will I get penilized by the search engines if....

[fiuOY]

Hello,

I was wondering if a search engine penilizes you for saving the index page with different names, and if it's even worth it. For example:

index.html
service1-miami.html
service2-miami.html
miami-best-service3.html

and all being the same page....

Thanks in advance

[Gibble]

I would use 301 redirects for the 'duplicate' pages.

[fiuOY]

Novice here...

Can you be a little more specific. What's 301?

[the_nerd]

301 is a permantent redirect from the old url to a new one. This forum is full with info about it.

If you don't want to dig into it, just fill your different files with nice unique content. Helps you, your reader and the search engines.

[phantombookman]

will I get penilized by the search engines if....

As a rule of thumb I would advise against any practice or idea that is prefixed with a question like this.

[Ahurley]

Is a 301 redirect a server side redirect. I use a host that allows me to set a redirect. I know that a 301 is done by altering the htaccess file, but I am not sure it this is the best redirect to use for my site that I want to redirect to another domain. It has been increasing in rank, but I want to consolidate my domains.

Thanks

[jaffstar]

index.html
service1-miami.html
service2-miami.html
miami-best-service3.html

If they all have the same content, you will suffer from the duplicate content filter, not a good idea.

[Robert Charlton]

You never want to have the same content showing on more than one url.

I would use 301 redirects for the 'duplicate' pages.

Doesn't really make sense unless some of the dupes had really good inbound links from sources separate from those linking to the other pages. Once you use the 301, the original page isn't there any more, so unless there were links to preserve, why have them?

But I think even the redirects in this kind of suspect setup would be asking for trouble. I would simply get rid of the duplicate pages.

[fischermx]

Being a bit risky, but I would rather send a 404 to search engines and a 301 redirect to the users.

[zorde]

But I think even the redirects in this kind of suspect setup would be asking for trouble. I would simply get rid of the duplicate pages.

I cannot imagine why the search engine would penalize you for using 301 permanent redirects. It is not as if a 301 is a way of tricking the spider, it is a legitimate way of saying the page has permanently moved.

If you are still receiving hits on your old pages then deleting them could cost you sales, a bad move if you ask me.