Duplicate Page Content Question
-
This article was published on fastcompany.com on March 19th. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/164/designing-facebook
It did not receive much traffic, so it was re-posted on Co.Design today (March 27th) where it has received significantly more traffic.
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1669366/facebook-agrees-the-secret-to-its-future-success-is-design
My question is if google will dock us for reprinting/reusing content on another site (even if it is a sister site within the same company). If they do frown on that, is there a proper way to attribute the content to the source material/site (fastcompany.com)?
-
That's a great way to find blog ideas and kudos to you for doing the hard work of guest posting
Syndication has its place... look at AP news for example.
Spinning is a whole other issue and is absolutely duplicate content and should be shamed.
-
Usually I write unique content based around the services I offer (or to answer a question posed to me on Twitter) and post that on guest blogs as unique content with a backlink to my site, I don't know why but the thought of taking one of my articles and posting the whole thing onto another site as it is (with no modification) seems wrong.
I know there are a lot of people out there who write a good post and then spin the content for other sites with a backlink but technically that should still be classified as duplicate content in a way, or should it?
-
Hey Ben
Yup, you can do that to help the search crawlers know where the original piece came from. Keep in mind that this will not necessarily keep the syndicated copy from ranking. For example, most of my B2Community posts rank better on their site than mine because of their DA. That's because the rel="canonical" is a suggestion, not a directive for noindex.
The only way to truly make sure that the stuff you syndicate will not outrank the original is to put in a meta robots "noindex" tag in the head of the content pages.
If your stuff is getting syndicated though.. there isn't much you can do. Personally, I get enough traffic from my syndicated stuff that it is more than worth it to ride their coattails. If you don't find syndication mutually beneficial you can always contact the site directly and request a noindex tag. Keep in mind this will probably mean they will drop syndicating your stuff altogether.
Hope that helps
-
Amie, is the attribution link just a normal link using rel="canonical" or is there something more to it?
-
Yes you can, you need to put the tag in the copy pointing to the original
-
Can you use canonical tags for things that are not part of your own website? Technically fastcompany.com and fastcodesign.com are different sites.
-
Great question You can always syndicate content... just be sure to provide an attribution link. For example, my company gets a lot of traffic via Business2Community because they syndicate our blog on a regular basis. I have attached their standard attribution link.
I know that duplicate content is scary but just follow these two rules:
1 - Give credit where it is due
2 - Make sure Google can spot an attribution link
Remember that content creators want you to share their stuff, and obviously you guys want to share your own stuff. Don't assume that Google is going to check to see the relationship, make it obvious. Just a simple "This piece was syndicated with permission from X" will do the trick. Be sure to link to the piece itself Of course, it's doubly nice if you use the direct link and a main link too
Hope that helps!
-
Yes they will see it as duplicate content.
Yes you can attribute credit to one version or the other, that is using a canonical tag
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Duplicate content? - Ecommerce reviews loading the same products on every page
Hello there! I use a plugin on my ecom site that shows customer reviews - not product reviews but general shopping experience reviews. The plugin also loads links and short descriptions of products those customers bought. Having installed it site-wide, on every page there are short descriptions of the same products. Of course, as people leave new reviews the content changes (but it doesn't happen very often). So the question is: Is having links and short descriptions of the same products on every page harmful for SEO in this case? I'd be grateful for any insight into this matter.
On-Page Optimization | | thpchlk0 -
Why do I hear that it can be a bad thing to have too many content pages?
My site has lots of long tail opportunity and so intention is to produce as much content as possible to target these keywords effectively. However, over the last 6 months I have come across numerous sources suggesting that Google can/does look down on a site having too many content pages. Is there any truth in this? Thanks.
On-Page Optimization | | Clicksjim0 -
Will Google re-index the page if content is changed/improved?
Hello,
On-Page Optimization | | wickedsunny1
i have a little question, it seems most of my posts which are 3 years old or even more, all have almost same type of 2-3 lines of text at post starting and then images roundups etc.
which recently stopped getting any traffic from google. Probably becuase of lack in text etc.
So if i now edit those old pages, will they be reindexed in google with this new content/data?
thanks in advance.
cheers0 -
Duplicate content harms individual pages or whole site?
Hi, One section of my site is a selection of Art and Design books. I have about 200 individual posts, each with a book image and a description retrieved from Amazon (using their API). Due to several reasons not worth mentioning I decided to use the Amazon description. I don't mind if those pages rank well or not, but I need them as additional content for my visitors as they browse my site. The value relies in the selection of books. My question is if the duplicate content taken from Amazon harms only each book page or the whole site. The rest of the site has unique content. Thanks! Enrique
On-Page Optimization | | enriquef0 -
2 Duplicate pages. One Showing "/"
In SEOMoz report I have 2 pages showing that are identical in name/URL apart from the fact that one ends with the / symbol and one doesnt'. They are both showing as having too many on-page links. But one shows 106 links and the other shows 106. In clients' admin section I can only find evidence of the page without the /. I wonder if anyone could advise how best to move forward? Colin
On-Page Optimization | | NileCruises0 -
Break-up content into individual pages or keep on one page
I am working on a dental website. Under menu item "services" lists everything he does like.. Athletic Sports Guards
On-Page Optimization | | Czubmeister
An athletic sports guard is a resilient plastic appliance that is worn to protect the teeth and gum tissues by absorbing the forces generated by traumatic blows during sports or other activities. Digital X-Rays We use state of the art digital x-rays and digital cameras to help with an accurate diagnosis of any concerns. Digital Imaging On initial visits, and recall visits, we take a series of digital photographs to aid us in diagnosis as well as to give you a close-up view of your mouth and any oral conditions. Smile Makeovers
We offer a number of different options including bleaching, bonding, porcelain veeners, and in some cases, implants and/or orthodontic care is utilized in our smile makeover planning. Nitrous oxide for your Comfort Would it be better to break these services up into individual pages? I was thinking I would because then I could add more pictures and expand on the topic and try to get an "A" grade on each page. I'm not sure how I could rank a page if I have 35 services listed on the page. That would be an awfully big H1! Suggestions?0 -
Suggestions to avoid duplicate content
Hi, we have about 6500 products, almost all with descriptions. SEOMOZ is showing about 2500 of them with duplicate content. The reason for this is that only one or two words are different for each product. For example, we have 500 award certificates. All are the same size and have the same description. But one is swimming, one baseball, one reading, etc, etc. Apparently the 1 word difference is not enough to differentiate. We have the same issue with our trophies - they are identical, except for figures. Does anyone have any good tips on how to change the content to avoid this issue and to avoid making up content for 2500 items? Thanks! Neil trophycentral.com
On-Page Optimization | | trophycentraltrophiesandawards0 -
Duplicate Content
Hi I have Duplicate content that i do sent understand 1 - www.example.dk 2- www.example.dk/ I thought i was the same page, whit and without the / Hope someone can help 🙂
On-Page Optimization | | seopeter290