Combine .com and .co.uk domain? So forward .co.uk to .com for SEO?

[Seeders]

Hello,

A new client of mine has an .com and an .co.uk domain. Both the same content (and they don't have the capacity to make specific content on both domains).

I am thinking building al domain authority to 1 domain. In this case the .com domain. 
And forward the .co.uk to this .com domain.
In this way, the .com will rank in both UK as in other English speaking countries, right? Or not?
Or should I use the  rel="alternate" hreflang="x" tag?

I am not sure. But I do know big brands rank high in the Netherlands with .com domains (for example booking.com).

Looking forward on feedback on best practices here...

Thanks!

[simon_realbuzz]

As far as I can see, if the content is exactly the same on both the .com and .co.uk sites and you intend to keep it this way for the forseeable future, then there is no point maintaining both. Put all your efforts into developing and maintaining the .com site. Not only will this ensure that you are able to build the authority of one domain, it will also ensure that all your social media activities will be for the one site rather than sharing both .com and .co.uk URLs.

Alternatively, if you want to differentiate your content slightly for a global and a separate UK audience then hreflang across the.com and .co.uk sites is the way to go.

[DarinPirkey]

Just to add to the advice.  https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/189077?hl=en

[Seeders]

Ok, thanks. This is helpful. But I am still wondering if it wouldn't be better if the client only uses the .com domain and target with this domain also in the UK.
In this way you only have to build authority on the .com domain instead of on two domains?

Or does Google sent the authority build on the .com domain trough to the .co.uk domain with these codes?

Cheers!

Gerjan

[SajeetNair]

Hi,

Instead of implementing 301 redirects, would recommend that you implement Alternate tags.

Assuming that you have only .com and .co.uk domains and that .com domain caters to the whole world, the following code needs to be placed  -

In case .com caters to US then place the following code -

The highlighted part will vary depending on the URL of the pages.

In addition you can also specify alternate tags in the XML sitemap. You can refer Google support document here

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Sajeet