Different sites - same content

[jannmirch]

I am working on a project for a client that needs two domains - a US and a UK version. The content on the home page will be geographically specific but the rest of the site will be the same.

I know I could do a 301 redirect for the pages that are the same, but how then would visitors get back to the correct "home" page.

I don't want to have the same content on both sites and get slammed with duplicate content issues. So how do I have two unique domains with the same content for all pages except the home page?

There is probably a simple answer for this, but I don't have it. Any help would be appreciated!

[incrediblehelp]

You dont get slammed with dup content, the domain will more than likely be filtered. So you dont have successfully ranking domains with the same content.

[deepsand]

Regardless of the reason, if you wish to share common content across multiple starting points, there are any number of possible methods available. Two of the simplest are:

1) Use a Session Cookie whose value is set to a unique fixed value according to the starting point, interrogating such when the user wishes to return to his starting point; or,

2) Use a Session Variable, the value of which is initialized per 1), and passed from page to page as part of the intra-site links, and used when the users wants to go "home."

In both cases, the process of returning the user to the desired starting point is straightforward. Rather than any "home" links pointing directly to "home," they point to an internal page where the value of Cookie/Variable is tested, and the appropriate URL is requested.

The 1st method is the simpler, but will not work if the user has Session Cookies blocked; the 2nd is immune to such potential problem.

[PosterManiac]

Originally Posted by deepsand

Regardless of the reason, if you wish to share common content across multiple starting points, there are any number of possible methods available. Two of the simplest are:

1) Use a Session Cookie whose value is set to a unique fixed value according to the starting point, interrogating such when the user wishes to return to his starting point; or,

2) Use a Session Variable, the value of which is initialized per 1), and passed from page to page as part of the intra-site links, and used when the users wants to go "home."

In both cases, the process of returning the user to the desired starting point is straightforward. Rather than any "home" links pointing directly to "home," they point to an internal page where the value of Cookie/Variable is tested, and the appropriate URL is requested.

The 1st method is the simpler, but will not work if the user has Session Cookies blocked; the 2nd is immune to such potential problem.

There's your solution right there. Using a session variable should solve the problem..Hope it works.

[Old Welsh Guy]

Which path would a spider follow in opt #2?

[deepsand]

Originally Posted by Old Welsh Guy

Which path would a spider follow in opt #2?

Spiders/crawlers/robots do not follow "paths," as they do not have access to a site's directory (unless a site allows for anonymous FTP access,) but only links. The implementation of site supplied site maps serves to aid in this respect, with such maps serving as a proxy for the directory to the extent that the site desires to disclose such.

When a spider 1st encounters any page of a site, it learns of any other page in that site that is referenced by the page currently being retrieved. And, if such is not the root, the root is deduced from that page. Through the successive retrieval of those pages identified by intra-site links, the indexing engine gradually builds a directory of the site structure, to the extent that such is possible in the absence of direct access to the site's own directory and/or a site provided site map.

That having been said, the results of indexing a site or sites employing method 2 will be same as for those using method 1, assuming, for both, that the URLs are, aside from optional parameters, not dynamically generated; i.e., that such are static, with the URLs for each home page being explicitly stated within each of the pages used in common, with the appropriate one being conditionally called based on the value of either the cookie or session variable.