Another deduplication question.
-
Where an existing website has duplicate content issues - specifically the www. and non-www. type; what is the most effective way to inform the searchers and spiders that there is only one page?
I have a site where the ecommerce software (Shopfitter 4) allows a fair bit of meta data to be inserted into each product page but I am uncertain, after a couple of attempts to deduplicate some pages, which is the most effective way to ensure that the www related duplication is eliminated sitewide - there is such a solution.
I have to own up to having looked at
,htaccess
301 redirects
webmaster tools
and become increasingly bamboozled by the conflicting advice as to which is the most effective way or combination to get rid of this problem. too olod to learn new tricks I reckon
Your help and clarification would be appreciated as this may help head off more fruitless work.
-
no. the rewrite rule will apply to all URLs
-
Quick tip:
Usually you can just contact your Hosting company and ask them to do the 301 redirect for you if you feel uneasy tampering with code on the server.
/ G
-
BTW, my answer is for a Apache server.... This means don't use it if its Microsoft...
-
Hi again!
Here we go:
Just input following to .htaccess file:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example.com
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L](replace example withyour site )
This should do the trick for the whole site.
/ Gustav
-
Blimey gustav - that was quick. In the htaccess do you need to specify each separtae page url or is there a way of setting it site wide?
Many thanks for taking the time to answer.
Ray
-
Hi there!
Use An 301 redirect you can do this in hte .htaccess file.
Submit xml sitemap to Google webmaster tools with the correct adress(with www)
You will soon be rid of the duplicated pages if you do this.
Best
/ Gustav
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Links Questions and advice?
I have a website which has a fair few link assets that are doing very well (a lot of really powerful sites have link to them with follow links) but my commercial pages are not doing as well as a lot of sites without any other investment than (mediocre) links direct to there commercial pages with at least 10% of them carrying the money anchor text. Even pages we have had a few links for with generalized real anchor text and reasonable links do not do as well as the above due to none of them carrying the money keyword? Is it me or does google still rely on links to the commercial page and keywords with anchor text to match the money term?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BobAnderson0 -
Duplicate content question
Hi there, I work for a Theater news site. We have an issue where our system creates a chunk of duplicate content in Google's eyes and we're not sure how best to solve. When an editor produces a video, it simultaneously 1) creates a page with it's own static URL (e.g. http://www.theatermania.com/video/mary-louise-parker-tommy-tune-laura-osnes-and-more_668.html); and 2) displays said video on a public index page (http://www.theatermania.com/videos/). Since the content is very similar, Google sees them as duplicate. What should we do about this? We were thinking that one solution would to be dynamically canonicalize the index page to the static page whenever a new video is posted, but would Google frown on this? Alternatively, should we simply nofollow the index page? Lastly, are there any solutions we may have missed entirely?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | TheaterMania0 -
Local Listing Question
We will be starting local SEO efforts on a medical practice that has 4 locations & 15 doctors each location (so 60 listings total). I will submit each doctor & each location to InfoGroup, LocalEze, Axciom & Factual. Also, I will only submit each location (not doctors) to Google. The problem I'm seeing is the fact that each listing would have the same exact phone number - it all goes to one main routing center. What kind of problems could come of this? Do we need a separate phone numbers for each of the four locations (at the very least)?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | JohnWeb120 -
Video Sitemap Creation Question
I have created a sitemap file as per Google Web Master Tools instructions. I have it saved as a .txt file. Am I right in thinking that this needs to be uploaded as a .xml file? If so, how do I convert this to a XML? I have tried but it seems to corrupt - there must be a simple way to do this?!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | DHS_SH0 -
Paging Question: Rel Next or Canonical?
Hi, Lets say you have a category which displays a list of 20 products and pagination of up to 10 pages. The root page has some content but when you click through the paging the content is removed leaving only the list of products. Would it be best to apply a canonical tag on the paging back to the root or apply the prev/next tags. I understand prev/next is good for say a 3 part article where each page holds unique content but how do you handle the above situation? Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Bondara0 -
Domain and Sitemap Question
Hi - I am hoping you can help me with this issue we are currently trying to solve. We are hosting our mobile site's content on a different domain than what the URL of the site is, though owned by same company. In Google Webmasters tool we have the mobile sitemap under "sitemaps.xyz.com", however the URL of the site is "m.xyz.com". We have submitted 60MM pages in the mobile sitemap, but only 1MM pages have been indexed. Do you think this set up causes confusion with the bots? Does this affect the crawlability of the site? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | ladylana
Eva0 -
Information Architecture Question
I've got a site architecture / branding / SEO question for my own site (http://www.strikemodels.com/). In brief, the site sells kits and accessories for model warships that shoot and sink each other. My husband (Stephen) runs the business, and makes many of the parts we sell in our workshop/garage. Stephen wants to have a section where he talks about the equipment he is building/ using, and give updates on each of the pieces. This is equipment we use to make products, not equipment that we sell. For example, he's building an EDM machine, and getting a plastic injection molding machine and an ultrasonic welder up and running. We have a blog section where we post about updates about items that we sell, how to use our products, etc. This is more of a place for him to talk about what he's doing in the shop, and would also serve in future years as something he could point people to regarding his skills as an engineer if needed. I'm looking for opinions and options as to where to put this. Is there a way to use a different category in the blog and have items in the blog show up under a different page if they're in the "Stephen's Corner" category? Other options would be a separate site just for that, or to do threads on the a forum dedicated to the hobby. I'd prefer to keep things on our own site to keep all of the benefits together. Thoughts on structure or ways to make this work? Things I hadn't thought about? Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | KeriMorgret0 -
A Question for all Link Outreach Guys (Especially Blog Outreach)
Our SEO agency is considering hiring a new SEO consultant, specifically for outreach, with a strong focus on (quality) blog outreach. I know how many successful posting I expect to get per month doing the work myself, but I wanted to make sure that I expected realistic amounts from a new (already experienced) staff member (just to be fair to them!), Soooooo... I thought I would throw a question at other folks, and try to come up with a rough average number, to make sure I don't expect too much (or too little) from the new guy! Now, obviously this varies depending on niche etc, but I am just asking for an approx. average, using search queries like: _"blog posting guidelines" "[niche here]" _ (Plus using feedburner searches, etc... usual blog outreach tactics!) Also bear in mind that the outreacher will be based in the office, and content will be written for them by professional writers. The question is... As an experienced blog outreacher, based on the above info, how many successful posts would you expect to get per month, assuming a 35hr to 40hr work week (Mon-Fri). Cheers guys! I look forward to your opinions... I think it will be interesting to see how much the answers vary! UPDATE: - So far only Casey seems willing to share 🙂 Nobody else willing to chip in?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | MikeGracia0