Domain Mapping and Duplicate Content Issues...

[stretch dog]

I use typepad for creating blogs, and i use for a reason... its reasonably priced, full feature, and user friendly... however, i recently discovered something that may be creating me a duplicate content issue.

Domain mapping is one of the built in features, so for some blogs we use it to map the blog to a subdomain of a related site or to a more "friendly" url we've registered.

The problem arises in the fact that the site is then accessible at both locations... the www.mappeddomain.com url, as well as the blogname.typepad.com url...

Is normal for domain mapping or is it something specific to typepad.... any input please????

These blogs all do well for a while and then stop delivering organic traffic becuase the search engine wont give them position... very frustrating, should i just forget the domain mapping crap and stick with the typepad subdomain as the url?

Stretch.....

[jaca]

I have a client that is asking about domain mapping in relation to a blog.

Does SE treat domain mapping the same - does it accomplishes the same thing as having the blog on your server?

My understanding is a blog on your server is best as it is treated as unique content, so I wonder now.

Thanks

Jan

[stretch dog]

That is the reason why i map the typepad domain to a subdomain of the site the blog is associated with... so the search engines and the visitors see the blog content as unique content on the main site.

My issue is that in the end, both the typepad url and the mapped url bring up the same content... which i can only assume is not good, due to "duplicate content" issues with the engines.

Is this a real concern (anybody please), or will the search engines simply index the url version you link to and ignore the typepad url?

[crankydave]

Originally Posted by stretch dog

That is the reason why i map the typepad domain to a subdomain of the site the blog is associated with... so the search engines and the visitors see the blog content as unique content on the main site.

My issue is that in the end, both the typepad url and the mapped url bring up the same content... which i can only assume is not good, due to "duplicate content" issues with the engines.

Is this a real concern (anybody please), or will the search engines simply index the url version you link to and ignore the typepad url?

I've got to believe you're getting hurt because of the identical content.

I'm guessing you may have more than one set up this way so I'd consider getting rid of the mapping on one of them and see what happens.

Dave

[stretch dog]

i do dave, for example my webfoot creative blog at http://webfoot.typepad.com/wfc/ was set up almost a year and a half ago... and i have had no time since to work it.

all it was, was a mock up i did in an effort to learn the typepad interface... with basically content taken from the main site and some links pointing to some www.webfootcreative.com articles i had previously published.

because it had no unique content of its own, and the fact that it hasn't been published to since it conception, you would figure it would have been dumped by google... especially with all the house cleaning they have been doing since the big daddy.

but no, it hasn't been dropped at all, in fact in spite of all this, it has continued to accrue a very small amount of PR with even some PR 3 and PR4 internal pages... just weird when you consider the dupe content, the fact that there has been no link building done (except for one blog directory i submitted it to along time ago)... and it even has a bunch of broken links... lol.

but of course it also is not mapped to any other domains... so i guess i already have the answer to my own question... apparently something as simple as domain mapping (with a fully good intended purpose only) is enough to get you into trouble with the search engines... lol.

haha... what happened to the good old days when seo was a relatively straight forward and simple process... lol.

today you have to be prepared to spend as much time on your learning curve so as to stay current as you get to spend putting in the so necessary billable time... and all i really wanted was to be able to spend more time on the beach... lol.

[Seminole386]

I would like to ask about one of my sites. I have six directories built around keywords. Each has a page for each zipcode directory. The www.buyers-agents.org was the 50,000 most visited site for sometime and has about dropped off the map. www.realestate-411.info is a similar site geared around "real estate" rather than "buyers agents". Is the duplicate content on the pages (only difference is town name unless someone registers a town)? Any thought would be appreciated.

[RHunt]

I have a site that does well in Google, Yahoo and MSN. About 8-10 months ago I made a minor change to the page title, adding city and state. Yahoo and MSN reflected the change and all is well. Google has listed both titles each pointing to the same domain. Some searches show one, some the other. Since then, my PR is up and so is my position in the search returns. Duplicate content? Sure, but Google doesn't seem to care!

