Lots of mini-sites with nearly dup content

...works a wee bit in Yahoo etc but should I just redirect them?

[sandpetra]

I have a client who has a lot of mini-sites that dont too good in Google but ok (a wee bit!) in Yahoo and MSN. Most are near dup content so feature very little in Google.

My question is:

Should I just 301 these domains into my main site or just point the domains to the main site?

I fear Google might not like the way we have it set up as TPR is very low for the main site (so the links from these mini sites to the main site must be devalued or minimal).

[Quadrille]

If the minisites - as you suspect - have no value to visitors, then gambling that the SEs won't cotton on is probably wishful thinking.

The clue is that already, Google is not so generous as the others.

The safe and sensible approach would be the 301; the alternative is to wait for a rival to complain to Google ... the rest, as they say, will be history ...