Here’s a weird one. Try a search for the BBC TV series Doctor Who on Google. You’ll find the official site, but look closely at the domain name. It’s amirgabriel.com, as shown above — not bbc.co.uk as it should be.

What’s up with that? Has the BBC undergone a transformation in the way Doctor Who himself undergoes?

It’s not a case of someone redirecting their domain over to the BBC and somehow “hijacking” the listing, a problem more common a few years ago. That’s because the domain doesn’t do a redirection, take you from one place over to the BBC. Instead, it “resolves” directly to the BBC –there’s no forwarding at all.

Maybe it’s a BBC-owned domain that’s used as an alternative for the BBC site for some reason, though it’s hard to tell if the BBC owns it because the “whois” owner information is protected.

However it happened, Google thinks bbc.co.uk and amirgabriel.com are the same, as this search shows:

While it’s not uncommon for a web site to have multiple domain names, usually Google will display the most popular or most known one in its listings. That’s not happening in this case, and it should. Even Google agrees. The company told me:

This is a known bug and we’re working to address it

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: SEO | SEO: Duplicate Content | SEO: Redirects & Moving Sites

About The Author: Danny Sullivan is a Founding Editor of Search Engine Land. He’s a widely cited authority on search engines and search marketing issues who has covered the space since 1996. Danny also serves as Chief Content Officer for Third Door Media, which publishes Search Engine Land and produces the SMX: Search Marketing Expo conference series. He has a personal blog called Daggle (and keeps his disclosures page there). He can be found on Facebook, Google + and microblogs on Twitter as @dannysullivan. See more articles by Danny Sullivan

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