Google’s odd blind spot: Mixing up Scottish government domains
It is incredibly rare to see Google make a stark error in search results, especially when it involves government websites. We aren't talking about a trivial ranking issue here; we are looking at a fundamental mix-up of domains that is potentially sending job seekers and business decision makers to entirely the wrong organisation.
The issue stems from a split that happened six years ago. In 2019, the Forestry Commission Scotland was dissolved, resulting in two distinct bodies: Scottish Forestry and Forestry and Land Scotland.
While the names are similar, their remits are distinct. Scottish Forestry is the public body responsible for regulation, policy, and supporting landowners. In contrast, Forestry and Land Scotland manages and promotes the national forest estate. One sets the rules; the other looks after the land.
Yet, if you search for "Scottish Forestry" on Google right now, the results are a confusing hybrid.
As you can see in the screenshot, the main result correctly identifies the Scottish Forestry agency. However, the sitelinks underneath—the expanded links designed to help you navigate deeper—are pulling from an entirely different domain.
The links for "Jobs", "Forestry and Land Scotland", and "Visit our forests" do not belong to forestry.gov.scot. They belong to forestryandland.gov.scot.
The "Jobs" link is particularly insidious. Google is explicitly telling users these are results from the Scottish Forestry domain, yet clicking that link whisks them away to the Forestry and Land recruitment page. It is easy to imagine the confusion this causes for applicants trying to work for the regulator, only to be funnelled towards the land management agency.
It is baffling that the search engine is failing to distinguish between forestry.gov.scot and forestryandland.gov.scot. These are different domains for different entities, yet Google’s algorithm seems to have stitched them together.
For webmasters, this is the stuff of nightmares. There is very little that can be done from the technical side to force an unlinking of the two entities. The "Feedback" options on search results are well-trodden paths that rarely yield a quick fix for structural errors like this.
We are used to seeing minor localisation glitches, perhaps an Irish user being served a .co.uk result instead of .ie, but a complete cross-contamination of two government domains is a different beast entirely.
Has anyone else spotted a domain miscalculation of this magnitude?