I have found that if you have similar content on both sites, yes Google will usually rank one well and dismiss the other.. This may not always be the case, but it makes sense as to why google would only want one webmaster to have one site on one particular topic. No one can tell you exactly how it works or why, but based on my experience you should only rank for the same keywords on one of the domains.
For "best practices" purposes, if both are ranking well for similar keywords.. I would keep things as is, but start to develop the sites in separate directions. I don't think google minds if you dedicate one site to US players, and the other to UK players for example, with different content on each.. But if you have one site that ranks for interchangeable keywords with similar content, such as
site 1: online casino bonuses
site 2: online casino promos
Then I think you may run into a problem later down the line.
Just my personal opinion, but I also think its okay to experiment and see what works best, just be cautious when experimenting with your money site... Another reason I like to keep things as separate as possible
Thanks mate. But here is where i find it strange then. As you could basically just have the one website registered by a friend in his name address and do everything that way. And just run both websites. Then no chance google would take both domains into account ?? But yes I would then need to use seperate google webmaster accounts which would also need to be in the friends details.
But then again I can see there is maybe also advantages of having both domains together somehow. As if you don't rank to well one domain then google will rank other site etc.
I am just very confused about all this hehe. Bit like Andy here I am not SEO expert at all and still total noob in this. Have tried researching but I end up spending nights reading instead of getting work done.
Actually doing my own simple way of seo and how to write articles and that actually made me rank on page 1 top searches of most casinos years back. And is despite i use way to many keywords to many times. But I write it in a human way and not robotic not sure how to explain
Cheers