Are sub domains considered completely different than the root domain?
-
We have a project that is going to generate duplicate content. If we move the new content to a sub-domain (E.g. product.domain.com) will it still be considered duplicate content to the root domain? Or is it like having two completely different domains?
Thanks!
-
Cyrus is right!
-
Unfortunately, it doesn't work this way. See my comment above.
-
In the case of duplicate content, you always have to tell the search engines which is the canonical (the authoritative version). It doesn't matter if they are on the same website, different sub-domains, or completely different websites.
If you leave it up to Google to choose, often the ranking power of both pages is diminished, and if you have too much duplicate content, your entire site can suffer.
Either choose the page you want to rank, and send the appropriate signals to search engines, or create different content for different pages.
-
Yes they do
Just so you know , when you add a rel canonical the duplicate pages will drop from the SERPs eventually ( assuming google accepts the rel canonical , they don't always do it )
http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=139394
-
Thanks Saijo,
That is exactly what we are going to do. We are going to use the canonical tag on the new duplicate pages referencing the existing pages that have achieved rank. Quick question on that, do you know if "juice" is transferred through a canonical tag? The new pages will be getting some pretty great links but not enough to rank highly. Will this juice be passed to the existing pages through the canonical tag?
-
There is not enough information here to give you the right answer, but here is my 2 cents on the topic
Say you need these duplicate pages to exist for some reason and do NOT want them to be indexed . You can noindex them and have them in the subdomain. So they do not appear in the SERPs and are not duplicate content because Google ignores them. ( Think of it this way : you are telling google , these are duplicate pages and its not meant for the search results )
Say you need these duplicate pages to be indexed , then you use rel canonical on the duplicate pages all tell Google the main page you want to be indexed. ( Think of it this way : you are telling google , these are duplicate pages and you want importance to go to the main one ) FYI : over time this means the other pages will fade away in SERPs
What you don't want to do : put duplicate pages up on sub domain and making no effort to advise the bots they are duplicate .. They will figure it out and that is when they dont like it .
Hope that clears up your doubts , if you need a more specific answer . We will need more info on what exactly you are trying to achieve .
-
Thats perfect. Thank you.
The only issue I have is that in this scenario I am going to have to use close to duplicate title tags, h1's and URL's. Since each page is going after the exact same keyword. But if you are saying that Google has no problem with ranking these 2 pages because one of them is on a sub-domain than that solves at least one problem.
-
Google treats sub domains as a different site in a sense.. and hardly ever passes any benefit of the root domain to the sub domain. Usually, your root domain would rank higher than the sub domain.. naturally.. unless your sub domain has better seo on/off site.
If both pages were equal it would show both. but would have to choose which one would receive the better ranking.
-
Do not create exact copies of the site.
Google will not choose they will just "punish" your site and have it dropped.
If you must create a copy of the site, make it unique.
It is very important
-
I guess I should explain a little more. I realize that it is going to be duplicate content but would Google have to choose between the two pages as which one to show or would the sub-domain page be allowed to rank as well as the root domain page? All thing being equal of course.
E.g. A tractor re-seller sells John Deere Tractors. They have since signed a white label deal to be the official reseller of John Deere Tractors. They have a page for the riding model x at www.example.com/riding-mower-x that ranks very well. But they also have a new white label page now for the exact same mower. They want both pages to rank and not force google to choose which page to show. Would Google look at the sub-domain page of ridingmowerx.example.com as a completely different site so that it would not have to choose and could rank both pages?
-
short answer is yes as long as the content is available for crawl that will be duplicaed content.
please elaborate of he goal of this duplication so I can try to tackle this problem
-
It is duplicate content either way across the world wide web. For example.. a blog posts an article, I take that article and post it to my blog.. that is considered duplicate content. Use this post by rand to help determine when to use sub domains!
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
-
Dramatic drop in Domain Authority
I have a client who has reported a drop in Domain Authority from 16 to 1 in a matter of a few weeks. Also, MOZ was reporting links, but now none! I know there were some issues with the recent MOZ index update. However, this sounds like something else. Anyone got ideas on where we should start looking?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | muzzmoz0 -
Too many backlinks from one domain?
