Identical Sites...different PR Rating

[wellzy]

I have made two almost identical sites with different domians and submitted them to Google. One got a PR0 and one got a PR2. I find that odd. The one with the PR0 should have done better. This is my first go round with Google. Any ideas?

[WebGuerrilla]

Hi Wellzy,

Welcome to WebmasterWorld,

If Google encounters two identical sites, the domain with the most incoming links will be the one that is given PageRank.

The duplicate site is usually ignored.

[wellzy]

Thats what I expected when I built the sites, but it is backwards. The site with less content and hardly any backlinks got the PR2. Odd...

[piskie]

When Google comes accross duplication, the choice of which one is given PR may depend on a time factor. This could be by first indexed or file date.

If one site is given an actual White Bar PR0 then it is penalised and there are probably a hundred or more threads on this forum discussing "PR0" if you use the site search facility.

This is totaly different to a greyed out bar which normaly means not yet indexed.

If you do in fact have a "PR0" you may have to consider scrapping that particular domain name because lifting this penalty is unpredictable in timescale. 3 months, 6 months a year, even never. Who knows?

[wellzy]

I got a newbie question. Can I post the links here and have you tell me if they would be considered identical. I got to looking at them and they are fairly different. All the links go to different sites. I don't think Google could have considered them duplicates.
wellzy

[Marcia]

Sorry wellzy, but you can't post the URLs. We simply can't do individual site reviews, it's in the Terms of Service [webmasterworld.com] and also in the Google Forum Charter [webmasterworld.com]. We'd be swamped beyond what it would be possible to handle.

I'm dealing with a related situation. I've found out that a site I just started working with has two additional domains pointed to it. They all return a 200, and all have links to them from one particular site, with the 2 having that as the only link, but the main site having many. It's not quite the same thing, but it still comes down to practices that entail risk, in varying degrees.

In the case I mentioned I believe there could be a penalty down the road and it needs to be remedied ASAP. Too often people do things without realizing the possible implications. In your case, I'd ditch one of those sites, and either stay with just one or make a whole different, unique site with the other, unless it is, in fact, penalized.

As far as how different yours are - differences in color scheme aren't relevant. How similar are they in HTML structure and navigation, and most important, how close is the site content - the text? If they're affiliate sites, do they have the same vendors linked to? Where are there actual elements of similarity, and in what ways are they different?

[piskie]

IMO when the HTML is stripped off, the remaining text should differ by a minimum of 20% in words and phraseology. The trouble is you can't measure that 20% difference, it's downt to intuitive common sense.

By the way Marcia do you see any problem with:
myurl.com and myurl.co.uk both pointing to the same server space.

[Marcia]

piskie, I believe there's no problem if there's a 301. Not 302, which is what happens with some redirection and when domains are pointed by the registrar. I just had a client do that without telling me, and there was a problem that had to be fixed - the main site got dumped at Alta and FAST and Google got both, so there was duplicate content with two domains. I got frantic and sent out panic emails as soon as I found it at Google and checked the others. In fact, the main lost the ranking altogether at FAST - now it's back, after being corrected to a 301. It's just for lost type-in traffic because of name similarity so it's legit, but major problems could have been on the way had it not been caught.

It should be 301, not 302 - there's a difference. jdMorgan explained it in a thread in Webmaster General, and it's words to the wise that should be listened to.

Check out the dynamite mod_rewrite tutorial DaveAtIFG did in our Technology forum. I'm not a tech expert, very far from it, and that's clear as a bell even to me. Also look up 301 redirection and mod_rewrite in the site search.

Thanks for the 20% reminder. I seem to remember that figure, but wasn't sure. It does sound about right. That can be important, especially on product or catalog pages where common navigation is carried across and there isn't much unique on each page text-wise.

[wellzy]

The sites are different enough. They are both affiliate sites. One is not owned by me, the other is. I maintain them both. I have quite a few more offerings than he does. The phraseology is totally diffent, the design is quite similar though. The wording is totally different because I did not copy and paste. I'm new at optimization and learning every day. I also have a second domain name pointing to my site. Does that hurt? One is www.myurl.com, the other is www.myurl.net. I appreciate all your help. You are all great.