0

I have a site with multiple domains pointed to it as aliases. For example: abc.com (main domain) def.com ghi.com

All are pointed to the same server hence whatever on abc.com appears on def.com & ghi.com as well. Problem is google is indexing def.com & ghi.com and not the main domain which I intend to.

Can someone teach me what to do for this issue?

Improve this question
6
  • How old are the sites? It takes a few weeks for Google to index sites. Have tried site:abc.com to see if Google sees anything from the main site?
    – Trebor
    Commented Feb 25, 2019 at 16:50
  • 1
    Have you tried anything? Have you looked into canonical tags our redirects?
    – Stephen Ostermiller ♦
    Commented Feb 25, 2019 at 16:55
  • The sites are about 6 months old. By typing in google site:abc.com I can only see my main site. However if i type by a keyword like abc com then i can find the aliases on top due to the title tag being similar across all sites. I require the aliases for affiliate purposes.
    – Stanley
    Commented Feb 25, 2019 at 17:09
  • Yes i have looked into canonical tags and redirects but its not suitable. I think there is only one site multiple aliases so i cant put a canonical.
    – Stanley
    Commented Feb 25, 2019 at 17:10
  • @Stanley To me this looks like a textbook case for using canonical tags. Could I ask you to elaborate on why they are unsuitable? This could help us come more quickly to the true solution to your problem.
    – Maximillian Laumeister ♦
    Commented Feb 25, 2019 at 20:14

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

Google has no idea which is the main site. It sees that they are duplicates and picks one. Sometimes it may pick each page from a different domain.

A site: search is a special case. It will show you pages even if they are not the ones Google chose to index. Google assumes you are specifically looking for content on a specific domain so will try its best. It will even show pages that redirect!

Option 1: As having multiple domains has no ranking benefit, why not switch to just using one of them. Redirect all the others to it. You may be able to pass your affiliate information with the redirects.

Option 2: As Max suggested, add canonical tags to all pages with their value set to use the domain of your choice. This is a suggestion to Google that should push it to use the domain you want. You can still use the other domains for affiliate purposes as their pages still exist. Could you clarify why you think canonical tags won't work?

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.