Multiple (different) domains and canonicalisation
-
Hello,
We've had experience with canonical tags for various domains before, such as tidying up product categories etc...
However, can anyone point me to any guidelines about different domains using canonicalisation. For example:
If I had the following sites, all with identical content -
With canonical tags pointing to the first one (exampledomain.com), could this be harmful?
Is it better to 301 redirect the other sites?
Thanks
-
Canonicalization is a bit of an "it depends" answer in a lot of cases. If the domains are really identical and if you want to discontinue using the two duplicate domains, then 301-redirects are probably the best long-term bet.
If you need to continue using the other two domains (as landing pages for other marketing campaigns or paid search, for example), then 301s aren't going to be viable, and cross-domain canonicals should be a decent choice. I'd also say that if you just have a small number of duplicates pages (not the entire sites), then canonical tags are a good bet.
The only time I'd be cautious with 301s is if: (1) one of the domains has a bad history or questionable link profile, or (2) you're 301'ing a large number of domains - two domains is probably not an issue. In that cases, canonical tags may be a little safer (people aren't gaming them as much as 301s - yet - so Google isn't quite as suspicious).
-
We have found answers to this:
Nice Q&A article on SEOMoz . Also a whiteboard Friday on cross domain canonical tags, in fact there’s some research they sight by Tony Adams that reckons this is even faster and more effective than a traditional 301.
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
-
Goals for Sub Domain
I have created separate account for my sub domain and created goal for that, we have sales force data base to capture the leads.The problem which i'am facing is comparing to the goals and Sales force leads is very much difference.Goals leads are showing huge than sales force leads. 2) When lead is creating from organic source but in goals it's showing referral lead.
Technical SEO | | Anshul.S0 -
Blog.domain or domain.com/blog
My client can't do domain.com/blog because he's on wix. I'm thinking blog.domain.com. Do you have any resources for the pros and cons of this? I understand that google looks at them very similarly now, is that true for google +?
Technical SEO | | tylerfraser0 -
Redirect to new domain
We are moving our website from http://mysyncpad.com to http://syncpadapp.com The old site ranks pretty well for some specific keywords, will a 301 allow the new site to rank as well or will it be penalized by good for the transfer?
Technical SEO | | fifthlayer0 -
Redesigning the site with same Domain (IMP.)
technical SEO question - If we take down a site and use the same domain but just redesign the whole site. I guess sometimes in this case Google still keeps indexing old pages though they do not exist now! What the solution for this? Google suggests redirect them to a 404 page but in this case as its same domain- Is it possible that we throw 404 errors and redirect them to 404 page and this 404 page exists in the new site itself (but of course we don't have link our menu to this 404 page) (if that makes sense)? Would appreciate if you can suggest or add anything to above topic.
Technical SEO | | Personnel_Concept0 -
Buying multiple domains: misspells & .net, org, etc. & 301's
Hi, an SEO guy told me to buy up domains like ours X.org, net, biz, etc. & mispellings. this could cost over $100/year. Is is worth it for SEO or is it just covering our @ss if competitors want to get stupid and buy those? I don't forsee competitors doing that. What do you suggest? Does Google actually give us points for those AND if we bought them are we supposed to redirect all of them to our site? Should I be doing this for our SEO clients? Thanks.
Technical SEO | | JCunningham0 -
Domain redirect seo
Hello, my domain www.pacomarca.com and when i start the new campaing i get this pronblem: We have detected that the domain www.pacomarca.com and the domain pacomarca.com both respond to web requests and do not redirect. Having two "twin" domains that both resolve forces them to battle for SERP positions, making your SEO efforts less effective. We suggest redirecting one, then entering the other here. my domain is in networksolutions.com. how can i resolve it? many thanks Gonzalo
Technical SEO | | Kuna0 -
Does redirect of domain alias help rankings?
Yes... It iz I again ;o) Here's one for you savy techies out there: So, I've got a primary domain which is live, optimized and running smooooth. And then I've got a couple of misspelled domains as well (17 to be exact). Will it have an effect if I 301 those misspelled domains? What's Best Practice for several domain aliases? Example.
Technical SEO | | nosuchagency
Primary domain: bryghusprojektet.dk
Alias domain 1: bryghusprojekt.dk (301 redirects to primary domain)
Alias domain 2: bryghus-projekt.dk (Hosting company infopage)
Alias domain 3: bryghus-projekter.dk (Not activated) Regards.1 -
Buying a new domain
Hello guys! We are in process of buying a new domain. How can we be sure that this domain is not blacklisted and are there any steps to take in order to be sure that whatever we are buying is actually in "good shape"? Thanks much!
Technical SEO | | echo10