I've been in the process of creating a tourism-based website for the state of Kansas. I'm a photographer for the state, and have inked a nice little side income to my day job as a web designer by selling prints from Kansas (along with my travels elsewhere). I'm still in the process of developing it, but it's at least at a point that I need to really start thinking about SEO factor of the amount of backlinks I have from it going back to my main photography website. The Kansas site is at http://www.kansasisbeautiful.com and my photography website is http://www.mickeyshannon.com. This tourism website will serve a number of purposes: To promote the state and show people it's not just a flat, boring place. To help promote my photography. The entire site is powered by my photography. To sell a book I'm planning to publish later this year/early next year of Kansas images. To help increase sales of photography prints of my work. What I'm worried about is the amount of backlinks I have going from the Kansas site to my photography site. Not to mention every image is hosted on my photography domain (no need to upload to two domains when one can serve the same purpose). I'm currently linking back to my site on most pages via a little "Like the Photos? Buy a print" link in the top right corner. In addition, when users get to the website map, all photo listings click back to a page on my photography site that they can purchase prints. And the main navigation also has a link for "Photos" that takes them to my Kansas photo galleries on my photography website as well. The question I have: Is it really bad SEO-wise to have anywhere from 1 to 10+ backlinks on every page from one domain (kansasisbeautiful.com) linking back to mickeyshannon.com? Would I be better served moving all of the content from kansasisbeautiful into a subdirectory on my photography site (mickeyshannon.com/kansas/) and redirecting the entire domain there? I haven't actually launched this website yet, so I'm trying to make the right call before pushing it to the public. Any advice would be appreciated!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | msphoto0 -
Domain Name
Hello everyone Please advice what to do in a situation when searching for a domain: www.domain.com google is recommending domain.org ? when these are completely 2 different sites? Does it has to do with trust rank? Please advice.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | FusionMediaLimited0 -
Experience of moving to a new domain
Hi all just wondering if anyone has ever had any experience / tips / advice. moving from domain name a to b is well published all over the web and the practice is often discussed on here. but my question is has anyone ever done moving the domain from a to b and then after x time move back to domain a. i can't find any examples, notes anywhere on Google. thanks in advance
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Andy-Halliday0 -
Is .ME domain is effective in SEO ?
I am always listening about TLD. com. org .net but what about the .me domain. Can this will be effective in SEO. Can i able to beat down my competitors, if i choose .me . I also have a .com or other TLD option but if i am making my name than .me is for me but i need your suggestion for the seo purpose. Is there really domain affective in term of SEO.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | pnb5670 -
Complementary Domain
Hi guys, I have the following situation I would like some help. Because my client is in Brazil, I will make up fictional names so it's easier to understand. My client is a shoe store whose domain is mangabeira.com. That is the brand name and will always be the main domain and reference of the website. We were offered the domain shoes.com. There is no intention of changing the brand name or anything, but there would be a redirect that would send the user who to mangabeira.com. My question is how much impact would that complementary domain do to my SEO performance and how that redirect must be handled. Thanks.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | LucasLopes0 -
Sub domain will not index - Next plan of action?
I'm not sure exactly what option i should take next. but i'll run you through a few points: The page is optimized to a rank "A" The page has 350 backlinks* a strong social presence Interlinking pages. High domain authority an OK page authority The domain ranks highly Every other sub domain rank highly. I make a search and the first page that ranks for this domain is a product page within the exact sub domain i'm trying to rank for, followed by some external blogs I've written and then the rest of the product pages. I've submitted the URL to web master tools twice and yet it still will not rank for that keyword. The only time i see the page index is if i copy the exact URL into Google. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Martin_Harris0 -
How to move website to new domain?
We have a website that has run under the same domain name for the past 10 years. We have built up a decent amount of SEO "mojo" (and traffic) over time, however, the original domain name no longer applies to the business model. A little over 1 year ago we started using a new brand name for the website and created a landing page for that domain name. Everything on that landing page links over to pages on the original domain name (to preserve the SEO value that we have built up over the years). We would like to move all (or most) of the pages/content to the new domain name. Would using 301 redirects be the safest, most effective way of doing this? I have heard of other people doing it this way, and often they will see their traffic drop for a few weeks before it eventually comes back. Anyone else had experience with this? What worked? What didn't? Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seo-mojo0