SEO - Multiple domains and similar websites - Is Google okay with this?

[Lemia]

A client of mine has multiple websites for his company (there are four that i know about so far). Each website looks slightly different but has exactly the same content. The content is displayed differently and each site has different navigation.

We are now rebuilding his website but he insists on keeping the other four. this will just be a fifth website.

He has an SEO company that is advising him to do this to keep his rankings on Google high. Is this really OK by google? Will they ever figure this out?

Is there a way to have multiple domains pointing to one website and have each of those domains come up in google search or are these SEO experts right?

[381]

duplicate content is a big no no for any search engine, it can get you banned and you will definitely lose seo position because of it

you could copy a template a million times and it will not make the blind bit of difference, google and others are only interested in the content

If he were my client I would strongly advise him against having all this duplicate content, but as my client all I can do is advise, it is down to them if they want to risk it..

[Smack Stevo]

Yes, that is how a lot of sites (including unscrupulous ones) direct traffic to their sites. Google doesn't "figure" it out, it just locates the link and meta tags for the redirect.

also, because i like douching, Google is not okay if you think SEO ONO is not a TURDFACE

[nosmirc flen]

If the content is duplicate, he could get banned.

I know a few people who do this, but while the sites are *related in some way,* the content is different and they link amongst their network. For instance. Say I have a craft site that sells stuff. I also have a sewing site, a knitting site and a scrapbooking site. They all link to the craft site for products, but each individual site talks about sewing, knitting, scrapbooking.

I personally don't do this, because I'm skeered, but I have a friend who is quite successful doing things this way and has never gotten dinged.