Two different domains with the same content

[juanmiguelcr]

Hi all, I just figured out that my client has two different domains with the same content, so the site will be penalized by Google:

www.piensapiensa.es

www.piensapiensa.com

Should I do a 301 redirection from one domain to the other one using the htaccess file as usual chosing one of them as canonical?

redirect 301 piensapiensa.es www.piensapiensa.com?

Thanks.

[Chris.Menke]

Hi Juan,

Here's a good primer on your redirect options:

http://www.seomoz.org/learn-seo/redirection

[eyepaq]

Hi,

First of all Google dosen't have any penalties for duplicate content.  There are some filters that are touching duplicate content but there are no specific filters or penalties from Google for duplicate content.

You won't rank with the duplicate content (one of the versions) but that dosen't mean you are under a penalty. In some cases you might also rank with two pages - 1 and 2 as position if the "space" is not very tough.

So even if you will let this in the format you have it now - you won't get into troubles with both domains- again, with one you might not rank - that's about it.

As far as solution, if the dot es is targeting Spain - you should't 301 redirect to dot com.

You can use rel alternate or rel canonical cross domain in roder to provide the information that the content is the same.

301 redirects will also work if you choose one of the domain as the main content source - it's safer and faster but in my personal opinion you will need to assess the market, the content and take a decision based on that - don't rush into things as , again, you won't get any penalties or filters for this.

Hope it helps.