Drupal SEO help - Duplicate content but very similar URLS?

[Party_Experts]

Hi,

This is a very strange problem and not sure how it has happened. I am adding packages to my website and a duplicate page & almost identical URL is being picked up by Google.

E.g. the page I make is http://www.ukgirlthing.co.uk/hen-party/bristol-spa-rty-lunch-pampering-h... but then also appearing is http://www.ukgirlthing.co.uk/hen-party/bristol-spa-rty-pampering-hen-party. The node's are exactly the same, and if i edit one of them, the other also updates. You will notice that the URL's are almost exactly the same, except the words are re-organised slightly?

Shall i just delete the URL alias of the duplicate entry or is there something else which is making this happen?

These URL's are being picked up as duplicate content, although it's the same node!

Hope you can help,

Thank you!

[Andy.Drinkwater]

So the word "lunch" is being added to the URL, yet the page doesn't exist?

I'll be honest, I don't work on Drupal because it does do weird things from time to time so can't advise on this specific issue.

I would check the settings though and see if there is an SEO plugin (or site setting) that is causing this to write a second page. Also check to make sure this isn't a page that has been deleted and is still able to be crawled. Has that page with the word "lunch" in the URL, ever been created?

If it is easy enough to do, delete the page and re-create it to see if that clears the problem.

-Andy

[Party_Experts]

Hi Andy,

If I make an amendment on one page, the other also shows the amendment, and so for this reason, i can't delete it as both will go.  I think you maybe onto something, as in this might be caused by a plugin somewhere, so I will check this out - Moz has shown that I have hundreds of these duplicate pages which is worrying, although they don't physically exist (same node for duplicate).

Tricky one this is!

[artdivision]

It's been a VERY long time since I did a web site on Drupal but I  will give this a go. To start with can you please list me the modules you use on your web site? Most importantly do you use "Pathauto"? If yes I think there might be a conflict with your URL aliases. Let me know. Also is this Drupal 6 or 7?

[Party_Experts]

Hi Yiannis!

Thanks for this!

Modules we have are Pathauto, <label style="display: inline !important;" for="edit-status-canonical-url">Canonical URL and </label>****<label style="display: inline !important;" for="edit-status-canonical-url"><label style="display: inline !important;" for="edit-status-seochecklist">SEO Checklist.  Drupal version is 6.</label></label>

<label style="display: inline !important;" for="edit-status-canonical-url"><label style="display: inline !important;" for="edit-status-seochecklist">I have recently requested our developers to install Global Redirect which I have read solves many other SEO issues with Drupal.</label></label>****<label style="display: inline !important;" for="edit-status-canonical-url"><label style="display: inline !important;" for="edit-status-seochecklist"> </label></label>

I checked within the URL aliases and the 2 different aliases are showing, and are reporting the same node - See both image uploads.

Thanks

XGtFcSn vAUoXhP

[artdivision]

Again check this with your developers as its been a while but I think it has to do with your setting on Pathauto (I cant log in to be 100% sure of what you've selected there). Did you install Pathauto after you manualy changed the url? or were both generated via pathauto? Also both pages have canonical urls set on those 2 different urls. Is this intended?

Sorry for blasting you with questions but as I cant see your dashbaord I am trying to get a clear picture

[Party_Experts]

No problems at all Yiannis, feel free to ask as much information as possible!

Just looked in the auto-path settings and found this (see image attachment)

I have a feel this maybe on the wrong setting?  If so, what would you advise? Should i change to 'Do nothing, leave the old alias intact' and then go through URL Alias's, find the duplicate wrong ones and manually delete them?  Then going forward, no more will occur?

Look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Thanks!

oRh8zRQ

[artdivision]

Sorry for the late response, got hooked up with work

Try the 3rd option please which you delete old alias once you create a new one. Select the desirable URL as the new one and save.

Let me know if that solves the problem.

ps. If the old url is indexed and ranked you might want to set a 301 redirect just in case

[Party_Experts]

No problem at all, I appreciate your help!

Got a question about this module - Why does it ask what to do with an alias, shouldn't it just keep the alias once i make a page, and even if i make changes to it, it stays the same?  I don't understand the 'create a new...' etc.. and why it would do that.

When it creates the new alias, they both still point to the same node, so confused why it would make a new alias, rather than leaving the old one intact and not creating a new one?

Thanks!

[artdivision]

HI mate, sorry for the late response.

It should and I agree with you but Open Source was never perfect Drupal is more time consuming and complicated than Wordpress and there is a reason it refers to more "Geeky" people if I may say than the average WP user.

However the end sites are 20.000 times cleaner than any wordpress site and definitely worth the effort and time put into it!

[Party_Experts]

Thanks for your help in this Yiannis.

We are now sifting through a lot of the duplicate alias's, creating redirects, and then going into delete them.  Also altered the option going forward.  I have decided to go with 'Do nothing' as i don't want it to make any URL alterations - That should be OK shouldnt it?

I guess this is case closed - Really appreciate your time and help in this mate!

Sunny