Duplicate site or not?

manse · 05-29-2004, 02:48 AM

Hi, thanks to all for the help I've had so far - I really appreciate it.

I own 2 domains, one with two words added together : www.modustrading.com which I am using and the other with the two words separated by a hyphen modus-trading.com which I have not yet had hosted.

Since learning about the implications of using relevant anchor text, file names and domains for example, it seems the hyphenated version might be the better bet so I am about the "enliven" this domain.

I am confused however as to the merits of creating say a duplicate site for the new domain or perhaps to somehow simply direct all those who find the modustrading site to the modus-trading. site.

Could anyone advise me of the advantages/disadvantages of each method or perhaps recommend the best overall approach.

Thanks.

lorandm · 05-29-2004, 04:10 AM

Hey manse,
A hypenated domain isn't nearly as good as a non hypenated one, even if it contains your keyword in it (trading).
I would suggest keeping the www.modustrading.com as your primary domain.

Just my 2 (euro) cents

manse · 05-29-2004, 11:24 AM

lorandm,

Thanks for your reply. When you say the non-hyphenated domain is better, you're talking from the "user friendliness" perspective right?

I can see how it might be better remembered as a single word so is your advice that this outweighs the value of having the word "trading" in the domain name from the link perspective?

Johan007 · 06-02-2004, 01:21 AM

Hyphens are overrated unless the link text used contains the domain name instead of the key words… so when you do link exchanges you tend to say “My Domain” and not “my-domian.com” as the link text.

lorandm · 08-13-2004, 03:45 AM

Manse,

I'm talking about the fact that even if the hypenated domain name contains your keywords, most of the search-engines like the non-hypenated version better.
Also, it's better branded. Usually users don't have any problems remembering hypenated domains, but they also like the non-hypenated ones.

On a basic domain check statistics, a value of a domain drops about 25% if ti's hypenated.

nextGoal100kVisitors · 08-14-2004, 01:59 AM

Quote:

I am confused however as to the merits of creating say a duplicate site for the new domain ...

I did some reading on duplicate content for a reason recently. It seems that having multiple domains that have the same content is a problem. However, what I don't understand clearly is, what "multiple" means. Does "multiple" mean 2, 3, 5, 10?

I understand that the best thing to do is to create original content, but there are number of situations that you end up creating duplicates(mirror site, co-branding, affiliate program, etc), and I wish someone clearly defines this for me. Also ... is having a duplicate a problem or ... having a duplicate AND inter linking them is a problem?