The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • My Q&A
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. SEO and Digital Marketing Q&A Forum
    2. Categories
    3. Technical SEO Issues
    4. Cross Domain Canonicalization for Site Folder

    Cross Domain Canonicalization for Site Folder

    Technical SEO Issues
    3 2 26
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • SimpleSearch
      SimpleSearch last edited by

      Hello colleagues!

      I have a client who decided to launch a separate domain so they could offer their content translated for other countries.   Each country (except the US/English) content lives in its own country folder as follows:

      client.com/01/02/zh
      client.com/01/02/tw

      etc.

      The problem is that they post the content in US/English on this domain too.  It does NOT have its own folder, but exists righth after the date (as in the above example) Oh, and the content is the same as on their "main" domain so google likes to index that sometimes vs. the original client on the domain where we want the traffic to go.

      SO, is there a way to say "hey google, please index the US content only on the main domain, but continue to index the translated content in these folders on this totally separate domain?"

      Thank you so much in advance.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • seoelevated
        seoelevated last edited by

        So, if both versions of each English pages are identical, and both for the US market, then I think you may need to utilize two different approaches together. First, you can use cross-domain canonicalization on the English pages on the secondary domain to point them to the primary domain (along with a self-referencing canonical on the primary domain). And second, you can use hreflang tags on the English pages on the primary domain and the other languages on the secondary domain, to specify which versions of each page are for which locales (along with x-default and self-referencing hreflang tags).

        On the other hand, if the English pages on the secondary domain are for another English language market (non-US), then you could use just a full-blown hreflang solution.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • SimpleSearch
          SimpleSearch last edited by

          Thank you SO very much!  This is exactly what I will do.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • 1 / 1
          • First post
            Last post
          • Recently re-built our site and changed domain. Now I want to go back to old domain - it it a bad idea?
            DanWrightson
            DanWrightson
            0
            3
            88

          • URL Structure On Site - Currently it's domain/product-name NOT domain/category/product name is this bad?
            RuthBurrReedy
            RuthBurrReedy
            0
            4
            196

          • Site hacked in Jan. Redeveloped new site. Still not ranking. Should we change domain?
            galwaygirl
            galwaygirl
            0
            8
            140

          • What is cross domain?
            Bromtec
            Bromtec
            0
            3
            1.5k

          • Should I create mini-sites with keyword rich domain names pointing to my main site?
            RyanKent
            RyanKent
            1
            10
            6.3k

          • Delete old site but redirect domain to a new domain and site
            AaronSchinke
            AaronSchinke
            0
            4
            828

          • A client will be translating their entire site into French in addition to English. For SEO purposes, should I host it on the same domain or create its own dedicated domain?
            tylerfraser
            tylerfraser
            0
            2
            873

          • If you have multiple Web sites, utilizing great root domains to rank organically for varying terms, is it against Google search policy if each site basically offers the same service?
            ChrisClever
            ChrisClever
            0
            3
            810

          Get started with Moz Pro!

          Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

          Start my free trial
          Products
          • Moz Pro
          • Moz Local
          • Moz API
          • Moz Data
          • STAT
          • Product Updates
          Moz Solutions
          • SMB Solutions
          • Agency Solutions
          • Enterprise Solutions
          • Digital Marketers
          Free SEO Tools
          • Domain Authority Checker
          • Link Explorer
          • Keyword Explorer
          • Competitive Research
          • Brand Authority Checker
          • Local Citation Checker
          • MozBar Extension
          • MozCast
          Resources
          • Blog
          • SEO Learning Center
          • Help Hub
          • Beginner's Guide to SEO
          • How-to Guides
          • Moz Academy
          • API Docs
          About Moz
          • About
          • Team
          • Careers
          • Contact
          Why Moz
          • Case Studies
          • Testimonials
          Get Involved
          • Become an Affiliate
          • MozCon
          • Webinars
          • Practical Marketer Series
          • MozPod
          Connect with us

          Contact the Help team

          Join our newsletter
          Moz logo
          © 2021 - 2026 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
          • Accessibility
          • Terms of Use
          • Privacy