How to fix the duplicate content problem on different domains (.nl /.be) of your brand's websites in multiple countries?

[HMK-NL]

Is this the best way?

http://googleproducts-nl.blogspot.nl/2012/02/meertalige-en-multiregionale-websites.html

[RobertFisher]

BenVer

In a short answer, not much. This is from GWMT:

Websites that provide content for different regions and in different languages sometimes create content that is the same or similar but available on different URLs. This is generally not a problem as long as the content is for different users in different countries.

Since you are using ccTLD's, Google already knows that you are targeting that specific country. 

While this will not guarantee that the .nl doesn't outrank the .be in Belgium, it will take care of your duplicate content concerns.

[Maxoulala]

This post is deleted!

[RobertFisher]

Maxime,

I have to question this as you have it. The intent is there, but you are throwing everything at a problem and some of it does not work:

1. for a ccTLD, there is no geotargeting in WMT: from GWMT:

Sites with country-coded top-level domains (such as .ie) are already associated with a geographic region, in this case Ireland. In this case, you won't be able to specify a geographic location.

2. He does not need this in a cross domain setting.

3. Given he has ccTLD's this is an unnecessary expense and will add no value.

Hope this clarifies for you,

[Maxoulala]

Hi Robert, 1. Yes indeed you are right, for a ccTLD, there is no geotargeting in GWMT. 2. Dutch is spoken in both Netherlands and Belgium so having the same content appearing on both .nl and .be domains is likely to be considered as duplicate content. Using rel=”alternate” hreflang=”x” seems to be the most appropriate solution. 3. In my opinion, hosting each website in the country targeted is a plus (server response will be quicker) but this is indeed not decisive. So do it only if you have a large budget.

[RobertFisher]

Maxime,

While I agree the speed might be different with in country hosting given they are both European countries. (Not true in some others.) But the question was around content duplication.

Again, I think your intent is good. But, since he has two separate domains. ExampleSite.be and ExampleSite.nl, he has no need of hreflang="x" since both are in Dutch. If he had Dutch and English it would not matter if it were the same domain or not:
From Gianluca Fiorelli mozPost

**if Page A (US version) exists also in Page B (Spanish), C (French), and D (German) versions from other countires, no matter if they are in the same domain or different, then on page A you should suggest the last three URLs as the ones Google must show in the SERPs in their respective targeted Googles. **

Again, since they are ccTLD's and they are already geotargeted by virtue of same and since they are both in Dutch, there is no other worry re duplicate content.

I am open to being shown I am wrong as it will not be the first time

Best to you, thanks so much for your replies,

Robert

[Maxoulala]

This post is deleted!

[RobertFisher]

Maxime,

I saw this too, and there are certainly variants. Given, that for Google I have generally used WMT as the final source and usually that worked, I lean a bit more that way. But, your point is well stated and not wrong. For purposes of being absolutely safe, it will not hurt to have the hreflang attribute there. A better question might be: is it really necessary given the you have ccTLD's and the same language?

From WMT:

Some example scenarios where rel="alternate" hreflang="x" is recommended:

• You translate only the template of your page, such as the navigation and footer, and keep the main content in a single language. This is common on pages that feature user-generated content, like a forum post.
• Your pages have broadly similar content within a single language, but the content has small regional variations. For example, you might have English-language content targeted at readers in the US, GB, and Ireland.
• Your site content is fully translated. For example, you have both German and English versions of each page.

I will assume that it is a given that google uses the ccTLD as the indicator of country and that it is considered a "Strong" signal to Google.

WIthin GWMT re: multilingual/regional sites (the bolded/italics are mine

Websites that provide content for different regions and in different languages sometimes create content that is the same or similar but available on different URLs. This is generally not a problem as long as the content is for different users in different countries. While we strongly recommend that you provide unique content for each different group of users, we understand that this may not always be possible. There is generally no need to "hide" the duplicates by disallowing crawling in a robots.txt file or by using a "noindex" robots meta tag. However, if you're providing the same content to the same users on different URLs (for instance, if both __example.de/ and example.com/de/ show German language content for users in Germany), you should pick a preferred version and redirect (or use the rel=canonical link element) appropriately. In addition, you should follow the guidelines on rel-alternate-hreflang to make sure that the correct language or regional URL is served to searchers.

Again, thanks for the replies. I find it really helpful to discuss back and forth as it adds to the learning adventure we are all on.

Best to you,

Robert

[Maxoulala]

BenVer,

Please can you tell us what kind of duplicate content do you have on your different domains (.nl /.be) ?

Are the dutch and belgium page exactly the same? What are the differences?

Thanks,

Maxime

[HMK-NL]

Dear Maxime,

there texts and content are pretty much the same / identical. Maybe there are some slight textual differences since Flemish and Dutch are different sometimes.

Overall, all content is nearly the same.

Thanks for both of your help!

[Maxoulala]

In that case, I'll go for the Alternate link tag as mentionned before:

By using it, you will guide Google and tell him to show the flemish version in first position for your user in Belgium and vice-versa for the dutch users in Holland.

Hope this helps!

Maxime