Forum Moderators: open
Rocky
Welcome to WebmasterWorld!
How you fix this depends on what server (Apache, IIS, etc.) your sites run on, and whether they are actually on the same server account, or separate. Can you tell us more about your situation?
Jim
Use the WebmasterWorld Server Header Checker [webmasterworld.com] and report what server it says that your site(s) use.
We have a wide range of member experience here. Just stay within the Terms of Service, and make yourself at home!
Jim
What exactly does the Server Header Check tell me that is useful for me?
Thanks!
Here's a good start [webmasterworld.com] on doing redirects on IIS servers. The idea is that you redirect all requests for the old URL to the new URL using a 301-Moved Permanently external redirect. This updates the URL in the user's browser address bar, and tells search engines that you have moved to a new domain. In many cases, properly done, this will combine all of your PageRank and Link Popularity into one domain, whichever you choose. Using the 301 tells the search engines that this is not duplicate content, you've just moved it.
There are many, many threads here on WebmasterWorld concerning moving a site to a new domain which will also help in your situation. Unfortunately, I am not qualified to advise you in detail on IIS server, since I'm on Apache server. Do a WebmasterWorld site search for "new domain", "move site" and related keywords - you'll find a bunch of info!
HTH,
Jim
So, if you run two domain names in the Server Header Check, and they both come back identical, is this a problem?What exactly does the Server Header Check tell me that is useful for me?
I suggested the header checker to RockLobstaar in order to find out what server he was on. Redirects are done differently, depending on the server being used, so we needed to know that.
As to your question, having two domains return essentially the same header info just means they're hosted on the same kind of server, and configured similarly. What the server header checker tells you that is useful depends on the question:
It is useful for checking that your server response codes are correct for a valid page - You should get 200-OK.
It is useful for checking whether a redirect you have installed is working - the redirected URL should return either 301-Moved Permanently or 302-Moved Temporarily, depending on which you specified, plus it should return the new URL.
It is useful for testing custom error responses for missing pages, for example. In this case it should return 404-Not Found, and the URL of your custom error page. If it returns a 301 or 302 in this case, you have a configuration problem with your custom 404 page.
It is also useful for checking whether you have a properly configured Expires Header, stating when you consider the page to have become stale.
It also lets you know some of the options your server has installed - Front Page extensions, for one example...
Again, the answer depends on the question, but it displays your raw server header info - something that you can't see with just a browser. I once screwed up my .htaccess (Apache server) file, and didn't know it until I checked the headers - Heck, it was just one little typo! ;)
HTH,
Jim
Rocky
The second site, however, has been operating for a while, has a PR5 just like the first, and an equal number of inbound links - plus an ODP listing of its own in a slightly different category.
This was discovered by finding the second domain at AltaVista with the index page of the second, newly acquired domain ranking instead of the first. Alta Vista got both.
AllTheWeb/Lycos had the original site #1 ranking # 4 for the most important keyword phrase only a few weeks ago. Now that's gone, and the index page as well as all the other product pages are out of Fast's database. Ranking for all keywords at Inktomi/MSN and they'll be OK.
The big concern is Google, where the main site is still ranking as usual, BUT though Google has the interior pages of the second domain cached with the original content which is now 404, they have the index page of the second showing up as a duplicate of the index page which is ranking for the main site.
This is a concern, since it's stayed this way through two fresh cycles and there is a genuine duplicate content issue with the sites in spite of the 302.
edit: And if i keep it up "as is" is that going to hurt me in google someday...b/c that is a main motivator behind fixing it.
Thanks a bunch!
Rocky
These problems are likely due to the use of a 302-Moved Temporarily, rather than the proper 301-Moved Permanently. User-agents may, at their option, update bookmarks and other recorded references to the URL when they receive a 301 response. This is not done for a 302. If you declare a 302, the User-agent expects your site to return to the original URL and therefore it does nothing. This is true of many SE robots as well. Eventually, you get whacked for duplicate content.
Use a 301-Moved Permanently, a 303-See Other, or a 410-Gone as appropriate, but only use a 302 for temporary URL rearrangements. To keep the search engines happy, standards compliance is "non-optional"!
RockLobstaar,
The above-mentioned duplicate-content issue is the most common problem. As far as the redirects go, you can redirect on-site (to same domain) or off-site (to new domain), whatever you want to do. For on-site redirects, you can update the user's browser address bar to show the new URL or not - your choice. For off-site redirects, the user's address bar always gets updated. I guess I should slow down here... All of the above is true and easy with Apache server, it may not be true and easy with IIS server, but it should be.
Folks, this has worked perfectly for me for three different sites that were moved to new domains. Link-pop and PageRank were preserved. I cannot guarantee that it will work for you, I can just say that it worked fine for me. Get as many of your incoming links as possible updated, and then just 301-redirect the old domain to the new domain. After a few months you can shut down the old domain if you want - Personally, I'd give it six months to a year if the old site has heavy traffic and lots of un-updated incoming links.
Jim
>Eventually, you get whacked for duplicate content.
It's really worth taking precautions first and being very precise. What I found was a surprise to me, and it's feeling like it'll take a lucky break to avoid a PR0.
Jim, I always use 301 and there's never been any problem at all with Google, they're really good with those. The transition's always been seamless without a hitch. Ink's slower, but Google's fine.
Xoc's instructions:
Redirection with IIS [xoc.net]
Related:
Constructing a 404 Handler for IIS [xoc.net]
The 301 with Apache is much easier.
