What you suggest ??

[bperfect]

Hi.. I have 2 websites .com and .net .. and .net is the main site and .com is forwarded to .net both have 5 PR. Now the issue is this that .com has a directory listing in yahoo and dmoz but .net has inward links.. I would like to consolidate this to one so that the PR may go up.. what you think should be the way to go?
Thanks as always

[crazylogic]

I don't know why it works like this currently in google but most methods to consolidate content are disliked by google.

The first two to concern yourself with are redirects and duplicate content. which either lead to one site being banned or hijacked.

Then the next problem is if you keep both sites too aviod link methods that may appear as if you want to transfere the PR of one site to another.

If the object is too create a PR6 site I believe you need to look at a larger number of PR5 sites .... I've liked the num 6 as a base log value meaning that 6 PR1 linking to a 7th site the 7th site would be PR2 --- 6 PR2s linking to a site would be PR3 ------ six PR5 sites would be needed to create a PR6.

It could become much easier in the next 6 months to combine two sites. SE tend to change alot in less than a year.

[Wail]

It's not worth consolidating to chase PR. The PR you see in the toolbar isn't that important for your search positions. It's worth consolidating to avoid duplicate content issues and to give you users a better experience.

Okay, you can access the site by both .com and .net addresses. Do the internal hyperlinks use either .com or .net once you're there? (ie, you've used relative addressing and not absolute)? If your internal hyperlinks take you back to .net then you should consolidate on .net and if your internal hyperlinks use .com then you should consolidate on .com.

Take a look at Google's cache of your site. If you look at Google's cache of your .net pay attention to the white info bar Google puts at the top of the cached copy and check to see what Google says there. You might find that even when you're looking at the cache of your .net then Google says you're looking at the cache of the .com. You might find that even when you're looking at the cache of your .com that Google says you're looking at the cache of the .net. If this is the case then Google's worked out that the two sites are one in the same and has done some consolidation for you. You should follow Google's lead on this and consolidate on what Google thinks is the lead URL.

We're talking about putting 301 redirects in place to transfer status and users from one domain to the other.

[bperfect]

Thanks Wail,

I already have 301 in place .com is redirected to .net.. whenever I search for the links that are in the google for .net it adds up .com links as well.. do you think that I should keep it this way only and start building links on .net ?

Do you suggest any quick way to build links honestly otherthan link farms..

Thanks as always.. looking for your early reply.

[Wail]

Just to be clear, bperfect, let's say your .com site is www.example.com. Go to Google and search for cache:www.example.com it should say something like "This is Goog e's cache of http://www.example.net/ as retrieved on May 26, 2005 12:14:34 GMT."

In fact, if you do try this actually with cache:www.example.net you'll see Google's cached www.example.com (the other way around from you).

If Google really has locked onto your .net then that's the one you should encourage links to.

bperfect, don't use link farms. They're harmful at worst (Google will penalise you) and useless at best (a patent application describes how Google ignores these links as it does guestbook links too - anything without human control). The sort of links you want are those from trusted, human edited and content rich sites. The best way to do this is have content on your own site which encourages links to it.

Make it easy for people to link to you; have a "how to link to us" page.

The standard ethical SEO option these days is to submit your link to web directories. Many web directories are free these days. These are edited web pages and so Google (Yahoo and MSN too) pay them (some) attention.

[bperfect]

Cool Wail,

Thanks for your reply.. infact most of the people were unable to reply to my post in various other forums.. I really appreciate your indept study.. you were right.. google has locked down my .net because the cache of cache:example.com and cache:example.net are showing the .net cache and that too of the same time..

Apart from few directory links of .com I have few other inward links as well for .com, so should I change those inward links that point towards example.com to example.net .. will it be of any benefit ?

last but not the least.. thanks for your link building suggestions.. I was looking at some text link brokers.. i hope google might be aware of them as well .. so should i think that you saved me penality and good amount of money ? :-)

[Wail]

bperfect, I wouldn't change anything. Now that you've got your 301 going the right way I would carry on as normal.

Google looks for anything unnatural - anything out of the ordinary. Sites redirect to replacement sites all the time but it's rare for a lot of links to be updated to follow the change. By changing a lot of links at once then you're doing something unnatural and Google will notice.

This doesn't mean your links to the old domain are wasted as the 301 will transfer their weight (or most of it) across.

This is the same reason why link buying is dangerous. If you have to buy a batch of links at once then Google will notice the sudden spike in inbound links and become suspicious.