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two domains pointed to the same site, how to fix?

Nostalgic Dave

11:40 pm on Dec 29, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member

A while ago I registered several domains and did nothing with them, they were parked on the same server as one of the other sites I was developing. I'm not sure how it happened, but one of these domains ended up pointing to the the new site I was developing. So, both domains would bring up the same content... yeah I know, bad news! Not long ago I put up something unique for the second domain, so it wasn't a duplicate anymore. Both domains now appear to be in a penalty with Google, the entire sites are supplemental and the main page is at the bottom of the site: search. I figured that the problem would just sort itself out, but it's not happening. Just today I did a cache: command on the formerly offending domain and Google showed me the other site, and not only that, it says that it was cached just last week! Also in Google Webmaster Tools on their Page Analysis page, they tell me that I have external links with keywords that are related to the other site, NOT this one. Am I right in suspecting that this cross-over of data is the likely cause of the penalty on both of my domains? And the big question is... how can I fix it? Any advice you can provide is appreciated.

minnapple

12:50 am on Dec 30, 2006 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member

10+ Year Member

Try 301'ing the offending site to a new domain name that has the same content that you have placed on the offending site.

That should really confuse Google.

Seriously, your supplemental issue is not a symptom of the association with these two domains.

It is likely that you don't have enough link love to the target domain.

Nostalgic Dave

1:09 am on Dec 30, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member

Ah, well supplementals aside then, site:example.com on both of them has the main page listed below all the supplementals... isn't this a sign of a penalty? With the offending domain being very new and a simple 3 page site I don't see what I could have done otherwise to deserve a penalty. Uhg, G can be so frustrating! Seems like with them you are guilty until proven innocent, right out of the gate.

centime

1:33 am on Dec 30, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member

from what you're saying, i would guess that either you or your host have been messing about with your DNS settings an they are all shot to pieces

An if you're not really good with DNS, you need to harrass your host to fix the dns records, an this doesn't mean talk to the first line of tech help, but insist that their experts sort it out

it sounds like their dns records pointin where they shouldn't

i had some interesting times with this

NOTE: if improperly handled, or you try experimenting yourself without really expert knowledge of DNS, it will be curtains for your sites

Nostalgic Dave

1:40 am on Dec 30, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member

It wasn't really DNS that was the issue, but a setting in my web hosting control panel that had the two domains pointing to the same website. It was my fault. I corrected the problem, so both sites are now independent and not even hosted at the same server anymore actually. But G hasn't figured this out yet... will they ever? Am I going to have to axe the offending domain? The big website I had up before hand, there is no way I want to forfeit that domain, but the other perhaps I can just have removed from the G index completely and re-submit it? Would that help? Is this offending domain perhaps ruined for life?

centime

2:21 am on Dec 30, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member

what ever setting you have on your control panel can only have an impact on the internet via stuff like

dns records

IP numbers,

there are a large number off control panels an server os's unix, linus, microsoft an others, one of the ways they can talk to each other is IP an dns

even if you moved one domain from your first host to another, if the bad dns records are still onthe first host,,, their effect continues till they are removed

all your control panel generally does is either forward a request for dns changes, or generate dns settings by itself, sadly i've yet to use a control panel that didn't sometimes,,, do the unexpected,

anyways, just an opinion,

good luck

Nostalgic Dave

2:43 am on Dec 30, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member

I hear what yor saying Centime, but I think in this case that DNS and IP's are not the problem. What I had naively done was setup up a domain alias that just made this new domain show the same content as the other site. I was out of parking space to have the domain show its own website, so I figured this would be ok. At the time I was pretty clueless about how G works and didn't realize this could do damage.

I just did a check, and strangely a cache:example.com without the WWW brings up nothing, while cache:www.example.com brings up the other sites cache, even labeling it with the other sites domain name. If I do a site:www.example.com of the offending domain, then click on the cache link for it from the listing I see the correctly cached page for this site... completely bizarre!

So, obviously the mistake I made earlier with the domain alias is the root of the problem. This problem shows a little bit behind the scenes of how Googlebot works from the looks of it. Somehow the two sites are now internally linked within G's database, and I have no idea how to fix it.