Avoid Duplicate Content by All Means
Google rankings of many Web sites suffer greatly because of a phenomenon called “duplicate content.” One of our clients, cryoserver.com was penalized (red-flagged) for this particular reason prior to signing up with us. The site was ranked on page 13 of Google SERP’s for one of their main keywords.
Duplicate content refers to “substantive blocks of content” that match or are similar to “content within or across domains”, according to Google webmaster central. Google simply reduces the ranking of both pages/Web sites if it notices similar content being posted.
Here are some examples of duplicate content and tips on how to resolve them:
Mirrored Sites
Having mirrored sites refers to the same Web site being hosted on two or more different domains. This was basically what cryoserver.com had done. They had their site hosted on cryoserver.com as well as forensiccs.com.
Use a domain-level redirect from one domain to the other to resolve the mirrored sites issue. Also, use 301 redirects for any linked-to Web pages within the redirected domain.
We asked cryoserver.com to redirect the mirrored domain to the main one. After only one week, Google removed the red-flag and now their site ranks on the 3rd page (still some SEO work is needed to get them to the first page).
The same for-sale items on e-commerce Web sites
This is very common when it comes to e-commerce sites. Many URL’s are dynamically created and linked to from the home-page or other pages. Or simply, one product is placed within different categories. To resolve this issue, you should avoid dynamically building your pages and use different description even for the same products if they’re placed on different categories (having different url’s).
Copied text to be placed on competitors Web sites
If someone copies your text and place it on their site, your site could be penalized (flagged) by Google spiders for having duplicate content. This doesn’t happen too often, but when it does, it reduces your site’s rank on Google dramatically. To resolve this issue, you should contact the site that copied your text and ask them (by using all means) to remove the stolen text from their site. If they don’t comply, you should just rewrite your own content (painful, but it’s easier and less expensive than hacking the other site and removing your text).
Print-only versions of Web pages
Avoid print-versions if at all possible. If you cannot, use a “no-follow” tag wherever you link to a print-version copy of your Web pages.
Web pages that generate a mobile-friendly version
Similar to above, use “no-follow” tags so Google spiders don’t follow the link.
If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to ask. We will respond to all questions in a timely manner.
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@Martin
Martin, thanks for your question. They articles/releases must be changed entirely if you want them to have the positive effect you’re looking for.
Thank you. That being the case, I’ve taken great care and invested a fair bit of time to author a well thought-out, informative, non-spammy article. What free submission site – press release or otherwise – do you recommend submitting it for the most positive effect?
A corollary question I have is with regard to anchor text/hyperlinking. I have visited a number of PR sites which do not offer the option of uploading HTML source code but rather only text. Is it fair to say that it would be far preferable to submit to sites which allow uploading of HTML source code? How would just text be of any benefit from a SEO standpoint?
@Martin
see…
http://www.mastergoogle.com/blog/30-best-press-release-distribution-sites-revealed.php
also see…
http://www.mastergoogle.com/blog/top-10-article-submission-web-sites.php
Thank you. I had visited and read both of these pages before. I am still however in a quandary over 2 fundamental matters:
1. These lists are great and much appreciated but with so many choices, I am still left pondering where best to submit. If the articles/releases must be changed entirely from one to the next to have a positive SEO effect, then can I assume that that means that one good article in my field of expertise that I’ve slaved over to make sure it is high quality, well written and free of spelling/grammatical errors should not be submitted to more than one site even if submitting that same article once to an article directory and then again later to a PR site – 2 different formats? Should I just choose one or the other and if yes, which will deliver the most ‘bang for the buck’?
2. Nowhere have I read any authoritative source with regard to this anchor text/hyperlinking issue.
If an article directory or a PR site does not offer the option of uploading HTML source code but rather only text, how would just text be of any benefit from a SEO standpoint? Without visiting each of the sites on the lists and wading through their submission processes, I have no way to know which sites fall into which category. Does it matter in your opinion? To me it still seems it would be far preferable to submit to sites which allow uploading of HTML source code. I realize this may seem like ‘paralysis of analysis’ but I hate to labor over an article and have one good shot at submitting it and then submit it somewhere that it does not get picked up and generate any valuable back links or traffic to my site.
Your advice is greatly appreciated.
@Martin
Good questions…
1. Submit to sites with better PR. Press release sites provide you with a better bang for the buck. Market Wire in my opinion is at the top of the list (they do re-submit your article to multiple sites, but some rank well on Google News.) Just a quick note: they normally do not accept articles – only press releases.
2. I agree with you. It’s better if you can upload HTML code, but all of these sites allow you to add your text-link. So, you’re good with any of them.
3. Don’t spend lots of time preparing your articles/releases. You can hire a writer (or us) to write your articles/releases for you for $150-$200. We provide you with 3 different versions for 3 different sites.
When you say Market Wire re-submits your article to multiple sites, of course this applies to most if not all PR services. Is it safe to assume then that this does not fall under the category of duplicate content? I imagine the answer has to be that it does not but I was also wondering about syndication of articles to social bookmarking sites. Is it safe to assume that the same article being OnlyWired out to dozens of sites for posting also will not fall under the category of duplicate content?
@Martin
Good question.
I know for a fact that Market Wire syndication of your submissions DOES NOT fall under duplicate content issue. But I cannot say the same thing for other syndications.
Really great breakdown of duplicate content. I really like these changes as it helps the filter out bad sites.
Thank you sir for the info. Actually I was really confused about what duplicate content is. but after reading your post, my doubts are all cleared. It is really useful for beginners.
I have noticed so many times that newbie bloggers & internet marketers copy content from authority blogs and put it to their own blog without changing even a word. This doesn’t help anyone and it is so annoying.
Things you have mentioned in this article are really what actually has happened with me or to my blog several times. Excellent post.
Hi My blog is wordpress blog, and normally use to assign 2 different categories to 1 article, because both categories are suitable for it. Please tell me is it duplicate content or not? My category HOW-TO and Windows contains almost same articles in them.
@maddy
No, that’s not duplicate content although WP creates two exact pages with the same content. However, Google understands well how WP works and doesn’t penalize you for adding two categories to one article/post. This is also true with the main blog page (your entire post is shown on the main blog page AND each post has its own page as well).
Really nice and proper answer i got from your blog, other bloggers just making money and don’t have interest in answering my questions in the right way. Thanks@Ali Husayni