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.
Problems with the google cache version of different domains.
-
We have problems with the google cache version of different domains.
For the “.nl” domain we have an “.be” cache..
Enter “cache:www.dmlights.nl” in your browser to see this result.Following points are already adapted:
- Sitemap contains hreflang tag
- Sitemap is moved to the location www.dmlights.nl/sitemap.xml
- We checked the DNS configuration
- Changed the Content language in de response header to : Content-Language: nl-NL
- Removed the cache with webmastertools
- Resolved serverrequest errors.
Can anyone provide a solution to fix this problem?
Thanks,
Pieter
-
The one issue I see is that at least for the homepage, these two sites are identical. You have so many different geo-target sites, but between two sites of the same language regardless of location, does anything change? I'm seeing no differences on the homepage so I need to ask.
This might be part of why .be is cached for .nl, you're not giving them something new to index. They are hreflang'd as well, which is telling them even more that the content is the same.
I am going to assume that .be launched before .nl, or has gotten more play in the search results. Something is making it the go to for Dutch.
-
Using the hard coded hreflang or the sitemap option is indifferent.
Regarding why Google is caching the .be flemish version of your website, instead of the .nl one, I sincerely have no answer to give you, but - with the few information I have about it right now - what I would look is at the CMS you are using, in the case you have a centralized CMS that then distributes the content along the domains.
Your case is weird, because that something I usually experience with hacked sites.
I put this in discussion, and ask others to give their answer.
- topic:timeago_earlier,about a month
-
Hi Gianluca,
Thanks for your response. The HREFlang tags are a part of the sitemaps.xml. Do you think it might be a better idea to insert the HREFlangs on each page? Any idea why Google might cache another domain for this website?
Pieter
-
Hi Pieter,
can you answer to this question?
I checked you .nl website with flang by Dejan SEO, and it is not showing me any hreflang annotation... I check directly looked into the code and confirmed that was not a Flang mistake.
So... are you using hreflang in your sitemaps.xml file?
- topic:timeago_earlier,9 days
-
Hi Andy,
Thank for your response. I've checked the HREFlang tags and to me it looks like everything is inserted correctly. The problem is that google keeps on indexing the cache of the .be domain for the .nl domain. Any idea why Google might do this (indexing the .be domain as the .nl domain?)
Thanks
Pieter
-
The only think I can see that is missing, is a self rel=canonical to the home page. I would have this as a matter of course.
I also can't do a quick crawl on the site as I am getting a 403 Denied error.
-Andy
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
-
Help! Choosing a domain for a European sub-brand when working as a partner in North America
Background: Let's say there's a European company ABC.com, they have some presence in the US already for a lot of product brands in a certain space (let's say they make widgets). ABC Co gets 1,600 searches a month and all of that volume centers around the widgets they are known for. ABC Co purchases a company that makes gears, let's call it Gears Inc (gears.com). Gears Inc. was known for making gears in Europe, but their brand is not known in the US (search volume 0). Ideally, I would keep the Gears Inc. brand and build up the presence in the US, separating it from ABC Co. ABC Co wants to maintain their brand and eliminate Gears Inc. But we've received permission to keep the Gears brand for bringing that product to the US ... we will have an uphill battle building up the brand recognition, but at least it won't get lost in what ABC Co is already known for in the US. (ie: we don't want calls for widgets). Domain Situation: ABC Co. has redirected gears.com (DA 1) to a subdomain: {gearmakers}.abcco.com (DA 66) ... they have agreed to place a landing page under that 301 that links to the regional domains (theirs in the EU and ours in the US/North America). They are unwilling to let us use or purchase gears.com OR 301 gears.com directly to our domain. What we're trying to do: build Gears Inc. as a recognizable brand when someone searches "gears inc", this domain would rank first create a simple "brand domain" that a less-tech-savvy users could easily navigate to needs to have recognition in US, Canada and Mexico
International SEO | Feb 17, 2024, 7:05 AM | mkretsinger
I don't know if this helps or provides anything more? The question is what do we use as our domain name? Any feedback is appreciated!0 -
Are NON French companies allowed to own domains in France?
