.ca and. com domains

[TP_Marketing]

Hello,

currently the main site im working on is a .com, but have the .ca version purchased from register.com.  should i have this setup to redirect to the .com site. will google see these as dup content.  We have the .ca for our canadian customers but both sites are identical. Thank you

[ThompsonPaul]

Just to be clear - when you say both sites are identical, do you mean that there is actually just one site that will have both the .com and .ca pointing to it?

If so, and as long as you correctly use a 301 redirect to point your .ca to the .com, you won't have any problem with duplicate content.

That's exactly the sort of issue 301 redirects are specifically designed to solve.

Just a tip for useability...

As a Canadian, when I get redirected to a US .com site, I'm often left to wonder whether the US company can actually serve me well in Canada.

You might want to consider pointing the .ca domain to a landing page on the .com site that functions as a "Canadian home page" and includes explanations to potential CDN customers about all the great ways you can take care of them.

• assurance that you ship inexpensively and efficiently to Canada
• whether pricing is listed in US or CDN dollars
• how service is provided to Canadian users if needed
• that your product meets Canadian safety standards, licensing etc if applicable

The landing page can graphically mimic the regular home page, but with enough Canadian-market-specific content to keep it from being a dupe of the regular home page.

Paul

[TP_Marketing]

hello

should I just create a custom page on my .com site thats says .ca?and mirrors my .com homepage? Also if i redirect should it be to the  xxxxx.com or the www.xxxxxx.com?

thanks so much!

[ThompsonPaul]

Sorry - dupe post. There's something wonky going on with Roger's server - returning a page error even though the comment posted.

[TP_Marketing]

We are currently using the Premium Web Site Forwarding from Register.com.

Would this still cause a Dup content issue?

Thanks again

[ThompsonPaul]

First, I'm going to assume the canonical version of your .com website is www.yoursite.com. This assumes that the URL yoursite.com (no www.) is already 301-redirected to the www version.

In that case, I'd create a page at www.yoursite.com/canada (or even /canada-company-name). On that page, I'd create a "homepage" that is similar in design to your regular homepage, but that contains a whole lot of copy specific to the Canadian market. It should NOT be a direct copy of the regular homepage.

Then, I'd 301 redirect yoursite.ca and www.yoursite.ca to www.yoursite.com/canada

Lastly, I'd put a link "Canadian Customers" (or equivalent, maybe with a small CDN flag icon) somewhere at the top of your www.yoursite.com pages pointing to the /canada page. That way, even when a Canadian customer finds the .com site through search, there's a chance they'll notice the Canadian info.

Paul

[ThompsonPaul]

Glad to help!

As far as register.com's Premium Web Site Forwarding, I'm not familiar with it. But from the quick look I took, it's an INCREDIBLY expensive way to do something that is standard with almost all other domain registrars.

The cost of their domains is exorbitantly high ($79/3 years from what I see) plus they're charging an extra $50/yr to be able to do simple domain redirecting. Most registrars charge about $12.00/yr to do all that for a .ca domain.

Sorry, didn't want to muddy the waters, but thought you should know those prices are crazy high.

For specific info on how to do the redirects, you should get register.com's support to help you. You just want to be certain to ask that they show you how to create 301 redirects (only 301 - not 302 or CName or anything else) as I mentioned.

Then to confirm, 24 hours after the redirects have been done, use a header-checking tool to test each of yoursite.ca and www.yoursite.ca. The tool should show a 301 redirect leading to a "200 OK" response for each.

Paul

[TP_Marketing]

With the current way that we have it setup now would we have to worry about duplicate issues? If I search on our xxxxxx.ca domain, regardless of where we are on the site is always .ca none of the custom pages or sub directories show.

Thanks for all of your help!

[ThompsonPaul]

There's not really much more I can tell you without seeing and checking the actual site, LB.

If you're not comfortable listing the site address here publicly, you can send it to me in a PM (personal message) if that's better.

Otherwise it's just going to be too many back and forth messages for me to be certain I'm clear how your site & domains are configured.

P.

P.S. I appreciate you marking a couple of good answers!