Redirect Question: Which Domain Should I 301?

Do I keep domain with more IBLs, or domain with more indexed pages?

[thewebshop]

I'm wondering if anyone can help me answer a question. I've scoured WebmasterWorld and can't find anything similar so I'm hoping someone out there will have some insight.

I have a website which was created some time ago that you can get to using two different domains (Domain A and Domain B)

As I understand it, having two different domains pointing to the exact same content is not good and based on what I have read and seen, it seems the best course of action is to 301 redirect one domain to the other.

The problem I'm having is that Domain A has many good quality IBLs but few indexed pages in comparison to Domain B. Domain B has the reverse problem in that it has substantially more pages indexed but far fewer IBLs than Domain A.

The question I have is which domain would be better to redirect to which domain? Would it be better to redirect the domain with more IBLs to the one with more indexed pages or redirect the one with more indexed pages to the one with more IBLs?

I realize that the 301 redirection is risky at best but I'm pretty sure that something must be done.

If anyone could provide insight I would appreciate it very much. I'd be glad to provide further clarification on the problem if need be.

[lammert]

301 redirection is not a risky business in the long run. It may however take some time to settle. I think in your situation the end result will only be positive, because both domains are now competing with each other in the SERPs and each stronger page pushes its component from the other domainname out of the SERPs. Once the 301 redirection is picked up by the search engines, the value of the pagerank now diverted over both domains will add up, giving each page more PR than it had previously.

If the inbound links to domain A are one way links that other webmasters placed voluntarely, I would go for domain name A. It may be that domain name looks more professional or niche specific that it has more trust to receive natural inbound links. So my idea would be to go for the IBLs.

[thewebshop]

Thank you lammert. So just to confirm what you're suggesting, you think that keeping Domain A with more inbound links and 301 redirecting Domain B to A would be more beneficial in the longrun?

[jimbeetle]

If I ad a choice I'd keep domain A and the inbounds and redirect B, but be sure to do it on a page to page basis, if possible, and not shotgun redirect all of B to A's index or something similar. And, as lammert pointed out, it might take a bit for the redirects to take hold, but should be worth it in the long run.

[Robert Charlton]

Since the pages are all the same (it's the same site under two different urls, I assume), this can't be done on a page to page basis. It's one domain or the other.

I'd be careful to evaluate link quality as well as quantity. If Domain A has a run of site link, eg, that could easily make you believe it has a better linking situation, but it might not. The fact that Domain B has more pages indexed might be telling you something about the quality of its inbounds compared to Domain A's.

In addition to link quality, also compare link sources (ie, how many linking sources these sites have in common), and for each domain how easily you can get links changed if you redirect the domain.

You might also run some searches to see which domain comes up for your most desired phrases. Since the sites are the same, only one should come up for a given query.

I don't think it's going to be a simple choice.

[thewebshop]

Thanks Robert.

I think the IBLs of the domain with more IBLs are all to the homepage and I'll have to evaluate the quality of the links. Thanks for mentioning the common links between both domains as this is something I had not thought of. I'll look into that tomorrow. Sound advice Robert.