Is it worth De-duplicating a large e-commerce website?
-
Hi all,
Most e-commerce websites use the same product description as the manufacturers. We know duplicate content is a huge negative for SEO. We are thinking about de-duplicating ours but our website is so big - it has tens of thousands of products. To de-duplicate it would require a ton of resources. Do you think it's worth it to go ahead de-duplicate our website? Do you have a website where de-duplication was done and did you see any positive result? (if so, did you see a certain percentage increase?)
Thank you in advance
-
Hi Marie,
Thank you for responding. I'd be happy to share it with you if we do see a positive result.
-
Hi Matthew,
Thank you for your suggestion.
From what I can see on our analytics, the product detail page, which is the page with the duplicate description, isn't getting any organic traffic. The page is indexed but it's just not ranking. Other websites including manufacturer is out ranking it.
Good suggestion, we are planning on doing the top 250 SKUs and hopefully we'll get some positive result.
On the websites that you've worked on, did you see an increase after you de-duplicate it? The reason why I'm asking is because I'm being asked by higher ups of what kind of percentage increase should we expect from this. I have no answer for it but they want a ball park answer, e.g., 10% or 20% increase.
-
Ok mate. You are in trouble and there is no shortcut. Sorry I am going to disagree. You must have unique content in your page and there is no two ways about it. If you are still getting visitors even after harbouring duplicate content, you should thank your lucky star.
_Now, why not start generating unique content rather than wasting your time looking at the size of the complexity. _
-
I was going to respond to this however Mathew and Marie are spot on. First order of business is to check positioning for your products to see if you are being marginalized behind other pages with the same descriptions. (While youre in there check the pages Page Authority and backlinks to compare to yours as well). Check to see how many of your product pages are indexed. You can also do a litmus test on a few products by adding unique descriptions and waiting to see if there is improvement.
-
Matthew's got good advice for you. I have a few thoughts to add.
How well are you ranking for these products right now? Anywhere near the top? If not, it's worth a try. And I really like the idea of trying it with a small sample first and seeing if your rankings improve.
I wanted to share with you about a real estate site I work with. In real estate almost every realtor uses the MLS listing description for each listing. This means there is a lot of duplication going on. For our listings we create a unique description and title for each listing and we usually end up ranking #1 for address searches for these listings.
If you do de-duplicate and see an improvement I would love to write about your site on my blog as it would probably be considered a Panda recovery of sorts. Let me know!
-
I agree with Mathhew. completely. Test it on a small scale, there are so many other metrics that influence the rankings that it's best to test it and if it works, do it on a larger scale. Quoted from Mathhew's response "Another way to approach this would be to take a sample of ~50 products that get some traffic from search right now. Take unique pictures and write unique content for those products. Then, measure the results. Did organic traffic increase after 30, 60, 90 days? If so, you know that you've got a problem with duplicate content worth correcting."
-
How much traffic do you get to those duplicated pages right now from Google/Bing? Are all of those pages indexed? Can you tell if you are losing out to the manufacturer websites? If the pages are indexed, you are getting traffic, and seem to be "beating" the manufacturer's website, I wouldn't worry too much. On sites I've worked on, I've seen duplicated pages get no traffic (or only one page gets traffic, but not all pages) or they get some traffic but the manufacturer's website ranks considerably higher. That is when you know you have a problem worth correcting. Another way to approach this would be to take a sample of ~50 products that get some traffic from search right now. Take unique pictures and write unique content for those products. Then, measure the results. Did organic traffic increase after 30, 60, 90 days? If so, you know that you've got a problem with duplicate content worth correcting. I hope that helps.
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
-
Facing issue related to my website.
