what's better 2 sites or 1+301 redirect

[Jeroen]

A friend of mine has a business which uses:
[businessname].com
[businessname].nl

He hasn't a clue about SEO and i'm an expert neither.
He's using 2 websites, both have exactly the same content.
Am i right saying that 2 exact websites are duplicate content which means that google would rank it lower?

Isn't it better to have only 1 site, for example [businessname].com and that the domain [businessname].nl 301-redirects there (to [businessname].com)?

Thanks in advance

[KaneCo]

I would at least put the .nl in a different language if you do not then do a 301 redirect, it just makes no sense to do it the other way.

[Jeroen]

sounds logical, thanks!

I will suggest my friend to have site in English for the .com and Dutch for the .nl or the .com 301 redirected to the .nl site.

[mike031]

nobody needs to have multiple cctlds with the same content on there of their .com --- its working backwords.... domains are global and can be accessed by anyone, anywhere, u always wnat to be setup on a .com as your primary site of course, unless u are really targeting on the local level, in a certain country.. in this cases, it does make sense to have the cctld domain variation with the appropriate content as well and it won't hurt having it... it must be unique though

content dupe= big penalty by G

[Jeroen]

Mike031, thanks for your feedback!

Yes, the duplicate content was my concern. The business (pilot training) my friend has targets mainly The Netherlands and Belgium -so the primary language is Dutch- altough there may be some English speaking 'foreigners' in the program.

I will suggest him to keep the .nl site with the .com domain pointing to it while the .nl site has the choice of Dutch and English language.

cheers

[NameCharger]

My 0.2:

0.1: Publish the .nl site default language Dutch so it will get indexed in Google.nl
0.2: Publish the .com site default language English so it will get indexed in Google.com

[Jeroen]

Thanks for your feedback,
I like the idea of 2 sites, 2 languages. Will see how it goes, he's having some other marketing considerations as well. At least he needs to get rid of the duplicate content now.

cheers

[dutchezz]

I would create one website on the .com, but have a different language option forwarding to the .nl

[ecomindia]

nobody needs to have multiple cctlds with the same content on there of their .com --- its working backwords.... domains are global and can be accessed by anyone, anywhere, u always wnat to be setup on a .com as your primary site of course, unless u are really targeting on the local level, in a certain country.. in this cases, it does make sense to have the cctld domain variation with the appropriate content as well and it won't hurt having it... it must be unique though

content dupe= big penalty by G

I have been experimenting a lot these ays with content and names/

Case 1: 3 .net Domains masked to main 1 .com Domain
Big G has penalized 3 .nets who were masked (alias) to the main domain.
They now do not show anywhere at the same position and yes, the main domain pages too have reduced for most keywords !
Case 2: 2.org and 1.com domain
301 redirect domains done on .org to go to .com is working well.

Now I am reviewing how long does it take for G to update details for case 1.

Regards
Dipen

[loredan]

I'd say better go for two different domains, one in english and the other one in dutch. It doesn't make any sense to 301 redirect the .nl domain as you'll look to optimize it for dutch keywords. You can also do a geo targeting on your GWT account for the .nl domain.

Hope this helps
Thanks

[cport1]

if they are in different languages then have two sites... if not then a 301

http://jetpackmarketing.com

[draggar]

I'd say better go for two different domains, one in english and the other one in dutch. It doesn't make any sense to 301 redirect the .nl domain as you'll look to optimize it for dutch keywords. You can also do a geo targeting on your GWT account for the .nl domain.

Hope this helps
Thanks

I agree with this - just be sure to have them cross linked (have English (in English) on the Dutch site with a link to the .com and then have Dutch (in Dutch) on the English site with a link to the .nl

[Jeroen]

Thanks Draggar

[dominator]

My 0.2:

0.1: Publish the .nl site default language Dutch so it will get indexed in Google.nl
0.2: Publish the .com site default language English so it will get indexed in Google.com

that's how i (would) do it

[DomainName]

if the domain gets a trickle of type in traffic then yes you should complete a 301. If it gets zero uniques then it's not even worth developing or 301 IMHO.

[dominator]

if the domain gets a trickle of type in traffic then yes you should complete a 301. If it gets zero uniques then it's not even worth developing or 301 IMHO.

this is an existing business in NL
so it is worth developing in both languages

type-in is not relevant here