Multiple domains>>??

[FormsDesign]

Ok. Here it goes.

I have an australian domain .com.au registered and have attached au website to it that serves au customers.
What would be the best way to add .com domain to it (that attracts american customers)?

Is it as easy as registering .com domain and use the same website content? How would I go about doing this so it doesn't have any negative effects? Like duplicate content I imagine is not good for google.

I guess I would like to have an american domain that catches all the queries there and serves them. So if they choose to look for my keywords they would immediately be pointed to the .com domain rather than au.
Would there be something on top of this 2 domains that catches queries separately in us and au and then collect them together as my overall rankings of queries?

hope it makes sense :/ Gregory

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[rezzy]

What you can do is, point your .com and .com.au to your website. Configure your server to accept both domains and that should be enough.

The one thing that catches my thoughts is, you have to be careful your site uses relative links, that means you dont include the domain in your link. For example: "http://www.small-business-forum.net/website-management/10129-multiple-domains.html" vs "/website-management/10129-multiple-domains.html". The first style, will direct people back to the au.com domain, and will confuse people.

I personally dont see any issue with duplicate content, but it could be a concern. This is how I would address it. Others may have other suggestions.

[jimr451]

You could overlay both domains (have both domains load the same content), and use a "rel canonical" meta tag to make 1 domain the primary and avoid duplicate content. In that case though I don't think "both" sites would rank - only the primary. So if you are only getting traffic via searches, the second domain might not get any traffic anyway.

My personal suggestion is to get the .com domain and just use that one for everything. If there is country specific content for AU, then use that domain for anything unique to that site. When I have clients using multiple domains / websites, it just gets confusing and messy to keep things straight - unless each site has unique content and focus.

Anyway, that's my opinion on it.

-Jim

[Harold Mansfield]

I'd put a landing page on the .com that either captures contact info, or redirects to the main website for more information. This way you have an opportunity to use fresh or rewritten copy directed at your specific target audience, and kill all of your birds with one stone.

A redirected URL will not get you anything because it has no content on it. You'd have to promote that URL in other ways to drive people to it.
But you can SEO a splash or landing page to actually work for exactly what you are trying to do.

[FormsDesign]

thx for all your feedback guys. I will be setting this up in the near future. currently occupied with the AU domain alone, heheh :)
Wanted to add that It wouldn't really worry me making pages rank with SEO all over again under US domain. what I am concerned is with duplicate content. Is it a matter of just rewording/tweaking content a bit?

cheers,Gregory

[FormsDesign]

I was told google wouldn't red flag it if I put it on US domain (exactly the same content) and use google webmaster tools to geo-target US. could this be true?