Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
SEO impact of redirecting high ranking mirror site to the main website
-
During SEO audit for a client I noticed that they had over a dozen duplicate websites that are carbon copies of the main website. This was done via CMS platform and DNS. One of the mirror sites has about 400 indexed pages and has Moz DA of 42 and 137k External Equity-Passing Links. Full metrics comparison is attached.
I originally planned on doing rel="canonical" on the mirror site but the CMS vendor never even heard of it and is refusing to implement it in the header. My only other option is doing one to one 301 redirects.
Since the mirror site ranks well, even competes with main domain for some positions on the 1st page of SERP, what will be the impact after the redirects? Is doing 301's still the best option?
Thanks!
-
Thanks. I will just go with 301 and see how it turns out.
-
If you want to know how much traffic this domain is getting you could easily put a filter in Analytics which allows you to see the domain name when checking the pageviews.
Create a new view in Analytics and apply a filter with following settings:
Filter Type: Custom
Select: Advanced
Field A -> Extract A: Select: Hostname value: (.)
Field B -> Extract B: Select: Request URI value: (.)
Output To -> Constructor Select: Request URI value: /$A1$B1
Mark Field A: required & Mark "Override Output FieldYou could also combine all the different copies in one set in the Search Console - which would make it easier to check if there is an impact when activating the 301's.
Regardless of the traffic, the 301 remains the best option - some people say it does dilute pagerank - Google says it doesn't
As both Search Console & Analytics are not retroactive you could already make them active, wait a few weeks in order to collect sufficient data and then activate the redirects.
Dirk
-
Thanks for responding.
I am hesitant to go with 301s because not all link juice will be passed or I am wrong about that? I can't even gauge the impact this could have on traffic since the main domain and the mirrored site had the same GA tracking on them. All traffic channel data is a mess. Since mirrored website's DA is in the 40's and it is ranking on page one in SERP for a number of major keywords I assume it is getting decent traffic.
P.S.
I have already verified the mirrored domains in GSC and just waiting to pull the trigger on the 301s before informing G about the move.
-
You don't seem to have much options if canonicals are not possible.
To be honest - in cases like this I wouldn't use canonicals but always go for 301 redirects. They are pretty easy to implement (2 lines of code in htacess) and they are directives Google has to follow (and will pass pagerank). Canonicals are mere requests to Google that it can but is not obliged to respect.
Would also indicate in the Search Console of the duplicates that you're moving them to the main domain (https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/83106?hl=en) - you need to validate the duplicate domains before implementing the redirects.
Dirk
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
-
How to increase DA and PA of my site.
I have been working on my site for the last 4 months and still, I am not getting improvement in site DA, PA, and site ranking. Also, I am generating unique content. Here is the Website link https://techynewx.com/
Moz Pro | | randomghrytu0 -
What are main factors to increase DA?
Hi, I'm running a blog and working continuously on it and creating both DoFollow and NoFollow links but DA of website best heated vest isn't increasing even I"m creating guest posts and other links. Can you please guide me what are the factors to increase DA so I can work on my website and increase my site's DA as well? Thank you!
Moz Pro | | loukris2350 -
Potential spam websites with high DA linking back to us
Hey everybody, I'm going through all my sites and disavowing crap links. However, I'm having trouble distinguishing which high DA sites to disavow. What would you do? For example:
Moz Pro | | MEllsworth
https://moz.com/researchtools/ose/spam-analysis?site=busca.starmedia.com&target=domain&source=subdomain&page=1&sort=spam_score and https://moz.com/researchtools/ose/spam-analysis?site=cc879fe.activerain.com&target=domain&source=subdomain&page=1&sort=spam_score They both have tons of backlinks - both good and crap. The first has a DA of 72 and a Moz spam score of 4/17 and the second has a DA of 86 and a Moz spam score of 9/171 -
Compare sites?
I'm frustrated, so want to ask a stupid question....My site.. www.seadwellers.com outranks my biggest competitor in most Moz catagories... www.rainbowreef.us ...EXCEPT Facebook likes...(he has a ton) **And yet, rainbowreef.us outranks me in most keywords on
Moz Pro | | sdwellers
Google?! I know it's not simple...but Can anyone take a quick peek and give me any insight as to why??? ** Example "Dive Key Largo" keyword...he is #1 and I am #5...typical in the most important keywords!0 -
Rank Tracker For IRAN?
Hello dear. I have a client in IRAN and I want to track Persian keywords.But the MOZ tracker keywords doesn't support that country. Please help and advise me how can I use track keywords in IRAN?
Moz Pro | | allyunit1 -
Does SEOmoz have a tool to find mirror sites?
I heard from a company that is trying to get my clients SEO business that they discovered multiple sites mirroring our site's content. Does SEOmoz have a tool to find these websites? Or does Google?
Moz Pro | | thomas.wittine0 -
Why do my Rankings Report show different results than the Rank Tracker tool?
I noticed that my ranking report puts be at 33 in google for one term, but when I use the Rank Tracker under Research tools it places me at 15.
Moz Pro | | trainsimple0 -
A tool to submit websites in directories
Hello I am looking for a tool to help me to submit websites in directories, something like the yooda tool. http://www.yooda.com/outils_referencement/submit_center_yooda/ This tool seems good no? do you offer something similar at seomoz? or where could I find some similar tools and in which languages is it available?
Moz Pro | | bigtimeseo2