Which domain is the best to use?

[melchapman]

Which domain is best to use?

I have two domain names. One to submit to search engines and one that is used for print marketing and such. Which domain should be the main one... the one that shows up on the address bar once at the site?

Currently... jacksonville-ponte-vedra-florida-real-estate.com is the one that is submitted to the search engines and shows up in the address bar. buythathome.net is the one that is 301 redirected.

Would it hurt to have buythathome.net as the main domain and have the jacksonville-ponte-vedra-florida-real-estate.com redirected since this is the one that is submitted to the search engines?

Let me know if the question was not asked properly.

Thanks to all who comment.

[BuckfastMonk]

jesus-what-a-spammy-domain-name.com :rolleyes:

[spidergirl]

The domain that you will want displayed in the search engines and plan to build your linking campaign around. The one that is not 301 redirected is what will be what will show up in the SERPs. A 301 redirect tells the search engine that this site has permanently moved and to use the site that you are redirecting them to instead.

The domain with all the keywords is pretty spammy and it not something that the user will easily remember so I’m assuming that’s why you are not using this on your print collateral. By using two vastly different domains you do run the risk of hurting brand recognition especially if you are running a strong offline campaign, since with the current set up you explained the spammy domain is what will be displayed in the search results if I search for your brand name.

Was the keyword domain just purchased for SEO purposes, why the huge difference in the names of the domains? Although having keywords in your domain can assist in search engine positioning it’s only a small part of the equation. Content and links have alot higher importance.

One thing to keep in mind when changing your domain strategy is you do have the consider the age of the domain that is currently in the search engines and its current linkage popularity (looks like you have no incoming links anyway). With any domain switch you do run the risk of being sandboxed.

Hope this helps.