Hi, I was wondering if any one knows if the French government has changed it's stance in recent years to the ownership of domains in their country. My understanding is that it can be pretty difficult to own a domain there if you do not reside there. In the past I have had people register domains using their passport as identification to prove their domicile in that country. We like many others have sites with .com/fr etc. and we do have one domain that is a .fr and seriously out performs the .com version. Many thanks for any input on this question. David *** UPDATE - Sorry no need for a response, I've just been informed that businesses who are located in a Member State of the European Union (EU) are allowed to own .fr domains which the French government needs to comply with. Best, David
International SEO | Oct 10, 2013, 11:54 AM | David-E-Carey1 -
Sub-domains or sub-directories for country-specific versions of the site?
What approach do you think would be better from an SEO perspective when creating country-targeted versions for an eCommerce site (all in the same language with slight regional changes) - sub-domains or sub-directories? Is any of the approaches more cost effective, web development-wise? I know this topic's been under much debate and I would really like to hear your opinion. Many thanks!
International SEO | Aug 12, 2013, 5:11 AM | ramarketing0 -
Working with country specific domain names vs. staying with .com
I've recently inherited a client that has a country specific domain for Canada (.ca) but there is also a US branch for the company at the .com address. They have a direct competitor that operates also in the U.S. and Canada that has decided to operate entirely under the .com address and re-direct all .ca traffic to their .com address. When I compare the link analysis data for both the .ca, .com, and competitors site, I'm finding there is a huge difference between the .ca site and the competitors site, but not a huge difference between the .com site and the competitors site. For example, the domain authorities are as follows: myclient.ca (Canadian branch) - 22 myclient.com (US branch) - 46 competitor.com - 53 When I do a brand search for my client in Canada, the Canadian branch website shows up first, but the American one is second. At this point, would it be better for my client to consolidate the two branches into the .com address and focus on increasing external followed links to the .com website? Or, is there merit in continuing to create a separate inbound link strategy for the .ca site? Thanks.
International SEO | Jun 11, 2013, 4:49 PM | modernmusings0 -
Cross domain rel alternate, will it help or hurt?
I have a website that has similar pages on a US version and a UK version. Currently we want Uk traffic to go to the US, but the US domain is so strong it is outranking the UK in the UK. We want to try using rel alternate but have some concerns. Currently for some of our keywords US is #1, UK is #4. If we implement rel alternate, will it just remove our US page? We don't want to shoot ourselves in the foot and lose traffic. Is this worth doing, will it just remove our US ranking and our double listing? Any anecdotes, experiences or opinions are appreciated. Thanks.
International SEO | Apr 2, 2013, 6:33 PM | MarloSchneider0 -
Should product-pages with different currencies have different URLs?
Here is a question that should be of interest for small online merchants selling internationally in multiple currencies. When, based on geolocation, a product-page is served with different currencies, should a product-page have a different URL for each currency? Thanks.
International SEO | Sep 13, 2012, 2:20 PM | AdrienOLeary0 -
How can I see what my web site looks like from a different country?
I've tried a few proxy tools to try to see how my site looks from other global locations, but haven't found one that works very well yet -- or a list of reliable proxies around the world. I need to do this to test various geo-targetted ads and other optimizations. Can anyone make a recommendation? Thanks!
International SEO | Oct 25, 2011, 7:55 AM | Dennis-529610 -
Subdomain hosted in a different country - what are the implications?
Hello, We are looking at creating an eCommerce section to a website and we are just weighing up the options: Magento - host on hour own server - great but it can often be very slow when hosting a shared server. Shopify - hosted solution but hosting is in the US and we are in the UK and shop will be hosted on a subdomain as a result Build our own solution - time consuming and costly There are two issues that have arisen from this situation.... Is it worse for SEO to host your store in a different country or to host in your country but your store potentially run slower? I'm swaying to the side of the argument that says give your users a good and fast experience instead of worrying about where you host the store. Bearing in mind that the main website will be hosted in the UK anyway and it is just the subdomain that will be hosted in the US. Just wondered if anybody has had experience with this or if I'm missing something? All feedback greatly appreciated! Thanks, Elias
International SEO | Aug 9, 2011, 6:20 AM | A_Q0