301 redirect while keeping OLD domain for branding

[carmenmardiros]

Say you have CharityName.com. They use a dedicated domain name CharityNameEvent.com to advertise their main event. They use this domain on posters, flyers,etc and want to keep using it because it's easier to remember. CharityNameEvent.com has far, far more inbound links than CharityName.com (about 8 times more).

Current problem: their current web developer has put the SAME content on both websites instead of setting up a redirect from CharityNameEvent.com (easy to remember) to CharityName.com/Event which would have made more sense.

My intention is to consolidate the 2 websites and make sure CharityName.com benefits from links to the Event. I plan to move and 301 redirect CharityNameEvent.com to CharityName.com/Event. I know this would keep links and PR intact but I have a couple of questions:

1. Is it enough to set up the 301 redirect or would they have to ask websites to ACTUALLY change the links to CharityName.com/Event?

2. They plan and need to keep using CharityNameEvent.com for its ease of use on posters, flyers, etc. The 301 redirect would be in place. Would this cause any problems with search engines, especially when/if some people STILL link to CharityNameEvent.com instead of CharityName.com/Event?

Basically, my understanding of 301 redirects is that they're used when a website permanently moves. In this case, the OLD DOMAIN name would still be used for reasons mentioned above but would be 301 redirected to CharityName.com/Event.

Any chance this might not maximise the potential of new/old links? Any other way to go about it? Anything I'm missing with this scenario?

Thanks

[rishil]

Read up on rel canonical - that will help with:

Keeping the old site live and giving direct load users the same experience instead of being redirected elsewhere, and transfer all the inbound link juice to the main site... (also takes care of cross domain duplicates)

Thats just one option of course...

[carmenmardiros]

Thank you for that. But the core issue is that the OLD SITE has the same content as the main site so it's a duplicate content issue as well which is why I'm considering the 301 redirect.

[rishil]

A rel canon will solve the duplicate content issue - telling Google that the "real" and "original" content sites on A not B.

[Getz.pro]

Yes, your approach to 301 is correct.

1. You should contact admins and have them change when at all possible. 301 do not pass 100% of juice

2. No. You will probably have fewer linking to this page as they will have ben 301ed before they copy the URL

[KeriMorgret]

Hi! I'm following up on older, unanswered questions. Can you tell us what you ended up doing in this case, and any lessons you learned that could be helpful to others reading this thread?

Thanks!