Re-directs or multiple sites

[blackdog]

I have 3 identical web sites live, 1 is my company name and the other 2 relate to the product/service I am offering. Is it preferable to have 1 site and re-direct the other URL's to it for SEO reasons, if so is it OK to use the product I'm selling (e.g. widgets.co.uk) instead of my companyname.co.uk, as the main site as will get more hits. I'm creating an adword campaign so wanted to check before spending hard earned cash.


One other stupid question, the Google ad words appear on the right hand side, but how do I get the advert to appear in the main search results list at the top, as didn't seem obvious, but probably a different thing entirely!

Thanks

 

[awebuser]

If you have 3 identical websites get rid of two of them immediately this is classed as duplicate content and can cause you to have bad rankings on all your sites. This is because Google does not rank three sites if they all have the same content it will only choose one and it can choose the wrong one. Use one domain and 301 redirect the others to it.

With regards to your question about getting your ads to appear in the search results above the organic listings this is easy all you have to do is ensure your ads appear in the top 3 paid for results by bidding up. Altough sometimes Google does not place sponsored results above the organic listings.

 

[Fintan]

Rather than having 3 identical websites, why don't you make the content unique on each site and have the two secondary sites link to the main best ranking website?

In terms of having your PPC ads appear above the main search, positioning will depend on the bids and the click through rates of your ads.

Cheers
Fintan