Separate URLs: two or more sites are created that are accessed via different URLs
Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2025 10:58 am
Responsive: the site always remains the same, the code delivered by the server is always the same (including CSS/JS), the display adapts to the size of the browser and its pixel density.
You will then need to include precautions in the code (via the <link> alternative and canonical tags) to explain to Google the connection between the pages and the reason why two or more pages have the same content. In my opinion, the “ AMP ” version also falls into this type of solution.
Dynamic: two or more sites are created, but the URL will be the same. Based on the type of agent, the server decides which version of the site to deliver. Here too, a technical adjustment will be necessary, but this time by some of the key features of band inserting a “note” at the HTTP Header level (vary: user-agent).
Once everything is sorted out from a technical point of view, it will be necessary to sort out the site from a content perspective as well. We are on the brink of a change of era, a bit like the day before and the day after the dinosaurs became extinct: before and after the Mobile First Index . What does this mean?
As of today - excluding numerous announcements (wolf, wolf!!!) from Google - we are still in the "pre" phase in which Google evaluates the site in its desktop version. This means that both content and layout evaluations (visibility of content, "positional" strength of links, ...) are made in the desktop version, regardless of the mobile structural choice of the site (if it has been made).
In the “post” phase it will be exactly the opposite: this means that Google will evaluate content and visibility for the mobile version. To simplify, let's say that if before the eye of Sauron was Googlebot, tomorrow it will be Googlebot Mobile .
The change is truly epochal, especially if we consider that it was customary to create mobile site versions (especially in the case of “Separate URLs”) much lighter, both in terms of content proposal and tree structure. A similar condition, after Google’s change, could mean showing them an inadequate version of the site.
You will then need to include precautions in the code (via the <link> alternative and canonical tags) to explain to Google the connection between the pages and the reason why two or more pages have the same content. In my opinion, the “ AMP ” version also falls into this type of solution.
Dynamic: two or more sites are created, but the URL will be the same. Based on the type of agent, the server decides which version of the site to deliver. Here too, a technical adjustment will be necessary, but this time by some of the key features of band inserting a “note” at the HTTP Header level (vary: user-agent).
Once everything is sorted out from a technical point of view, it will be necessary to sort out the site from a content perspective as well. We are on the brink of a change of era, a bit like the day before and the day after the dinosaurs became extinct: before and after the Mobile First Index . What does this mean?
As of today - excluding numerous announcements (wolf, wolf!!!) from Google - we are still in the "pre" phase in which Google evaluates the site in its desktop version. This means that both content and layout evaluations (visibility of content, "positional" strength of links, ...) are made in the desktop version, regardless of the mobile structural choice of the site (if it has been made).
In the “post” phase it will be exactly the opposite: this means that Google will evaluate content and visibility for the mobile version. To simplify, let's say that if before the eye of Sauron was Googlebot, tomorrow it will be Googlebot Mobile .
The change is truly epochal, especially if we consider that it was customary to create mobile site versions (especially in the case of “Separate URLs”) much lighter, both in terms of content proposal and tree structure. A similar condition, after Google’s change, could mean showing them an inadequate version of the site.