Multiple Questions: Two domains, one is .com the other .ca what to do?

7 replies
  • SEO
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I am working on a client's new site and he has two domains where he wants to upload the exact same site content. The sites both have the same name with only thing different being the .com and the .ca . I am under the impression that google penalizes this kind of stuff.

His .com domain ranks high, whereas his .ca not so much, but he wants his .ca to be more visible.

Question 1: Will Google penalize him for this?
Question 2: Can I just redirect his .com domain to his .ca domain in the cPanel without it effecting his SEO?
Question 3: Slightly unrelated, but he forgot to renew the .com domain and it was down for about a month. Will his ranking get back to back normal once I upload the new site, or will it take a bit of time?

Thanks for any help that you guys provide.
#domains #google #multiple #questions
  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    Originally Posted by Zing Media View Post

    I am working on a client's new site and he has two domains where he wants to upload the exact same site content. The sites both have the same name with only thing different being the .com and the .ca . I am under the impression that google penalizes this kind of stuff.

    His .com domain ranks high, whereas his .ca not so much, but he wants his .ca to be more visible.

    Question 1: Will Google penalize him for this?
    Question 2: Can I just redirect his .com domain to his .ca domain in the cPanel without it effecting his SEO?
    Question 3: Slightly unrelated, but he forgot to renew the .com domain and it was down for about a month. Will his ranking get back to back normal once I upload the new site, or will it take a bit of time?

    Thanks for any help that you guys provide.
    1. No. Both sites are unlikely to rank highly though if they have the exact same content throughout the entire site.

    2. You do not want to just do a domain level redirect. In other words, you don't want all the pages of the .com to redirect to the homepage.ca. You need to have a redirect for each individual page to the corresponding page on the .ca site.

    3. Rankings should return, but it won't be instantly.


    All that being said, if he has a .com ranking fine, why does he want to bother with a .ca? That is kind of... well... dumb.

    If anything, I would develop the .ca as a new, but related site and try to rank it also for similar keywords.

    Take up more real estate in the SERPs that way.

    I'm really hesitant to start messing around with anything that is already ranking okay.
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    • Profile picture of the author Zing Media
      Ok thanks for the help. He wants to rank the .ca address because he has had business cards and brochures printed using the .ca address and wants it to be higher up the page ranks because of that. Only problem is is that his .com is the address that people are finding in the search results.
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      • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
        Originally Posted by Zing Media View Post

        Ok thanks for the help. He wants to rank the .ca address because he has had business cards and brochures printed using the .ca address and wants it to be higher up the page ranks because of that. Only problem is is that his .com is the address that people are finding in the search results.
        Then an easier solution would be to just redirect the .ca to the .com.
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  • Profile picture of the author Andrew Gazdecki
    I would have one main website.

    And just redirect one of the domains to the main website.

    Google will absolutely penalize you for all the duplicate content.
    Signature

    Andrew Gazdecki - CEO at Bizness Apps, Inc.
    http://www.BiznessApps.com

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    • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
      Originally Posted by Andrew Gazdecki View Post

      I would have one main website.

      And just redirect one of the domains to the main website.

      Google will absolutely penalize you for all the duplicate content.
      No they won't. That is not how it works.

      They don't like duplicate content on the SAME website.

      If they punished stuff like that, websites publishing song lyrics would all be F'd.
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  • Profile picture of the author nadeemakhtar
    Yes google don't like duplicate content Your site will be effect under Panda i think you should change the content add fresh content with LSI keywords don't keep same content on both site your site will be penalized
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  • Profile picture of the author michaelkoehler92
    I see you are getting mixed answers here. But as per my experience you wont face any penalty since you wont file a DMCA on yourself.
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