Ungrouping sites

Ungrouping is the reverse of the mirror procedure: separating addresses Yandex has grouped so they can rank independently again. It is possible only under two conditions — no redirect exists between the sites, or one of them is unreachable by the robot.

How to do it

Select the address currently recognised as alternate, open Indexing → Ungrouping site addresses, and apply. Ungrouping normally happens within a few weeks of the robot’s next visit; the request speeds it up. Afterwards the addresses appear as separate sites in the console.

Why a request gets refused

Because a redirect still exists somewhere. Yandex names the six variants to check, and they are worth checking all of them: example.com, www.example.com, and each of those over HTTP and HTTPS. A forgotten rule on one variant blocks the whole request, and it is rarely the one anybody suspects.

The ungrouping notification you did not ask for

A notification can also arrive because the robot’s database no longer holds information about the alternate address. Alternate addresses do not appear in results, so their data is eventually deleted — this is routine, and Yandex states it does not affect the primary address or how it appears in search. To confirm, open Crawl statistics for the address: zero values or “data will be available soon” means the database is genuinely empty.

Regrouping, by cause

• No working redirect between the sites. Both answer 200, so both can rank independently. To group them, redirect from the one that should not appear to the one that should, then use the site move tool.
• One site unreachable. An unavailable site is ungrouped and excluded from search. Restore availability, then redirect.
• No data on the alternate address. Nothing to do. A move request can be submitted, but Yandex does not guarantee grouping.

When ungrouping is the right call

Rarely. Two genuinely different sites wrongly merged, or a domain being separated from a former owner’s property. Ungrouping two addresses of the same site simply recreates the competition the grouping resolved.