[computergenius]

Hi Seminole386

I notice that your robots.txt is missing, and when I ask for it I get redirected to your home page - presumably because all missing pages get redirected to your home page.

I have often wondered if this treatment of robots.txt is harmful, as I assume that the robots get confused...

I wonder if anyone knows?

[jrb@w3f.com]

Originally Posted by computergenius

Hi Seminole386

I notice that your robots.txt is missing, and when I ask for it I get redirected to your home page - presumably because all missing pages get redirected to your home page.

I have often wondered if this treatment of robots.txt is harmful, as I assume that the robots get confused...

I wonder if anyone knows?

Robots.txt must be there, and for the purposes intended. Google has good writeup on how to help their spyders with robots.txt entries.

Redirects for 404 errors should go to an error page, with links to the main sections of your site, to help visitors get back on track.

You should pick one or the other in regards to your two URLs that point to the same place.

(All my opinion)
(hope this helps)
-John

[computergenius]

Not being American, the names don't mean much to me, so I didn't immediately notice - but aren't ALL the pages the same?
www.realestate-411.net/Florida/FLhome.htm
looks identical to
www.realestate-411.net/Washington_DC/DChome.htm
...making them totally identical, and none of them appear to be listed by Google

Or am I missing something?

[jrb@w3f.com]

Originally Posted by computergenius

Not being American, the names don't mean much to me, so I didn't immediately notice - but aren't ALL the pages the same?
www.realestate-411.net/Florida/FLhome.htm
looks identical to
www.realestate-411.net/Washington_DC/DChome.htm
...making them totally identical, and none of them appear to be listed by Google

Or am I missing something?

I think you are correct.

The listings on one page should be for homes in Washington DC area,
and the other page should be listings for homes in the Florida area.

As a visitor, I would immediately dislike the web site:

1. Google ads fill the first screen.
-- Consider a left column of AdSense instead.

2. Page content is not relative to the link.
-- Title and column headers should relate to area.

Site does look nice tho....

[computergenius]

You are missing the fact that the listings on one page are for homes in Washington DC, and the other page are listings for homes in Florida.... [duh?]

Duh yourself <G>

I can't see any difference, apart from the Google ads, which don't count.

Can you see something that I can't? If so, where?

[computergenius]

Hey, JRB, you edited your post whilst I was replying!

[jrb@w3f.com]

Originally Posted by computergenius

Hey, JRB, you edited your post whilst I was replying!

You might consider editing your replys too? (sry) (lol)

[Seminole386]

Thanks for your imput. Can you give me an example of robot.txt? Thanks.

[computergenius]

Assuming that you want all robots to access all pages, just create a blank file, called robots.txt, and put it in your root directory.

Complicated, huh? <G>

Alternatively, put the following two lines in the file, for the same effect.
User-agent: *
Disallow:

[jrb@w3f.com]

Originally Posted by computergenius

Assuming that you want all robots to access all pages, just create a blank file, called robots.txt, and put it in your root directory.

Complicated, huh? <G>

Alternatively, put the following two lines in the file, for the same effect.
User-agent: *
Disallow:

Yes, then go to google, and look up and read how to handle your robots.txt. I has a significant effect. It is also lengthly and complex. Too much for a reply here. In the mean-time, use the example above.

[stretch dog]

Ah... nothing personal ya'all... but what the flip'n flack does all this have to do with my original question that opened this thread... lol?

Or am I missing something... ?

[Webnauts]

Lets stay on topic here. Thanks.

[kenjay]

All you need to do is have a google sitemap account and in that account you can tell google what you prefer.

Also in your robots.txt file you wold put.

User-agent: *
Dissallow: /index.php or what ever your main page is or you can just have /


This would stop the robots from crawling www.

You could also have an .htaccess 301 to the sub domain if you are on Linux that would be the best way to fix duplicate.

Google know dup content on the same domain and it would choose which to index on its own if you do not tell it. This dup content does not induce a penalty. Not at all.

If I were you do 301.