2 Domains With Same Name But 1 With A Number

[ArgosSEM]

We have been marketing a website for a client with a domain name example2.com. Their main site example.com is used to post information about their services and example2.com is their eCommerce site they use to sell their products. After the Google Penguins update, we have lost all rankings for example2.com. We did not do any unethical, black hat SEO and I am pretty sure its wasn't just mistakenly blocked. We use the same strategy for our other clients and they have not been impacted. Do you guys think the domain name has anything to do with it? Whats odd it example.com is now ranking for some keywords that example2.com used to rank for. We have never marketed that website or anyone else for that matter.

I have been scratching my head over this one for the past week and this is the only feasible problem I can think of.

[BenFox]

So is example.com ranking for terms that example2.com used rank for? If you check your analytics you should be able to see if those keywords are driving traffic.

I would doubt that it's solely the domain name causing this.

How far have the rankings slipped for exmaple2.com? Have all rankings dropped the same amount? Are head terms affected more than longtail terms? Does it still rank for it's brand name?

[ArgosSEM]

Yup, example.com is ranking for a few terms example2.com used to rank for. We do not have access to analytics for example.com, but my assumption is that those keywords are driving traffic as some are ranking on page 1.

The rankings have dropped very far. For keywords we were ranked on page 1, now have dropped to page 5. For some keywords we were ranked on page 2 have dropped to page 10+.

What odd is although head terms have had a bigger impact overall, there are a few head terms that have had a smaller drop then long tail terms.

Yes, surprisingly still ranking for the brand name but now example.com comes up first.