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Author Topic: Duplicate Content Issues with Add-on Domains?  (Read 438 times)
Andy007
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« on: July 22, 2008, 10:33:32 AM »

Hi folks, first post, so I hope I can get some help here, I tried support and they pointed out this forum.

I added a add-on domain to one of my hosting accounts and have a question. Keep in mind my webmaster skills are pretty basic.

From what I have been told the add-on domain is being resolved from a folder in the main domain, a subdomain is also created along with it.

so I have these; myaddondomain.com, myaddondomain.maindomain.com, and maindomain.com/myaddondomain/

Could this cause potential duplicate content issues in the eyes of the search engines?

If so, what can I do about it?

Thanks,

Andy007
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Mitch
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« Reply #1 on: July 22, 2008, 11:37:38 AM »

Shouldn't cause a problem, as long as you never point any links towards subdomain.primarydomain.com.  Might be able to do a .htaccess file redirect though just to be sure.  Think I have seen it on the forums here before.  I'll do some searching to see what I can find. Smile
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Mitch
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« Reply #2 on: July 22, 2008, 11:40:11 AM »

Here we go, this should help:

http://www.lunarforums.com/lunarpages_search_engine_optimization/my_main_domain_is_linked_to_my_add_ons_on_google_please_help-t47874.0.html
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Andy007
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« Reply #3 on: July 22, 2008, 01:01:22 PM »

Thanks Mitch, I tried to do what they suggested and I get the same problems as jgye21574 had.

Maybe someone who's gone through this can help?

I have no links pointing to either of those locations... I hope that is good for now.

I just want to create, yet all these technical things come up! LOL

Andy007
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speculumcm
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« Reply #4 on: July 22, 2008, 09:17:41 PM »

Hi Andy007,

This is what I usually do to fix the  canonical issue for my domains and works well!

1. Go to cPanel and click on Redirects
2. It's going to ask you to:

    Add Redirect:
http://mainDomain.com/ addonDomain.com >> http:// www.addonDomain.com/
(Permanent) Add <-------- Notice you have to choose permanent in this option.

3. Click the Add button
You will get somthing like:

Current Redirects
/addonDomain.com/                           http://www.addonDomain.com/         (permanent)

You can redirect as many as you have. That'll create an .htaccess file in your mainDomain's public_html root folder with the proper Apache directives. Just let it like that.

4. Then in your public_html/addonDomain/ subfolder root create a .htaccess file and manualy write the directives to fix the canonical issues like mentioned in the other tread just for the sake of clarity I write them again here:
Code:
<Ifmodule mod_rewrite.c>
Options +Indexes +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /

### re-direct index.php to root / ###
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /.*index\.php\ HTTP/
RewriteRule ^(.*)index\.php$ /$1 [R=301,L]

### re-direct non-www to www
rewritecond %{http_host} ^coloncleanserreference.com [nc]
rewriterule ^(.*)$ http://www.coloncleanserreference.com/$1 [r=301,nc]
####
</Ifmodule>
Well if it's html just substitute php extension for html.

OK if you have any question or coment just feel free to ask. I haven't had any issues following that procedure.

Regard,
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speculumcm
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« Reply #5 on: July 22, 2008, 09:31:45 PM »

Ah great, just to be more general it would be:

Code:
### re-direct non-www to www
rewritecond %{http_host} ^addonDomain.com [nc]
rewriterule ^(.*)$ http://www.addonDomain.com/$1 [r=301,nc]

 Yep
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Andy007
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« Reply #6 on: July 23, 2008, 10:38:03 PM »

Hi speculumcm,

Ok, I did everything you suggested...

If I go to maindomain.com/addondomain.com the redirect works, but, If I go to maindomain.com/addondomain and addondomain.maindomain.com then there is no redirect.

Is that the way it's supposed to be?

(The non-www to www redirect works too!)

Thanks so very much for your time and suggestions!

