8 replies to this topic

[ttw]

My client has one site www.yoursite.co.jp that directs via DNS to www.yoursite.com/jp You can visit each URL independently but it appears that only the first domain is appearing in the Serps.

It's the same content that appears at both locations. In Analytics I can see both URLs receiving traffic.

How does this impact our link popularity and is this a case for the canonical tag?

Does this scenario cause us any problems with indexing?

Thanks.

Rosemary

[Jill]

If you view the cache for the alternate site's home page, which site does Google say, "this is google's cache for ____.com"

Is it the main site, or the one you're checking?

If it's the main site, then Google already knows they're one and the same (which is typically what happens these days).

If it's the alternate site, then a 301-redirect would do the trick. You could do the canonical as well, but unless you need that alternate site to show up in the browser, I'd go with a redirect.

[ttw]

Thanks Jill. It's showing the main one.

Thanks.

[ttw]

Jill: Quick question - if the redirect is set at the DNS level why would I need to do a 301 redirect as it appears that Google already knows which is the correct URL?

[Jill]

You wouldn't.

[Ron Carnell]

A redirect at the DNS level isn't really a redirect; it's an alias. It's the difference between calling me Ron or yelling "Carnell" across the room to get my attention. Both will work because both are valid names. If I specifically want you call me one or the other, though, I have to tell you that.

Google, as Jill says, is really good at figuring out when two different names point to exactly the same thing. Once Google has determined an Alias is being used, it will treat it (as best I can figure) precisely the way it would treat a redirect. In which case, you're good as gold.

Here's the problem, though: There doesn't seem to be too much about Google's immense database that's static. They are constantly adding, subtracting, recalculating. I haven't seen it a lot, perhaps in part because I don't look very often, but I have noticed a few times in the past when a known Alias becomes . . . unknown. The two names that Google once knew pointed at the same thing suddenly start being treated as two different things again. Google forgets. At least for a while, though soon enough Google will notice the Alias again and start treating it like a Redirect. I've often wondered how much the fluctuations in rankings that a lot of people see are due, at least in part, to Google's sometimes spotty memory?

Personally? I don't like trusting my fate (even temporarily) to someone else any more than I must.

[ttw]

Thanks Ron. So what is your recommendation in this case since the client did this probably a year or two ago? And thanks for your feedback.

Rosemary

[Ron Carnell]

Unless there's an overriding reason why you want people to be able to visit (and link to) both domains, Rosemary, I would personally put in a 301 redirect. It doesn't hurt anything. And if Google should happen to "forget" you're using an Aliased domain it will save you a few days or weeks of fragmented link popularity.

On the other hand, I'll also admit that instituting that Redirect would be way down on my priority list of things to do this week. As Jill implied, so long as Google has got it right, it's just not a big deal. The 301 is just preventative medicine.

[Jill]

Yep. Agree with Ron.