2 Domains, which should I use?

[Tony Wang]

I have a new client with an auto body shop. He has been using 2 domains.

#1: "full-name".com spelled out, it's a bit long, that's why he created the other. This one is 7 years old and is tied to his GMB page, which ranks #9-10 for a couple important kw's. This domain is just single home page identical to his website, but all the links then point to the other domain.

#2: "initials".net, nice and short, only 2 years old, but ranks #10-13 for same kw's. Main website is here.

I'd appreciate any suggestions on which to use. If I just re-direct #2 to #1, would that pass PR or DA (or whatever else is important) to #1?

 

[Eric Rohrback]

So which one would people recognize? You're splitting effort between the two, and possibly creating a duplicate content scenario where you're forcing Google to pick which one should be the best to display to users. Go with the one which creates the most logical long term branding strategy. Don't think too much about "which one is better for search engines" because that will come with time and optimization. If you're saying they're not EMD for target keywords and just the guy's name, then it really doesn't matter. Brand the business correctly and make it easy for customers to find him online.

That's my input without knowing exactly what the domains are. Hope that helps.

 

[Tony Wang]

Thanks Eric. Owner felt neither one was ideal for branding. #1: centralpaintandbody.com, a bit long, but has the primary kw "body" and secondary "paint".

#2: capb.net, not much for branding but easy to remember. The main website is here, which has decent organic ranking.

Since #1 has decent local rankings and #2 has organic rankings, I'd like to preserve what I can without messing up the other. Does a simple domain redirect maintain PR or DA (or whatever else Google might deem important)?

 

[Eric Rohrback]

A 301 redirect will keep about 85-90% of link equity from the old domain

https://www.seroundtable.com/redirects-links-pagerank-16419.html

"The amount of PageRank that dissipates through a 301, is currently amount that will dissipate through a link" which in the old papers on PageRank was around 10-15%

So basically do whatever makes sense from a business case for branding. Don't worry as much about which one will rank better at this time. There are a lot of weird scenarios that could take place, so when in doubt I would take the strategy to create a stronger brand (Google really likes brands because of high trust).

Personally since it looks like centralpaintandbody.com has the brand name "Central Paint and Body" I would use that.