Domains being searched as Subdomain.

[kahuna]

Domains being searched by Subdomain..
my apologies.. for not knowing exactly how to ask this..
I did look through other questions.. so apologies if I missed somebody else asking this.

I am on a shared hosting account.. for over 17 years.. with my initial domain as this..
mymaindomainoriginal

in the root of my directory... that is when I FTP into my "mymaindomainoriginal"
you will see where my host has my two other domains.
Just as thought they are folders.
It has always been like this (7 or so years that the two other domains were started).
ie: my hosting company has the feature to put domains.. in my same account as "mymaindomainoriginal".

This has all seemed quite normal, and nothing weird when google comes by my websites to index.

A couple of weeks ago.. I notice some activity by people.. that don't have a user agent as a search engine..
trying to access one of the domains... as a subdomain..
That is in my logs it would look like this.
seconddomain.mymaindomainoriginal where it should only be "seconddomain".

I ignored this as just some random attempts to do something they weren't supposed to be doing.

Now this week... I have seen quite a number of visits from...
bc.googleusercontent.com

Treating one of my other domains... as a subdomain.. that is..
thirddomain.mymaindomainoriginal where it should be just "thirddomain"

I have never made any "subdomain" links.. or anything similar
everything has always been the standard "domain/generic-folder" structure
Everything should be looked at by the "bots" as,
mymainddomainoriginal
seconddomain
thirddomain

ie: no subdomain structure.
I briefly looked at a couple of my htaccess files... didn't see anything nefarious or changes.

I hope I am explaining this correctly to the group and apologies if this question is redundant.
thank you.
Rob.

[not2easy]

Are you using canonical rewrites to show only one version of your domains?

You might find some useful information in this recent discussion, it seems to be the same problem as you describe: [webmasterworld.com...]

[lucy24]

You forgot to address one question: do the subdomain requests succeed?

Given your directory structure of
example.primary
example.primary/example.addon1
example.primary/example.addon2
it is technically possible to reach example.addon by requesting example.primary/example.addon unless you have a proper domain-name canonicalization redirect. (That's the problem in the thread not2easy linked to.) This part is in the nature of any primary/addon directory structure and will always be possible by default, so you have to take steps to prevent it from succeeding.

BUT it should not be possible to reach the addon sites by requesting
addon1.example.primary
addon2.example.primary
For this to happen, you have to explicitly set it up that way. It's possible your host does it by default (boo! hiss!), in which case you have to search your host's control panel to figure out how to disable this option. Here I'm assuming your host is also your domains' DNS, since technically this is a DNS issue rather than a server issue.

Are any desired visitors (such as search engines) making this request, or is it purely unwanted robots? If it's the latter, well, screw 'em. They'll get blocked either way.

[Robert Charlton]

And to throw another thought into the pot... do you by any chance have wild card subdomains enabled in your DNS A-records?

[tangor]

^^^ my first thought.

[kahuna]

first off thanks again group :-)


EDITED from below posting... so you don't really have to read the below lengthy previous info.
UPDATED:
I went into my Control Panel... and for the first time looked into the Subdomains Options.
and the "subdomains" ie add-on.primary were listed but no redirects to theexplicit "add-on".
Thusly... now the "subdomains" will be pointed directly to the "add-on".
I had no idea... these "subdomains" were created... I certainly didn't do it... and have never created a "subdomain".

I don't know why this just became an issue... below I state it started back in June 2018, Not very frequent.
Only came to my attention by the frequent every two hour hits from "bc.googleusercontent.com " ..

Maybe I should just delete these "subdomains" that were created automatically ? In place of a redirect ?

from @Lucy24 notes... I still have this problem/issue that I did not know existed..
primay.com/addon.net (not redirected)

which I'll figure from her notes and the other notes everyone provide.

Thanks again group.
Rob
=======================================
Original Response below....

@not2easy
yes that other post is very much the same problem... but I didn't implement any "pre-live" testing of the domains that would have been observed by search engines. And these "add-on" domains have been up for 7 years only seeing this start since last June... although not frequently till end of January this year.