Andy007

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speculumcm
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« Reply #7 on: July 24, 2008, 11:26:38 PM »

Hi Andy007,

Well I must admit that I'm totally puzzle and now I start understanding what Mr Phil wrote in the other thread. We have to redo the whole thing so you have to remove all the redirections from cPanel I told you to do   Sad

Then rewrite your .htaccess file from your addonDomain root like this:

Code:
<Ifmodule mod_rewrite.c>
Options +Indexes +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /

### re-direct index.php to root / ###
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^.*\/index\.php\ HTTP/
RewriteRule ^(.*)index\.php$ /$1 [R=301,L]

### re-direct non-www to www
rewritecond %{http_host} !^www.addonDomain.com [nc]
rewriterule ^(.*)$ http://www.addonDomain.com/$1 [r=301,nc]
</Ifmodule>

Warning: All it's going to work well except for mainDomain.com/addonDomain, that will bring you into a 404 page which at least that won't be indexed BUT the browser will show you something like:

http://www.addonDomain.com//home/your-username/public_html/addonDomain    Hypno

The whole path with the folder public_html should never appear in any address. How did LP manage that? And THAT is what is thrilling me.
Another thing is that I haven't manage to set my mainDomain in it's canonical version. Following the next directive it's supposed to work:
Code:
### re-direct index.php to root / ###
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^.*\/index\.php\ HTTP/
RewriteRule ^(.*)index\.php$ /$1 [R=301,L]
### re-direct non-www to www
rewritecond %{http_host} ^mainDomain.com[nc]
rewriterule ^(.*)$ http://www.mainDomain.com/$1 [r=301,nc]

Just the first redirection works but the re-direct non-www to www it's not working  Sad Angel

Another thing that it's very recommendable is that you set a personalize  Error 404 page for every addonDomain with the
ErrorDocument 404 /your file. Check ibm.com site to see what I'm talking about.

Anyway I'm still working trying to resolve this puzzle but if some one from LP could tell us what's going on here or give us some clues to solve this riddle, it would be of great help  Smiling
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Andy007
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« Reply #8 on: July 25, 2008, 12:20:18 PM »

Hi speculumcm,

Well sir, you are my new hero!  Clapping

I did everything that you suggested and everything works, I even made a custom 404 page.

So as it stands now I have:

- addondomain.com redirects to XXwww.addondomain.com
- maindomain.com redirects to XXwww.maindomain.com
- maindomain.com/addondomain goes to:
XXhttp://www.addondomain.com//home/username/public_html/addondomain >>> displays a custom 404 page (btw, I simply made a file and saved it as a 404.shtml page and placed it in the addondomain folder and it seems to work)
- addondomain.maindomain.com redirects to XXwww.addondomain

I also added this htaccess code in the maindomain/root for the 'www' and non-www redirects and that works fine,

"Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
rewritecond %{http_host} ^maindomain.com [nc]
rewriterule ^(.*)$ http://www.maindomain.com/$1 [r=301,nc]"

So, as it stands, I seem to have everything covered, in terms of getting potential duplicate content indexed right? LOL Is there still anything that would need to be resolved?

Hey, at least I am learning some shate!

P.S. Can this fix that you explained here, could it be used in the same way on other hosting companies? I ask because I posted on a forum I belong to and I think this info would be welcome by some.

Again, thank you so very, very much speculumcm!!!!

I owe you a beer or two!

Kindest Regards,

Andy007
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speculumcm
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« Reply #9 on: July 26, 2008, 06:25:58 AM »

Excellent! Glad to hear it's working everything for you. Try this maindomain.com/addondomain/ and also will redirected to your addondomain.  Roll

Quote
you are my new hero
Actully webado is who has been supporting me in this issues. So she is the real hero. This is her web site with a lot of resources and good tips:

 http://www.webado.net/

Quote
Can this fix that you explained here, could it be used in the same way on other hosting companies?

The mod_rewrite module is the de-facto standard for URL rewriting in the Apache world, and is typically supported by any Apache-based hosting package. So consult your web host for information regarding whether mod_rewrite is supported and enabled.
If it's an IIS server you can go to:

http://www.jlh-design.com/2006/08/301-redirects-in-asp-on-iis-server/

Quote
So, as it stands, I seem to have everything covered, in terms of getting potential duplicate content indexed right? LOL Is there still anything that would need to be resolved?

