Multiple Sites-GOOGLE Search Results pulling wrong data

[niki]

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CHANGE OF SUBJECT/TOPIC - SEE NEW DESCRIPTION IN FOLLOW-UP POST DOWN BELOW - issue ended up being something different than originally thought
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Morning Helpers! I'll try to make this quick & dirty.

- Certain content on my site is set up to only be visible if a user is logged in. This works fine on the site itself.
- It was recently brought to my attention that if a random person enters certain keywords into Google, it will yield results that bring them to the restricted content on my site without logging in. Suffice it to say, a dealer got cut out by a contractor and things got "ugly."

I'm sure it's an obvious simple answer/fix for most of you, but I'm a relative novice, so even tho I have researched the subject, I've not come up with the solution and would greatly appreciate your expert guidance in this area. Site details are below.

Thank you.

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Cms Version: 1.5.2

Installed Modules:

CMSMailer: 1.73.14
FileManager: 0.4.3
MenuManager: 1.5.3
ModuleManager: 1.2.1
News: 2.9.2
nuSOAP: 1.0.1
Printing: 0.2.6
Search: 1.5.2
ThemeManager: 1.0.8
TinyMCE: 2.4.11
Cataloger: 0.7
ShopMadeSimple: 0.2.1
CGExtensions: 1.15
Album: 0.9.3
CGExtensions: 1.15
CGSimpleSmarty: 1.4
Products: 2.2.3
CompanyDirectory: 1.1.6
FormBuilder: 0.5.11
LightBox: 1.0.1
Comments: 1.9.2
NMS: 2.2.2
CGGoogleMaps: 1.2
FormBrowser: 0.2.3
PHPMyAdmin: 2.8.2-1
AkismetCheck: 0.2.1
Captcha: 0.4
FrontEndUsers: 1.6.5
SelfRegistration: 1.2.3
CustomContent: 1.5.3
MovieLibrary: 2.0.0
CGFeedMaker: 1.0.6
CGBlog: 1.2
Cart: 1.4.1
Orders: 1.2.4
Jobs: 1.0

Config Information:

php_memory_limit:
process_whole_template: true
max_upload_size: 500000000
default_upload_permission: 664
assume_mod_rewrite: false
page_extension:
internal_pretty_urls: false
use_hierarchy: false

Php Information:

phpversion: 5.3.9
md5_function: On (True)
gd_version: 2
tempnam_function: On (True)
magic_quotes_runtime: Off (False)
memory_limit: 128M
max_execution_time: 600
safe_mode: Off (False)
session_save_path: /tmp (1777)

Server Information:

Server Api: cgi-fcgi
Server Db Type: MySQL (mysql)
Server Db Version: 5.0.96

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[uniqu3]

Version 1.5.2 is no longer supported, please upgrade to recent 1.11.5 Version.

Regarding your problem, exclude Restricted pages with robots.txt or .htaccess from Search engines, use noindex meta tag for restricted page and so on.
Besides search bots shouldn't be able to see your content just like not logged in user can't see it, therefore it's possible you have used some wrong logic in those templates, pages.

[niki]

Thank you for your quick reply. A couple more details:

1) I didn't design/create the websites, I'm just just the maintenance "man". So troubleshooting is FUN!!

2) I just found out that the Search result issue is actually different than I originally thought it was. Here's the deal, I maintain 3 different site domains under 1 CMSMS database. 2 of which share identical data (Domains A and B), 1 of which is restricted (needs a login to access, Domain C) and shares SOME info with A & B, but also has UNIQUE info. Sites A and B are for the general public, Site C is for Dealers Only. We don't want C's customer to go around them and become A and B customers, so we need to keep that information separate/private. So we have:

www.domainA.com
www.domainB.com
www.domainC.com

What's happening is, certain pages that are SUPPOSED TO BE accessed and available only from Domain C's website (example: "Dealer Products")

www.domainC.com/index.php?page=dealerproducts

Someone can go into Google and search for "Domain A Dealer Products" and get a link like this:

www.domainA.com/index.php?page=dealerproducts

So it makes it look like Company A provides Dealer Products.

