View Full Version : SEO & Duplicate Content Question
We are going to making some changes to our site, but I'm worried about getting penalized by Google for duplicate content.
Currently we have one main domain and two other domains pointing to it. We've use absolute links on all our pages so that one domain name in particular is the one that Google has indexed. We planned it that way after we changed our company name back in 2002. So that "pointer" is really the one that has been indexed.
We are about to change our company name again. I'm going to point yet another domain name at the main site, change all the absolute links to the new name, let it get indexed, then remove the original pointer domain that has been indexed by Google since 2002.
I was going to wait about a month for the "new" domain pointer to get indexed before removing the current pointer name that is indexed. However, I'm worried that Google will see duplicate content.
Does Google see pointer domains as duplicate content or as separate domains?
Does my plan sound faulty -- am I missing something? Anyone know of better way to do this or does this plan sound okay?
Thanks in advance.
Read this post and see if it's what you're looking for:
http://www.highrankings.com/issue142.htm#guest
HTH
Hi Keli!
Thanks for that article -- it does sound like a good plan, however, for reasons way too complicated to explain, I actually don't want my "old" domain links to re-direct to the new URL.
So I think what's going to happen is Google is going to index the "new" domain when it follows the nav links that have absolute URL's in them. So I will have all my pages indexed under two different domain names. Then I'll just remove the "old" domain so when it's clicked on, it will actually bomb out, and eventually that domain will drop from Google's index.
That's what leaves me with the question about duplicate content.
So I guess the real question is does Google see "pointer" domains as separate domains when indexing? So if you have one, or more "pointers" to the same domain, is that going to be considered duplicate content?
If I'm understanding correctly... I'd just have some inbound links from other Google-approved sites (so that the new domain is picked up and indexed) and just get rid of the old site as it's not going to be in the picture, you don't care about existing rankings with it and you want to avoid dup content.
Say you have x number of domains pointing to one that we'll call your *main* domain (one that you want Google to take notice of for SEO/indexing purposes), just make sure that main domain is the ONLY one indexed by Google. The others won't matter as long as you aren't using them for SEO purposes. That's why I think I'd get rid of the old domain (content) alltogether so that there's no duplicate content prob while you're trying to promote the up and coming domain.
Does that help? I think I need coffee lol
HTH,
LOL Keli! I'm on my second cup already and I'm still confused.
The way the site is set up now is like this:
www.mainsite.com
then I have www.pointerdomain.com pointing at www.mainsite.com.
In all my links on my site I've always used www.pointerdomain.com/blah blah so that Google would actually index www.pointerdomain.com and not www.mainsite.com
And that worked. However www.mainsite.com has the same google page rank as www.pointerdomain.com (but not nearly as many pages indexed).
So I want to create www.pointerdomain2.com and point it at www.mainsite.com and change all the links in my nav etc. to absolute links like www.pointerdomain2.com/blah blah. So now when Google crawls, they will be following links to the same pages, but with a the new URL (www.pointerdomain2.com) and will stop indexing the original www.pointerdomain.com).
After 1 month, I would remove www.pointerdomain.com and would be left with www.mainsite.com and www.pointerdomain2.com
But for about 1 month, I would have the same pages indexed with 2 different domain names which would really be pointing at the main site (same pages).
ROFL! Is it even humanly possible to follow what I just typed? I don't think coffee is going to do it, I might need something stronger! LOL :eek:
IF I am following, I'd just remove pointerdomain.com alltogether right off the bat. It's not needed.
Why can't mainsite work alone without the pointers? If both the pointer and the mainsite have PR that would concern me that Google views these as two different sites. You only want one of them in the SE's.
Yep, we're gonna need something stronger... and it's just 9am!
I could just use the main site, only it has a really crappy name, not related to our industry at all. However, it does have a PR and because of that, anything new I add to the site gets indexed within 24 hours. If I use a new pointer, it automatically gets the same PR as the main site -- at least that has been my experience.