I am facing issue regarding to my website **https://mylovelylawn.com/. As some pages are not indexed by google yet. Can Anyone help me out how to indexed those pages to improve my ranking. **
On-Page Optimization | | qwaswd0 -
Should I be worried about our 'Duplicate' content
Hi guys... I've just been working through some issues to give our site a little cleanup. I'm working through our duplicate content issues (we have some legitimate duplicate pages that need removing, and some of our dynamic content is problematic. Are web developers are going to sort with canonical tags this week.) However... There are some pages that are actually different products, but are very similar pages that are 'triggering' MOZ to say we have duplicate pages. Here an example... http://www.toaddiaries.co.uk/filofax-refills/filo-12-month-inserts-personal-size/fortnight-view-filofax-personal and http://www.toaddiaries.co.uk/filofax-refills/filo-12-month-inserts-personal-size/week-to-a-view-filofax-personal They are very similar refill products, it's just the diary format is different. Question: Should I be worried about this? I've never seen our rankings change in the past when 'cleaning up' duplicate content. What do you guys think? Isaac.
On-Page Optimization | | isaac6630 -
Website Titles in Google
I currently have a Wordpress platform website and previously I noticed that when I optimized my pages, if I indicated what I wanted my page names to be (through an application like SEO Yoast) that most times, the keyword would show up exactly how I had it typed in. Recently I have noticed that the title of my website is showing in my page titles too. So for example: Before: Shoe Stores Windsor - XYZ Company Now: XYZ Company | Shoe Stores Windsor - XYZ Company In SEO practices, I know it's most often best to have the keyword you would like as close to the front of your title tag, but now this recent search adds my website title first. Plus this also seems to be making my titles longer. I know Google ultimately has the 'final say' in a page title and I have ensured that I have the "rewrite titles/descriptions option" check in Wordpress to allow me to overwrite titles, but I am hoping someone can possibly provide me with a tip or trick to avoid this in search rankings. I think it's important to have the name of my site entered through Wordpress so that any pages that I have no optimized default to the page name and site name, but the ones I have optimized seem to be showing differently all of a sudden. Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | MainstreamMktg0 -
Best place for tutorial videos on e-commerce site
Just wondering where I should put my tutorial videos on my e-commerce site. I have two options 1. On the category pages - this makes sense as the videos are related to the products within the category 2. Create a help section of the website that would host all the help videos. Which would be better for ranking and usability? Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | DavidLenehan0 -
Duplicate title tag
Hello,
On-Page Optimization | | JohnHuynh
My site have problems with duplicate title, they were reported from google webmaster. For example:
/extra-services/car-pick-up-service-146.html (1) /extra-services/transportation--car-rails--146.html (2) According to my sitemap the first URL is right (1). But the second URL is wrong, I don't know it occur here.0 -
Duplicate Page Content for Product Pages
Hello, We have one website which URL is http://www.bannerbuzz.com & we have many product pages which having duplicate page content issue in SEOMOZ which are below. http://www.bannerbuzz.com/backlit-banners-1.html
On-Page Optimization | | CommercePundit
http://www.bannerbuzz.com/backlit-banners-10.html
http://www.bannerbuzz.com/backlit-banners-11.html
http://www.bannerbuzz.com/backlit-banners-12.html
http://www.bannerbuzz.com/backlit-banners-13.html We haven't any content on these pages, still getting duplicate page content errors for all pages in SEOMOZ. Please help me how can i fix this issue. Thanks,0 -
Impact of website redesign when changing to wordpress
Agency designed website and not sure what platform was used. Are now working minor redesign of site but wants to do so in word press. I don't have any problem with word press but don't want to start over ranking for key phrases. I don't want to change URL from mysite.com for the home page. What is the right way to make sure this is done correctly. I could not find a resource on the site. I don't mind researching this but am not sure what to search for to find info. Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | arainey0070 -
Should I remove my footer? and criticize my website
The simple question, should I delete my footer or keep it. Visit TraxNYC.com I dont wont to give my personal opinion yet, just because I dont want to influence any answers. Delete it! - Explain why? Keep it! - Explain why? Good Luck!
On-Page Optimization | | DiamondJewelryEmpire0