Hmmm... Actually there are a lot more in regard of avoiding duplicate content. So take in consideration this:

To begin, you can divide duplicate content into two main categories:
  • Duplicate content as a result of site architecture
  • Duplicate content as a result of content theft

Duplicate Content as a Result of Site Architecture

Some examples of site architecture itself leading to duplicate content are as follows:
  • Print-friendly pages
  • Pages with substantially similar content that can be accessed via different URLs
  • Pages with items that are extremely similar, such as a series of differently colored shirts in an e-commerce catalog having similar
  • descriptions
  • Pages that are part of an improperly configured affiliate program tracking application
  • Pages with duplicate title or meta tag values
  • Using URL-based session IDs
  • Canonicalization problems (At least I know you've already fix that one  Very Happy)
Duplicate Content as a Result of Content Theft  Yikes

Content theft creates an entirely different problem. Just as thieves can steal tangible goods, they can also steal content. This, unsurprisingly, is the reason why it is called content theft. It creates a similar problem for search engines, because they strive to filter duplicate content from search results — across different web sites as well — and will sometimes make the wrong assumption as to which instance of the content is
the original, authoritative one.

Unfortunately, fighting content theft is ridiculously time-consuming.  Touche But if you are intresting here are some sites to visit:

Google: http://www.google.com/dmca.html
Yahoo!: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/copyright/copyright.html
MSN: http://search.msn.com/docs/siteowner.aspx?t=SEARCH_WEBMASTER_CONC_AboutDMCA.htm

Quote
I owe you a beer or two!

Great! Whenever you come to México we can go to a "cantina" and drink some beers  Beer Me
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Andy007
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« Reply #10 on: July 26, 2008, 12:33:08 PM »

Hi speculumcm,

Ok, I have to thank webado too! Thank you webado!!

I know, duplicate content issues are enough to make one go crazy!!!

My concern here was resolving duplicate issues from within my site; and I think I have that covered.


You said, "Try this maindomain.com/addondomain/ and also will redirected to your addondomain."

That is the only thing that does not redirect. It goes to:
http://www.addondomain.com//home/username/public_html/addondomain

But, I do have a custom 404 page being hit when maindomain.com/addondomain is accessed.

Is this ok, or is there a way to redirect that too?

Regards,

Andy007
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speculumcm
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« Reply #11 on: July 27, 2008, 12:53:14 PM »

Hi Andy007,

I had to open a support ticket and yes, we have the best support in LP  Clapping

So Michael Torrance gave me those links:

http://www.webmasterworld.com/apache/3395854.htm and
http://www.webmasterworld.com/apache/3403983.htm

There is the clue to our answer not exactly the answer but the key. So it seems I got the final version of the code for this hosting or at least for my server. It depends on how the httpd.conf was configured. Any way this is apparently my last version:

For addon domain so in /addonDomain/.htaccess

Code:
<Ifmodule mod_rewrite.c>
Options +Indexes +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /

### re-direct index.php to root / ###
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^.*\ /.*index\.php\ HTTP/
RewriteRule ^(.*)index\.php$ /$1 [R=301,L]

# Canonicalize the domain
# Redirect non-www domain requests to www domain
RewriteCond %{http_host} !^www.addonDomain.com [nc]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.addonDomain.com.mx/$1 [r=301,nc]

## re-direct main domain to specific addon domain
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(.*\.)?mainDomain\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.addonDomain.com/$2 [R=301,L]

</Ifmodule>
#### re-direct error 404
ErrorDocument 404 /error404.php

With that you'll be able to write mainDomain.com/addonDomain and be redirected to www.addonDomain.com
So try this code please and let us know how does it work for you?

And for my mainDomain from the support team Daniel McCall got this:

Code:
### re-direct non-www to www
rewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^mainDomain.com$
rewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.mainDomain.com/$1 [L,R=301]

That works in my account.

Now I think It's done.   Bouncin for Joy
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Andy007
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« Reply #12 on: July 27, 2008, 08:17:22 PM »

speculumcm, you are THE MAN!

Everything works 100% now!!!

Thanks again for your time and friendly help. It truly is very much appreciated. Out of many people who I have asked help from... you came to the rescue.

I do owe you one!

So this is the end (finally you say LOL)  Hypno

Take care,  Applause

Andy007
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