Thanks for the input though, I think once I get the new pointer set up, I will remove the old one right away. :)
I didn't read the article, so I don't know if this was discussed in it, but: why don't you use 301 Redirects (301 = resource has been permanently moved) to direct pointerdomain.com to pointerdomain2.com, and a robots.txt file on mainsite.com to keep it from being indexed at all.
The advantages of doing this are:
1) users will never see broken links when they click from google (or any of the other search engines). 404 errors are bad, because the user thinks you're out of business and just goes away looking for someone else.
2) when the googlebot crawls your pointerdomain.com site, and sees the 301 redirects to pointerdomain2.com, they will REPLACE pointerdomain.com with pointerdomain2.com in their index, and you should retain the same PR on the new domain.
If you haven't already, you should also create a google sitemap for pointerdomain2.com.
Hi Larry!
Thanks for the info, however, I don't want to re-direct the old URL to the new one!
I don't care if someone clicks on an old link and it bombs. I want this new URL to stand on it's own and not be linked to the old one. I just want to hijack the old one's page rank! LOL
jason - jmh web services
03-29-06, 05:44 PM
I would make sure no links are pointing to these other domains and you use the robots.txt file to tell search engines to not index them.
Bruce - PhosphorMedia
03-29-06, 05:57 PM
Well, the one way to help retain the old pages page rank is to do what is called a 301 permenent redirect. That should at least, get SEs to include inbound links to the old site, as inbound links to the new site, since technically, a SE can't tell the difference.
Thanks Jason! So you're saying make sure there are no links to the main site and the original pointer and same for the robots text? This way the new URL will be the only URL that Google is picking up!? :)
jason - jmh web services
03-29-06, 06:08 PM
Thanks Jason! So you're saying make sure there are no links to the main site and the original pointer and same for the robots text? This way the new URL will be the only URL that Google is picking up!? :)
yes, i would do the 301 redirect as bruce said too. will be really good if the same pages on old sites are on new sites. hostasaurus will be able to set you up with a 301 permanent redirect wildcard so that anything at www.oldsite.com/ (http://www.oldsite.com/)*.* redirects to www.newsite.com (http://www.newsite.com). If you have inbound links to old sites from third-party domains, contact them all to change their link. hth
Hi Larry!
Thanks for the info, however, I don't want to re-direct the old URL to the new one!
I don't care if someone clicks on an old link and it bombs. I want this new URL to stand on it's own and not be linked to the old one. I just want to hijack the old one's page rank! LOL
I guess I'm just not understanding what you're trying to accomplish, or why you wouldn't care about potential lost sales when someone clicks from google and gets a 404. :confused:
But, AFAIK, the only way to "hijack" the old PR is by using the 301 redirect. It also has the added benefit of REMOVING the links to the old site from google's index, and replacing them with the links to the new site.
Okay, I hafta admit -- I'm no web guru! I didn't understand what a 301 re-direct was. Read up on it a bit, understand it, sounds like a plan.
But the original article that Keli pointed me to says that it's better to use a 302 re-direct for 6-12 months since a 301 will make Google think it's a new site and will not rank the pages the same.
So which is better a 302 re-direct until the site "ages" or a 301 right out of the starting gate?
Oh, one more question! I can do either in my .htaccess, will Front Page extensions interfer with it, or should I have David set it up for me?
Vic - WolfPaw Computers
03-30-06, 01:14 AM
Use an FTP program to download it, not FrontPage and edit it in notepad, save, and re-upload.
Careful, notepad will rename it with a .txt extension. Be sure to change that before you upload it.
Oh, one more question! I can do either in my .htaccess, will Front Page extensions interfer with it, or should I have David set it up for me?
Just be sure to leave all the FP stuff in tact.
Thanks Vic! I learned the hard way to use FTP instead of Front Page for most things LOL!
As a matter of fact, I'm going to remove the Front Page Extensions soon too! Wow! I'm really moving up in the world! :D
301 means that the resource (page) has permanently moved
302 means that the resource (page) has temporarily moved
In essence, the 301 tells google that the old page no longer exists at all in the old location, but has been moved to a new location. This should NOT cause google to treat it as a new site, but to update its index to reflect the new location.
