Mirror .com & .co.uk sites on Google.co.uk

If they share the same IP address, is there a danger?

[Calum]

Newby with a toughie question here.

There is much talk about a mirror .com and .co.uk site being banned by google.
I have such a site, they are hosted by the same company and even share the same IP address.
Google hasn't banned me and I'm wondering what the hype is about? If there is a significant danger, then I'll happily point the .com directly to the .co.uk - advice?

Also, the .co.uk gets the lion share of listings on google.co.uk - whilst the .com looks to get attention for one of its pages (interestingly, the page that that .com gets listings for - the .co.uk doesn't appear for). Could I be diluting the popularity of the site and therefore consider another configuration?

Thanks guys
Calum

[curlykarl]

If you want to keep your u.k traffic then its best do to a 301 redirect on your .com to your .co.uk

I have done the same with no hassle.

Karl :)

[Calum]

Thanks for the advice Karl.

Would you mind offering any more background to why you recommend a 301 redirection?

[curlykarl]

S.E's will only list one of the two domains, it's best to have the .co.uk listed rather than the .com, this way you are guaranteed to show up for uk only searches.

As far as I know using a 301 redirect is the only way to guarantee it taking effect properly, it should take a few weeks before you see a difference

Karl

[irishaff]

a bit more complex but you could also use a geo ip redirect software on your dot com. I use this to detect location on my visitors redirect them into the geo site, works a treat.