Domains and Pages

  • Hi Guys,

    Sorry hopefully the last question for you!

    Currently, I have a domain (NSLX.co.uk), and from there I have a WordPress site with pages on it, for example nslx.co.uk/portfolio.

    I then have a separate domain, bought for pure vanity, neilscrivener.com.

    At the moment there is a forwarder (I think) with a masked domain.

    In an ideal world, I would like to have the second domain work the same as the first. So nslx.co.uk/page1 and neilscrivener.com/page1 would do the same thing.

    I appreciate this isn’t strictly a WordPress question, but I did wonder if anyone had any pointers – as I have different Domain and Hosting providers, and they’re sort of point the finger at each other in terms of how to go about it!

    Thanks!

    N

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

  • You would have to point the 2nd domain to the same hosting as the 1st domain. You must clarify how this works with the support of your hoster. To be more precise: the webspace host must enter the 2nd domain as an external domain and tell you what the domain host must enter in the domain settings.

    If both of them can’t get this right, simply move the domain to the webspace host. Then you have everything under one roof, which makes administration easier.

    As soon as this is achieved, however, calling up the 2nd domain will lead to a redirect to the 1st domain. WordPress is responsible for this. The reason is that what you consider to be the “ideal world” is not. From the point of view of search engines, this would be duplicate content – the same content under 2 different domains. Something like this is devalued to the point of excluding your two domains from the search engine index. Redirecting to the main domain would therefore be the technically correct solution.

    Moderator bcworkz

    (@bcworkz)

    You can avoid having WP redirect to its primary domain by dynamically setting the domain through the WP_SITEURL constant and WP_HOME as described in the section after the previously linked section.

    You still need to get both domains routed to your WP installation like threadi described.

    In doing this you still will be subject to SEO problems due to the appearance of duplicate content. You can avoid this by ensuring each page’s canonical URL tag is always the primary domain regardless of which was requested. Unfortunately, I think WP will also alter the canonical domain if you dynamically set the domain as described above (unverified). To ensure it’s always the primary domain, you can use the ‘get_canonical_url’ filter to do so.

    Thread Starter neilscrivener

    (@neilscrivener)

    Hi Guys,

    Thanks for the response. So I guess what you’re really saying is the current configuration is actually correct, and best for SEO?

    Thanks!

    Neil

    Moderator bcworkz

    (@bcworkz)

    It’s not a matter of correct or incorrect. There are pros and cons for each. The best approach depends your preference of behavior while considering the associated drawbacks of that choice.

    If you’re OK with secondary domain requests being redirected to the primary domain then leaving things as-is is very likely your best choice.

    The intent of my previous reply was to point out there are alternatives. Not to suggest it’s something you should do.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
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