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Does anyone know about this Big Daddy Google update? Supposedly they are doing a lot of removing duplicate pages, so we shall see ... I *think* the IP for the datacenter is at

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A short, practical add‑on to the thread that builds on what , and have already flagged: Big Daddy was an infrastructure rollout that changed how Google picks and serves URL versions, and that phase‑by‑phase switchover led to temporary differences in indexed counts and result behavior. (mattcutts.com)

Keep this concise checklist nearby when you see index shifts or odd canonical choices:

  • Pick one canonical form (host + path) for each resource and enforce it consistently with server redirects and site links; explicit signals reduce ambiguity. (developers.google.com)
  • Verify redirects and chains at the HTTP level; confirm you’re using permanent redirects where appropriate and watch for unexpected 3xx behavior. Use the quick curl check below. (developers.google.com)
  • Use rel="canonical" and sitemaps to reinforce preferences, and push the right URLs in Search Console rather than relying on robots rules to “hide” duplicates. (developers.google.com)
  • Audit for server misconfiguration or soft 404s (identical content served from different hosts can cause wrong canonical selection). If you find this, fix server responses rather than trying to trick the indexer. (developers.google.com)

A minimal diagnostic you can run locally:

curl -I -L https://www.example.com/your-page

Look for clear status lines (e.g., HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently) and the final Location: header. Chains or mixed 302/301 hops are common causes of indexing surprises.

Canonical signals are hints, not absolute commands — Google may still pick a different URL if signals conflict. Keep signals consistent (redirects, canonical tags, sitemap entries and internal links all pointing to the same preferred URL), monitor Search Console index/coverage reports, and gather concrete examples (query, cached result, response headers) before escalating or filing feedback. (developers.google.com)

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Member Avatar for kub365

Yea, it's a very tricky update. Some people are reporting less pages indexed on the new BD servers.

I think it's just that they are rolling out the new updates, then they will send out the crawlers when the update is done. Within a couple of months everything should be sorted out.

Member Avatar for shimon

BigDaddy is happening right now.
There are 3 main things that BigDaddy will address.
1) Canonicalizing URL’s
2) The 302 redirect hijack problem,
3) Reading flash and javascript.

What is “canonicalization? If you have 3 URL’s like: www.example.com, , and , it will figure out which one to show in the SERP’s.

Basically, the BigDaddy update is not just another update. It is an entire infrastructure change. I've heard it put this way: if an update is like a car's tune-up, then BigDaddy is like replacing the engine.

Member Avatar for Dani

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