co.uk. Not similar content, not mirrored, but precisely the same server/IP address etc.

For reasons that I won't bore you with www.example.com is the preferred name. I have spent some time getting old links to www.example.co.uk pointing to the .com address instead.

Before the last update the .co.uk address had PR5 and the .com address PR6. Results from both sites were coming up well on Google.

You know what is coming. In the last update Google decided that the .com address (which had better PR and more backlinks) was going to be "greyed out".

No bitterness here - I understand why this happens and accept that I should not have been getting two bites at the SERPS.

Question is as follows: should I (a) put a 301 redirect on the .co.uk address, tell Google what I have done and wait patiently for the .com address to be reinstated OR (b) give up on the .com address and go back to the various webmasters linking back and ask them to change their links back again...

I would prefer to do (a) but I'd really like to hear from someone who has done the same thing and been reinstated.

[lazerzubb]

Yepp i would go with a 301 redirect.
Google really seem to like it too.