I have not placed any "canonical rewrites" in my htaccess file.
--------------------------------------------

Other notes:
--both the "add-on" domains in question are about 7 years old. Original main domain is aprox 18 years old

--"seconddomain" has not been visited by "bc.googleusercontent.com " .
Only 8 hits since June 18, 2018 *** no known search engine traffic in User Agent or reverse IP lookup.
This domain is quite large, gets traffic but not crazy traffic.

-- "thirddomain" is small in comparison. And where I am seeing hits now every two hours from "bc.googleusercontent.com ".
The issue started June 14, 2018 with two hits not from google ... BUT there is a big gag until
January 31, 2019 where only "bc.googleusercontent.com " is the visitor.

---------------------------------------------
@lucy24
first off sincerest apologies... I don't logon on here very much.. and discovered two PM's from you back in 2016 that I did not respond pertaining to another issue. Gosh I feel negligent to that.. I always answer emails and PM's, at least if I see them.

Yes.. "example.primary/example.addon1" works in the url with the TLD's. I had no idea that was even a possibility.
I'll have to figure that out and address that... and thanks again to @not2easy.
I am notseeing traffic like that, thankfully.

Yes sort of.. "addon1.example.primary" .
Does not work --> addon1.com/primary.com
Works --> addon1/primary.com ie: without the TLD for "add-on" you can get in.

"For this to happen, you have to explicitly set it up that way. "

I haven't explicity set it up.

"It's possible your host does it by default (boo! hiss!), "

If it was by default... something change back in June last year... looking at my logs.
But it wasn't until end of January this year that it is frequent.

"Are any desired visitors (such as search engines) making this request....?"

Only one, the "add-on" as mention where "bc.googleusercontent.com " comes every two hours since January 31, 2019.

"or is it purely unwanted robots?"

Yes there are hits but not extensive.. so that is why I didn't see it until "bc.googleusercontent.com " came/comes every two hours as that domain doesn't get very much traffic and easy to spot traffic.
---------------------------------------------------
@Robert Chariton
uhhh... well until you mentioned "wildcard... subdomains" I didn't even know what it was...
Shows you how novice I am while doing this for a while. I am the sole administrator.. So I didn't do anything.
I researched and checked if something was set up and...
No...

=========================
I'll have to go and read the post @not2easy mentioned with the similar situation and figure out the fix.

Thanks so much group I'll keep you informed.
Wish I could be a contributor to solve other people's issues but I'm not too experienced with most of the topics and problems people have.
But if you have any questions about kayak fishing on the Chesapeake Bay... well I know about that :-)

[not2easy]

Just a note, since you mentioned

I went into my Control Panel... and for the first time looked into the Subdomains Options.
and the "subdomains" ie add-on.primary were listed but no redirects to theexplicit "add-on".
Thusly... now the "subdomains" will be pointed directly to the "add-on".

- Beware using Control Panel for any kind of redirection because Control Panel is known to use the Apache default "302" (temporary) rather than permanently redirecting via a "301" server response. Since we don't have access to configuration settings in a shared hosting environment such as you describe, it is better to use .htaccess for managing redirects - and because of your existing CP redirects, sometimes efforts in your .htaccess may not perform as expected.

If you will be needing help with redirects or rewrites, those discussions belong in our Apache forum, where that other linked discussion is posted.

BTW Welcome Back to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com]

[lucy24]

But if you have any questions about kayak fishing on the Chesapeake Bay

:: jotting notes on ever-expanding list of People Knowledgeable On Obscure Subjects That You Never Know Might Come Up, with cross-reference to soft-shelled crabs ::

Control Panel is known to use the Apache default "302" (temporary) rather than permanently redirecting via a "301" server response

I've never personally looked at a CP-generated redirect, but betcha they just say “Redirect” or [R] flag, either not knowing or not caring that it defaults to 302.

[kahuna]

@not2easy and @lucy24
I looked at my raw access logs and the visits from google is showing the 301 from what I changed in the Control Panel
I would never have known to check the raw logs to check that it might throw a 302.
Thanks again folks..

@lucy24
Soft-shell crabs... now your talking my language. I still have two of them in the freezer from last year.
I've got the best hook-up for 'em... direct from the person who culls them. Biggest and best price.
Summer can't come soon enough... or at least Spring.

Thanks again all.
R.