There are also suspicions that some search engines (google included) penalize sites that use 302 redirects. Check out the following article for more information on 301 & 302 redirects:
http://www.seotoday.com/browse.php/category/articles/id/477/index.php
Well, now I'm totally confused because the other article says the exact opposite:
It says:
Permanent Redirect Not Always the Best Choice
Conventional wisdom will tell you to redirect the old domain to the
new domain using a 301 "permanently moved" response. This tells the
engines that the old URL is no longer going to be used and the new one
is the correct one, so that they can update their index with the
appropriate URL.
However, if you follow this usually accurate advice, you'll find the
new pages do not automatically assume the positions of the old ones in
Google...they will remain off the chart. Even though you are telling
Google that this site is exactly the same as the old one, the aging
filter will still apply. This doesn't seem like the best strategy, as
your site will remain in oblivion until it ages properly.
Temporary Redirect is the Way to Go
By using a 302 "temporarily moved" response instead of a 301, the
original URL will remain in Google's index, and maintain its position
as if the page were still there. However, visitors who click on the
link will be brought to your new URL, exactly where you want them to
be. It's the best of both worlds -- you retain your rankings during
that interim aging period, but visitors are redirected to the updated
and correct domain.
Once the 302-redirect is in place, it's imperative to start a linking
campaign for the new site. You'll need links pointing to it in order
for it to be ready to rank highly when it's released from the aging
filter. When you notice the new domain starting to show up in the
rankings (anywhere from 6-12 months, typically) then it's time to
contact your previous linking partners to update their links from the
old domain to the new one.
The Final Move
Once the new domain has properly aged, go back and change the
302-temporary redirect to a 301-permanent redirect. This will
transfer the link popularity from the original site and finalize the
move to the new domain. It's a good idea to retain those original
pages at the old domain until you are reasonably sure all the links
around the 'Net have been updated with your new URL.
Moving a site can be a real pain, but by following this strategy you
won't have to sacrifice your hard-earned Google rankings while waiting
for the clock to tick.
Okay, so now my head is spinning :confused:
Well ... you know what they say about opinions ... ;)
YIKES! Read this article:
http://xona.com/2005/07/21.html
It seems to hit or miss?
Hi All -- I wanted to re-visit this thread with an update.
I did follow the 301 re-direct advice, however, it didn't work out quite like explained or how I expected.
I did the re-direct on May 4. When you click on the old google links (the one's that are left) you do indeed get re-directed to the new site and the page has the old sites page rank (if you go directly to the same page on the new site without clicking a link from the old site, there is no page rank, but I expected that).
However the old site's indexing is dropping like a brick, today it's at less than 1,000 pages (it was close to 50,000 - which I'm sure was not exactly accurate). The new site is being picked up in the google index, and quickly, it's already up to 17,000+ pages -- but with a ZERO page rank.
It was my understanding that the old site's indexing would remain and be REPLACED with the correct domain name/URL so that the page rank would be retained.
So what gives? Why is the old site dropping from google's indexing? Shouldn't it have been replaced with the new sites when using the 301 re-direct?
I worked really hard for 4 years to get my site's page rank and now I see it going down the toilet -- is it going to take me another 4 years to get my page rank back? :(
Wendy
I didn't read the article, so I don't know if this was discussed in it, but: why don't you use 301 Redirects (301 = resource has been permanently moved) to direct pointerdomain.com to pointerdomain2.com, and a robots.txt file on mainsite.com to keep it from being indexed at all.
The advantages of doing this are:
1) users will never see broken links when they click from google (or any of the other search engines). 404 errors are bad, because the user thinks you're out of business and just goes away looking for someone else.
2) when the googlebot crawls your pointerdomain.com site, and sees the 301 redirects to pointerdomain2.com, they will REPLACE pointerdomain.com with pointerdomain2.com in their index, and you should retain the same PR on the new domain.
If you haven't already, you should also create a google sitemap for pointerdomain2.com.
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