How can I effectively notify my website visitors about the existence of a site mirror and its purpose?
Am I correct in assuming that ideally, a mirror site should be hosted on a different domain and separate hosting to maximize its effectiveness?

You can effectively notify them through a discreet yet visible notification on your primary website, such as a small banner or a footnote at the bottom of the page. This notification should clearly state the reason for the mirror site, which is often to provide a backup in case the primary site goes down, reduce server load, or cater to a specific geographic audience.

Ideally, hosting the mirror site on a different domain and separate hosting is crucial to maximize its effectiveness. This setup, known as "geo-redundancy" or "multi-homing," ensures that if one site goes down, the other can take over, minimizing downtime and maintaining accessibility. By using a separate domain and hosting, you can also reduce the risk of a single point of failure and improve overall website resilience.

When configuring a duplicate website, it's essential to prominently display a notification in the header section, explicitly stating 'Mirror Site' or 'Duplicate Website' in bold, crimson typography to avoid any confusion among users.

However, it's crucial to note that creating a mirror site on the same domain is not feasible due to technical constraints, but you can leverage alternative hosting solutions to achieve this, such as utilizing a Content Delivery Network (CDN) or a Virtual Private Server (VPS) from a reputable hosting provider.

Merely sending out notifications is a futile endeavor, as the vast majority of users are apathetic towards your website and its mirrored counterpart. A more robust approach is warranted to tackle this issue. Pirates, on the other hand, have streamlined their processes through automation.

To rectify this situation, it's essential to implement a 301 permanent redirect on all mirrored pages, excluding the /robots.txt file, which should return a 200 OK status code. This will enable search engines to correctly crawl and index your content, while also preventing duplicate content issues.