I have a feeling this is way more complicated than originally posted and would take more than a simple quick fix to resolve. It's something that's been an issue for web developers for this group of companies for years. Apparently no one's resolved it sufficiently yet. Maybe this next go 'round! (yes, we're in the process of redesigning all our sites, but in the meantime, this Crawler/Search deal has become a major service issue with our Dealer reps and I'd kinda like to remedy it if at all possible.)

Thanks!!

[niki]

Yikes! The company owners have been advised of this issue by the Sales Dept. and they are looking for answers from me. I told them I was still looking for answers too! Not very conducive to my yearly review taking place tomorrow.

Help!! Any ideas whatsoever? I'm much obliged.

[TO MODERATOR: Can we please change the Subject of this post? Not quite sure what to say though. "Multiple Domains-Crawlers pulling inaccurate data for site"?]

[Rolf]

Add to the <head> of your HTML template:

Code: Select all

{if !$ccuser->loggedin()}
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow" />
{/if}

Google will stop indexing these pages.

[TO MODERATOR: Can we please change the Subject of this post? Not quite sure what to say though. "Multiple Domains-Crawlers pulling inaccurate data for site"?]

You can do this yourself using the Edit button

[niki]

Add to the <head> of your HTML template:

Code: Select all

{if !$ccuser->loggedin()}
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow" />
{/if}

Google will stop indexing these pages.

'Scuse the ignorance, but is this saying: if a user is logged in, use the robots file, which means don't allow crawlers to index/follow the content?

[TO MODERATOR: Can we please change the Subject of this post? Not quite sure what to say though. "Multiple Domains-Crawlers pulling inaccurate data for site"?]

You can do this yourself using the Edit button

Uuuuhhh...der. I swear I wasn't able to do it before. I think I had limited "privileges" prior to today. But I fixed it now. THANK YOU!

[velden]

Add to the <head> of your HTML template:

Code: Select all

{if !$ccuser->loggedin()}
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow" />
{/if}

Google will stop indexing these pages.

I think you should use yet another check: the used domain.
{if !$ccuser->loggedin() <AND domainC>}
(don't know how to do that)

However, that is only fixing the issue for search engines following the rules. But apparantly those page are accessible for anyone who knows the url.

Seams like an issue to me.

But to be sure: domainA, B and C all have it's own (identical I hope) cmsms installation and share the same (one) database?

[paulbaker]

But to be sure: domainA, B and C all have it's own (identical I hope) cmsms installation and share the same (one) database?

Yeah, that was what I was wondering - so when page=dealerproducts is requested how does CMSMS know which website [domain] is requesting it and if it should show that information? How is it set up to do this? I think that's the core problem here?

If it's set up properly on a plain vanilla site, FrontendUsers doesn't allow access to any restricted page - not to Google, not to me, not to you, not to anybody.....unless visitor is logged in.

[niki]

But to be sure: domainA, B and C all have it's own (identical I hope) cmsms installation and share the same (one) database?

Uuuhhh...yeah...if I understand the question right, there was/is only ONE CMSMS installation and ONE database.

Whoever created the sites originally kept them separate by the templates. Domain A/B share templates and pages and Domain C has its own templates, and shares some pages with A/B.

[velden]

Well, then I really can't imagine how those domains are served with different templates. I'm sorry.

[paulbaker]

Well, then I really can't imagine how those domains are served with different templates. I'm sorry.

+1

[Jo Morg]

I read and re-read the thread, and as there isn't a multi-domains module listed, I believe all sums up to the 1st reply given by uniqu3...

Besides search bots shouldn't be able to see your content just like not logged in user can't see it, therefore it's possible you have used some wrong logic in those templates, pages.

Whatever the solution used it probably has a flaw somewhere... well my 2 cents FWIW...

[niki]

Ok, good. So I'm not crazy. This was just a really poor designed set up? 3 domains, 1 CMS.

Thank you for your time and effort in looking into this for me. I appreciate it.

[Jo Morg]

Ok, good. So I'm not crazy. This was just a really poor designed set up? 3 domains, 1 CMS.

I don't think we have enough info to evaluate whether it is poor design or not. That CMSMS core doesn't support multi-domains setup "out of the box" is a given, but I've seen CMSMS used in setups I wouldn't even dream of, and working properly. The fact remains that, the more complex a setup, the more attention to details is needed. The logic must be thoroughly tested before going into production (that is true in relation to any commercial application), otherwise there will be

... eddies in the Space Time Continuum...