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Fighting my Google Twin

URL canonicalization problems in Google directory

         

nilloc

7:10 am on Feb 24, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Hi,

I know some matters of URL canonicalizationt have been discussed before, but never about the effect this also creates in the Google directory.

All started when DMOZ listed my site www.widgetz.com as widgetz.com in their directory with the result that also the Google directory list my site as widgetz.com instead of www.widgetz.com.

Even adding a rewrite rule in htaccess to try and solve this problem is not helping.

When searching for "Widgetz topics" then "widgetz.com" shows up in the first positions BUT without a Freshtag since nearly 40-days and without the link to the Google Directory where "widgetz.com" is listed as widgetz.com.
(This page is twice-daily updated with current news about widgetz and has a PR of 5).

When searching for +"www.widgetz.com", only then do I find the "www.widgetz.com" index-page that has a freshtag on it and has a link to the Google Directory (but remember in the directory we are listed as widgetz.com and not www.widgetz.com)

Searching:
link:witgetz.com I get 75 backlinks
and searching:
link:witgetz.com I get 83 other backlinks

where in reality I should get 158 backlinks for the whole site as they are all different backlinks.

I have tried to repair the error at DMOZ in vain.
The category I am in does not have any editor any more and using their update function or sending them an email is not helping as I am not getting any answer.

I also reported on different occasions the problem to Google using the keyword urlcanonicalization.

So what should be the next step to take?

nileshkurhade

9:08 pm on Feb 29, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



GG,

A simple question. Will you be updating the directory or we had better forgotten about it?

Hmmmm.....

Roel

6:01 am on Mar 2, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Related thread: [webmasterworld.com...]

GG, can you please confirm that the next Google update will fix the issue for everyone who is having the -www and +www issue?

Cheers
Roel

SyntheticUpper

9:10 am on Mar 2, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I posted this same question 3 days ago - but no reply -the boards have been quiet recently though.

The sad thing about this issue is that it is likely to affect the smaller quality sites most - the major spammers have the resources to fix issues like this.

The spammer above me in the listings has his DMOZ description properly in place, but despite being in DMOZ my own listing hasn't shown for a year. I could probably knock him off his undeserved No 1 spot if we were treated equally.

Roel

10:56 pm on Mar 2, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Wow! Great! My site was completely re-indexed and the issue seems completely resolved. All pages got listed in the index. Thanks Google/GG for making the promise and following up on it!

Cheers
Roel

plumsauce

11:41 pm on Mar 2, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member




If that is the case then they might as well not be editors. One category that I'm listed in has not been updated for over 18 months, another has an editor listed who resigned over a year ago. I emailed him and he says that he has asked every month for twelve months to have his details as editor removed.

I've volunteered twice now to edit catagories that I know something about and on both occasions have been turned down even though they do not have an active editor.

Based on my very bad evperiences (like trying to get a redirecting page removed for over 18 months) I honestly think that someone needs to get a grip of the ODP editor situation and give it a right good shake up.

ditto here. i have left my one submission that
has been pending for a year and half alone. it
has been confirmed as pending in their forums with
no particular black marks against it.

but, i just don't bother with them anymore.

if dmoz is an incomplete story, then google in
relying on them is relying on a skewed view of
the universe. this may be a contributing factor
to the fact that they are uniquely democratic

in new speak, *uniquely* as an adjective is a *big*
red flag that it is not even remotely related to the
noun other than by physical juxtaposition.

Roel

12:39 am on Mar 3, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



After some more reseach I found out that Google did do a re-index (dance?) of almost all sites - just check all the dates on searches, most of them are 1-Mar-04.

Cheers
Roel

Stefan

1:15 am on Mar 3, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Glad to hear things turned out well, Roel.

One has to wonder if it could have happened without direct human intervention, perhaps using some of the many methods suggested by people here. I must have read 50 posts on simple ways an algo could determine that www.whatever.org/page.htm and whatever.org/page.htm are actually the same page.

By the way, the freshtags have been quite regular for some sites over the last few weeks.

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