Changing domain names

[Sinbad]

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Hi,

I have a .com domain which attracts a lot of US traffic though I'm only after UK traffic. It was orginally hosted (temporarily) in the US, I've now switched it to a UK host. But I want to use a .co.uk name (the .co.uk of the .com I have is taken so it'd have to be different). What's the best way to go about converting the name over? It's not yet established but I have incoming links etc and I don't want to start over again. Should I do a redirect on the old domain or can I just have the same content on both domains or will the search engines not like that?

Also do all SE count .com hosted in the UK as a UK website? Or is a .co.uk domain more important at targetting UK traffic?

Thanks.

[AndyMN]

If you have content on both the SE's could ban you for duplicate content, we in the past have had to move domains

MensNiche -> MoreNiche
Penis-Health -> PenisHealth

How we did it was setup perminant redirects on the server so the SEO can see it has moved.

You normally lose your SE listings for a couple of weeks until google realised whats happened and then normally restores the listings again.

This is in my experience and to be honest that is limited.

[bapages]

Not knowing waahet the domain is, why not see if they will sell it to you. But do not say you are from the .com side as the price will inflate. Also if you are TM try legal action if they are in a similar market to you.

What about the euro domain name?

[Sinbad]

Thanks for the advice. No wouldn't be able to afford to buy the domain, I'm just a small fish in a big pond! Will setup a redirect and see how it goes.