Two URL's pointing to same website, and adwords.

Can Google Handle this or will this double serve?

[lgn1]

We like to include the product name in our display url in adwords.

However our domain name is very long, and we don't have the space to do this.

We just purchased a short domain name (which is our acroymn), and we plan on using our short domain name. They will both point to the same place (same IP and same website, ie an ALIAS.

I plan on running both campaigns side by side as a test,

long_branded_company_name.com

and

short_name/green_widgets.com

as the display URL

I'm hoping that Google will know that these sites are identical, and will not double serve.

I am not trying to double serve or game google, just test my branding url vs a more descriptive display url.

Should I contact Google first, or is this a common practice they handle?

[LucidSW]

I'm assuming that you are doing this from the same Adwords account. If so, the system will only use one ad from your account to display. I'm assuming you are also saying the ads are being triggered by the same keywords. Note that you cannot have ads pointing to two different domains in the same ad group. You will have to have separate groups for this test.

If from two accounts, this is against TOS and could get you banned. This option is not recommended if you want to be in Google's good books.

To do your test, you will have to have exact duplicates: same keywords and same ads save for your display and destination URLs. Otherwise, the test will be invalidated and results will mean nothing. Some even say this test will not give meaningful results because they believe the display URL (the domain part) has an effect on click rate. I guess it could if the domain contains one of the search words but I'm not entirely convinced of that. Adding the keyword as a page can help with CTR, which I'm guessing is what your test is all about.

Note that if your display URL is short_name.com, that's the domain the click must land on. In other words, don't redirect to long_branded_company_name.com as this is against TOS.

[lgn1]

I should have map this out on paper, as it was straight forward.

I will have two separate ad groups, one using the short domain name, the other using the long domain name.

Only one of the sites will trigger the keyword. I will probably need to tweek the bidding to get somewhere around 50% from each; as they may have differnt QS.

One ad gets picked up over the other, and Google does not care if it actually goes to the same identical content.

Simple. I should never post, before I have my morning coffee :)

[smallcompany]

one using the short domain name, the other using the long domain name

I used to do this very long time ago, and G decided that some URLs' minimum bid would actually be maxed at $10 (this was the time when there was no QS but a weak URL would be punished with $10 minimum bid).
In this way G has told me to pick one URL and carry on.

and Google does not care if it actually goes to the same identical content

I believe it is the opposite - Google does care. Again, long time ago, G introduced, I'll call it, "site or URL association" where they would associate multiple URLs so they were treated as a same website. This way, G would prevent double, triple, etc serve from non-associated accounts using same or similar sites. There was a period when big companies used to create micro sites they would use in paid search besides their main sites. This still happens.
Now, would this trigger any kind of punishment if you use sites within the same account, not sure.

Maybe the best is actually to ask Google and explain that you want to test how users respond to the two URL variations so you learn about which one to use going forward. Google does offer A/B testing.

[ffctas]

Be very careful. Google will spider each domain so that you will have duplicate pages with the same content.

[lgn1]

Since this is trial for several weeks, with the offending domain name being retired, im not to concern about duplicate content.

The is a profitable pure adwords website. Organic traffic is very small, compared to adwords traffic.

Putting it under a google experiment, is a good idea. At least they will know my intentions.

[smallcompany]

Be very careful.

AdWords Policy:
[support.google.com...]

There may be more policies that touch your intention.

As I already said, contact Google first. It can only help.

[lgn1]

I don't think having two urls pointing to the same site is called mirroring, as the Google should be smart enough to show one ad at a time.

However, I will check with Google to make sure, and tape the call with Google support, as evidence, if I run into problems.

[snoopy1122]

Interested in this also, not sure I am game to try it with Google mirroring policy, it is a pity because I think URL choice can have a big effect on CTR.