Just checking here… you are aware of Google’s Duplicate Content Penalty and why that’s a bad idea?
Yes, Thank you.
I’ll use canonical links and any other measure to tell google the content belongs to the main site, not the sub-sites… which the new feature could take care of 🙂
Is it possible?
Do you need both domains to be 100% functional, or is it okay to say ‘go to domainA.com/foobar, redirect to domainB.com/foobar’?
yes. Each site has its own blog, and only SOME pages need to be the same.
Nothing rare for a network of branded sites. Contrary to a “Ning” type of network, where your users have free to manage their site, a business network MUST have limits, consistency, patterns. (I don’t think there’s a multisite out there not intended to make money)
I descarted redirecting the domains since it would be more difficult for me to populate the aliased pages with site-specific variables (post snippets) to “individualize” them a little (not for google duplicate content issue, but for human eye)
(I don’t think there’s a multisite out there not intended to make money)
You’re wrong there, but that isn’t the point really. A business wouldn’t use Multisite this way, probably. Also not the point.
In your case, you’ve got few options if you use MultiSite:
1) Actually duplicate the post, using a plugin that pushes the post to all sites, and tweak per instance.
2) Use redirects to send the shared pages to the main domain
3) Link all sites to the shared pages on the main domain.
You’re wrong there, but that isn’t the point really.
hehe, making right from wrong is an art. I’m an artist 🙂
I meant the growing tendency: Using wordpress for whole sites/networks.
The ones who can afford it are making money with them. EVEN being a familiar one, if ANY one have the skills to do it, he already knows how to monetize it and AT LEAST it has banners. That’s “making money”.
A business wouldn’t use Multisite this way, probably. Also not the point.
Who do you think ordered me 30 sites in wordpress? Does a Fortune 500 company qualify as “business”?
Redirects won’t work. I can’t redirect the whole page, since it has links, categories, the home page’s logo!. To mucho tweaking. I wouldn’t know how many places wordpress would fight/break against my tweaks on.
I haven’t found a “duplicate post” plugin. I’ll take a second look. Thanks!
Anyway, I don’t mind exporting the posts to all the blogs. It’ll be on-time work. I care about editing content.
I’m going to give you a real world example.
McDonalds owns happymeal.com – If you go to click on ‘Privacy’ from happymeal.com you get sent BACK to the parent page at mcdonalds.com
This is what I mean when I say that pages that are the SAME between brand-related sites should be managed from the MASTER site. It’s good business, as it reinforces your parent brand.
Broadcast a post/page to other blogs. Whitelist, blacklist, groups and automatic category+tag posting/creation available.
* http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/threewp-broadcast/
Allows you to duplicate posts and pages to multiple sub-blogs at once.
* http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/multipost-mu/
Thanks for the links!
This is what I mean when I say that pages that are the SAME between brand-related sites should be managed from the MASTER site. It’s good business, as it reinforces your parent brand.
Did you say that? That’s what I was saying and you that that kind of sites were not intended for business. Isn’t McDonalds a business?
I WILL use pages linking back to the corporate site, but I can’t fight with client when they want to see 30 sites with their own pages. I could actually do it and let the pain to edit it to them, and then charging for managing the elephant… but I can’t knowing it could be done different 🙁 I’m not good to make money 🙁
I can’t fight with client when they want to see 30 sites with their own pages.
And that is where I disagree. 🙂 It’s your job, as the designer, to help them understand why it’s a bad idea, that there are going to be consequences, and that it’s against your recommendation. Educate them. If their sites are ranked higher, they’ll be happier. (I work for a monolithic company and I’m very familiar with the uphill battle of doing what’s right, even when it’s unpopular. And I’ve risked my job on if before, and I will again.)
However what I meant, and I stand by this, is that a Business generally doesn’t use MultiSite (or any code) to copy identical (or nearly) content between separate sites. It’s a bad business model, it dilutes your brand. McDonalds doesn’t.
My point was NOT that business don’t use MultiSite, it was that they don’t use Multisite for THAT goal. No site should.
My partner is an excellent white hat SEO. He makes you rank anywhere for what you need (not what you think you need).
He’ll do it for 30 sites even if they are hardcoded. I’ll do it the good way, as you said. I also have lost jobs inn doing it, and that’s what made my partner like my work.
When I say I have to please my client on eacho site having their own pages, it doesn’t mean I’ll make them edit them 30 times. I’m having a hell of a bad time to make them understand the content they will provide me MUST be just one and one only. Then I’ll “regional-ize” them. Last communication was that they’ll send different docs for each site 🙁
I educate my clients too. You can tell by the length of my messages I like to explain things until understood 🙂
