Mirror URLs are a common practice when naming a domain. Still, this seemingly harmless name can be a serious threat to your website’s SEO On Page . Below you can discover its origin and its main characteristics. Plus, you’ll get good information on how to say goodbye to one of the most common SEO mistakes forever. What are mirror URLs exactly? These types of URLs are also known as mirror domains or duplicate domains. It happens when there is duplicate content between two or more different domains . They are traceable on your website both with and without the slash (“/”) and usually lead to the same content. After all, they are different domains that lead to an identical IP address hosted on a server, since both are connected to it. The following is a clear example of mirror URLs: Although it may seem strange, it is something that is seen very frequently on the net. It is not a fraudulent technique, nor does it pose any kind of problem for the user. What’s more, it allows the navigator to access the site regardless of the domain they type in their browser. The appearance of the mirror URLs concept in technological jargon can be explained by the behavior of a multitude of companies and professionals in the sector. They acquire more than one extension of their domain in order to protect their brand. With this tactic they achieve another important objective: to prevent third parties from making fraudulent use of their corporate identity. Qatar Phone Number List Currently it is common to observe companies with various extensions of gTLD domains : .com, .net, .org, etc. It is also common to see companies that use international ccTLD domain extensions : .it, .uk, .es, etc.The lust for omnipresence has led them to a whirlwind of acquisitions that has also infected small webmasters. The configuration of multiple domains that point to the same server is due to the current obsession with getting as much traffic as possible .
To achieve this objective, the administrators of the web pages provide the user with access to their sites regardless of the domain extension entered. These decisions often have counterproductive results for companies. The most notorious is that browsing between mirrored domains leads to the same content. Likewise, Qatar Phone Number List the consequences for the SEO positioning of these websites can be very negative in the long term. How to know if your site has mirror URLs As with other duplication scenarios, replicated URLs can slow performance . Therefore, it is essential to identify and solve any problems. For this task it is best to use the mechanisms offered by the same “judge” who dictates the positioning rules in the SERP. Google’s Webmaster Tools give you the ability to see which pages on your site are duplicated . You can also check all the variations that a URL may have suffered. Despite being an instrument of tremendous potential, its usefulness is limited for SEO professionals. Thanks to it, parameter duplication problems will be eliminated, but its results will only affect Google and Bing. For portals such as Twitter or Facebook, it is not possible to make use of the possibilities provided by the Google Search Console.
These mirror URLs are different links in the eyes of Google, that is, there is more than one way to access the same content. This is due to two main causes: the web links are not properly optimized or those that link to your page externally through backlinks are not properly configured.
