Domain Masking with New Keyword-Rich Domains

[jbreeden]

Hello, friends. We have an ecommerce site and we also own several keyword-rich domains but haven't done anything with them yet. Is there any value in using domain masking to point them to either product pages or special landing pages on our primary ecommerce site? Here's an example:

Primary site is widgetzone.com

Keyword rich URL is acmewidget.com (which is totally blank and isn't indexed)

It could point to our category page for Acme Widgets: widgetzone.com/category/acme-widgets

or it could point to a new landing page: widgetzone.com/acme-widgets

My concern is that because the keyword-rich URL hasn't been utilized at all there's really no point in redirecting it. I'm of the mind that it's either going to be ineffective at best or a duplicate content issue at worst. What do you guys think?

As a follow-up, if we don't redirect these domains, what should we do with them? Just try to sell them off rather than create totally new sites?

[DigitalGuru]

The biggest concern is duplicate content.

If the domain acmewidget.com points to widgetzone.com/acme-widgets and that directory is accessible from the widgetzone.com website then the search engines will see acmewidget.com as a duplication of widgetzone.com/acme-widgets and almost certainly exclude it from the search engines.

I'd recommend setting up microsites under your keyword rich domains that sell a small range of products - the work load is manageable and as long as you provide some unique descriptions and content will work alongside your main website.