Hi everyone I have a hypothetical question (but the circumstances are very real). Let's say I have two different domains but with the same name. For example, I own the domain "purplechickensinpinkunderwear.COM" and "purplechickensinpinkunderwear.NET". Both domains use the same name even though they use different domain extensions (ie; one is a .COM and the other is a .NET). One site is a forum where people can join and discuss chickens and pink underwear. The other is a social networking site where people can discuss the same topics. Both sites are also linked to each other (ie; cross-linked) but not integrated with each other. Both sites have essentially the same member-base. However, the two sites are completely different in structure, design, content and overall purpose (ie; forums and social networks are not the same thing). Given the fact that Google prohibits duplicate sites and even though these are not, could just the fact that the domain names, topics and memberbase are essentially the same cause a red flag to go up, thus compromising my account?. What about the fact that the two sites are linked to each other?. The forum has been around for a good while with a lot of members. The social networking site is about 8 months old but just made public and is growing quickly. Both sites are completely legitimate (ie; plenty of content, no spam, porn, casinos, etc). I would love to get some input on this. Also, how would I contact Google and ask them the same question I've just posed here?. EDIT: I just wanted to clarify that the social networking site's "topics" isn't so much about "purple chickens" and "pink underwear" (even though the topic might be brought up to some extent) as it is a place where a lot of general topics are discussed, people update their status, create groups, profiles, blogs, etc. The atmosphere is different than the forum but also similar in some ways since the same people from the forum ALSO use the social networking site as well. Normally, I wouldn't think twice about slapping ads on the second site but with the economy be what is, money tight and an ever-present risk of account loss with almost zero chance of a successful appeal, one has to be extremely careful in these situations. Thank you, RedRobin
this shouldn't be an issue, different tld's are considered as different domains, altogether ... so shouldn't worry about it. Its like putting adsense on parent site and sub domains. I hope this helps in some way. Cheers
Thanks for the quick reply. You make an excellent point about parent site and sub domains, etc. I guess from some of the "horror stories" I've read about people having their accounts disabled, I've become a bit paranoid lately. I mean, technically, duplicate content can be construed to mean the word "the" or "purple chickens are really cool" appearing on more than one site (ie; similar content) but of course this would be a bit of a stretch. I guess what I'm wondering is just how strict they are when it comes to this sort of thing?. Also, would it be best to set up separate channels for the new domain or will just grabbing the same code be sufficient?. Thanks again, RedRobin
I've never thought about it that way! Do they see how many words are similar on a page? There's no way a person could check each one and no way a robot would be able to tell the difference if it wasn't straight copy pasted!