Site duplication issue....

[MiroAsh]

Hi All,

I have a client who has duplicated an entire section of their site onto another domain about 1 year ago.  The new domain was ranking well but was hit heavily back in March by Panda.

I have to say the set up isn't great and the solution I'm proposing isn't ideal, however, as an agency we have only been tasked with "performing SEO" on the new domain.

Here is an illustration of the problem: http://i.imgur.com/Mfh8SLN.jpg

My solution to the issue is to 301 redirect the duplicated area of the original site out (around 150 pages) to the new domain name, but I'm worried that this could be could cause a problem as I know you have to be careful with redirecting internal pages to external when it comes to SEO.

The other issue I have is that the client would like to retain the menu structure on the main site, but I do not want to be putting an external link in the main navigation so my proposed solution is as follows:

• Implement 301 redirects for URLs from original domain to new domain
• Remove link out to this section from the main navigation of original site and add a boiler plate link in another area of the template for "Visit xxx for our xxx products" kind of link to the other site.

Illustration of this can be found here: http://i.imgur.com/CY0ZfHS.jpg

I'm sure the best solution would be to redirect in URLs from the new domain into the original site and keep all sections within the one domain and optimise the one site.  My hands are somewhat tied on this one but I just wanted clarification or advice on the solution I've proposed, and that it wont dramatically affect the standing of the current sites.

[yeagerd]

If you are wanting to continue to link to the old domain within the old domain but remove any hits from the new domain I would simply put a canonical tag in the old domain designating the new domain as the content source.  This way you can continue to use it and link to it within the old domain to allow a unified UX and give full SEO credit to the right spot.

[MiroAsh]

OK, so if I was to roll out canonical tags across the original site pointing to the new site, would these eventually switch out for the new URLs within the SERPs?

Thanks

[Kurt_Steinbrueck]

That's what should happen in theory.  Your telling Google an Bing that the original content is at the new domain with the canonical tags.  They should essentially ignore the content on the old site and only care about the content of the new site, since it's the original.

There's two caveats, though.  First, is the Google expressly states that they treat the canonical tag as a suggestion.  So, there's no guarantee that they'll treat the tags the way they are intended.  Secondly, if the new domain has already been hit by Panda, then you have a bit of an uphill battle.  Google has already decided that they think the real source of the content is the old domain name and you are trying to convince them they have it backwards.

Even with the caveats, though, canonical tags are the only solution that fits the situation and the client's wishes (to still have the content on both sites).  The only other suggestion you could give is to redo the content on the new site so it is unique.  That's a lot more work, though.

[MiroAsh]

Thanks Lestr

I think I will test the canonical solution initially and see its effect over the next couple of months then review the results.

If I was to convince the client to break out the section of the site completely would my initial proposed solution be a preferred option?

Thanks

[Kurt_Steinbrueck]

Yes, if the client doesn't mind not having the content on the old domain, then 301 redirects are the best solution.  Without seeing the navigation menu and the two sites, it's hard to evaluate whether you need to change the links.  If it would seem odd to user to click the current link and land on the new domain, then what you suggest sounds good.  If both sites are clearly identified as being the same company and look pretty similar, you may not need to change the link(s).  The 301 redirects will take care of the search engines, the change to the link(s) is a question of user experience.