Two Domains - Same Content

[markdamo]

I was recently at a search engine marketing event in Belfast and was told that having two domins with the same content is a big no no in googles eyes.

The problem is we have just recently bought www.andor.coma and are trying to push our visitors to that address now as appossed to the old address www.andor-tech.com
Currently both site are the same content and im wondering what will happen if i keep both running or even what i should do with the sites. I know i can do a redirect but would that not then mess up all my logs and show that people are coming from www.and-tech.com and not from a search engine and the redirected at andor-tech.com. hope that makes sense.

Mark

[PCInk]

I had no Google problems by pointing two domains to the same IP address. Google is clever enough to merge two domains together.

Hosting two identical site separately, may cause duplicate content penalties.

[growingdigital]

Do a 302 redirect to your new site. This should help you avoid any penalties.

[Marcia]

>>two domins with the same content is a big no no in googles eyes.

Google will more than likely just disregard one of them. Yahoo, however, may or may not handle it the same way. Pages have been known to lose rankings and traffic altogether for a redirect gone south, so it can be a big thing where Yahoo/MSN is concerned - and don't underestimate their value, they can deliver substantial traffic that can sustain a site financially.

302 is temporary and can cause problems with showing the pointing URL with the title and description of the one pointed to, as well as skewing the Page Rank.

Use a 301 Permanent Redirect.

Added:

im wondering what will happen if i keep both running or even what i should do with the sites. I know i can do a redirect but...

But Google will more than llikely treat the new domain as a brand new one; you can read through the forums for yourself to see what's been happening with Google where new sites are concerned.

[DoingItWell]

I have till recently had three domain names point to the same website using A records to point to the website. The result is a PR of 0. Now I have changed the forwarding method to CNAME records on the "add-on domains" instead, and am waiting to see what Google will do.

301 seems to be the magic method around here, and a method I use myself in some instances, but it would seem logical to use CNAME URL redirect when it concerns whole domains?