Duplicate Content From Citations?
-
Hi everyone,
A number of citations ask for a business description, so I want to use one from our website. However, would this get flagged as duplicate content or some other problem? Do I need to write unique descriptions for every listing site?
Thanks,
Ruben
-
You asked a good question, Ruben. Glad to help.
-
Will do!
Thank you, both!
Ruben
-
Hi Ruben,
There is some amount of duplication 'baked in' when it comes to citations descriptions, because of the way in which content is shared across the Local Search Ecosystem (http://moz.com/learn/local/local-search-data-us), so one can't fret too much about this, as there is no avoiding it. Best practice is to write 10-20 unique descriptions and use them as you're building citations. I've never seen any specific studies done on whether there is a problem with using content from your own website as a citation description, but all the same, I wouldn't advise it. I suggest you make the effort to spend an hour or two writing unique descriptions, just to be on the safe side. It shouldn't take long and then you'll be worry-free. Hope these thoughts are helpful.
-
You'll notice some citation sites specifically request unique content for the descriptions. This is most likely so they don't encounter duplicate content, but it's a good practice. I know it's a hassle, but unique descriptions enable you to tailor content to the specific citation site, and you can surround your links (even if most are no-followed) with different contextual words they may be picked up on.
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
-
Citation Quantity vs Real Links
Hi Everyone, I've got a question about citations. My website is in a niche where there are 3 main competitors - ourselves and two other sites. We have around 300 citation links and around 50 high quality links within our niche from people like bloggers, editorial links within news sites etc. The other two competitors have 900 and 2000 citations each, but nothing else. None of the high quality links we have worked hard over the past year to get. We're generally ranking lower than the other two sites. Should we focus on getting more citations to "catch up"? Until now we haven't because we've been worried a lot of the citations our other competitors are on look spammy, but it seems whatever we do we can't beat them. On the face of it though, we are a better company with a better site and we've got more/better real links, so I'm starting to wonder if citations are holding us back.
Local Listings | | rswhtn0 -
Duplicate central index listing
Hello Moz community I have a duplicate listing in Central Index (GB) and all communication channels seem unresponsive. I have emailed support and general sales. I even tried contacting them on their facebook account. I am stumped as to how I can get this duplicate listing removed as I have no control over it and the support is non-existent. Any suggestions would be gratefully received.
Local Listings | | Avid-Panda2 -
Duplicate content
I am an attraction and I have just noticed that some of my vendors are using my address, and in some instances my mainline(phone), for their stores which are located on site. What is your recommendation, or best practice for this scenario as I wish to prevent this from appearing as a duplicate listing. thank you in advance.
Local Listings | | setokin0 -
How best to delete a duplicate Google My Business listing
Hi Mozzers, I am in need of help please. What is the best way to remove a duplicate GMB listing? Is best practice to a) Mark as permanently closed and wait for Google to update b) Call GMB in India and ask them to delete the redundant listing (do they even do this for you?) c) Delete the page from within my dashboard settings I am worried my NAP data is being diluted by inaccurate historical listings (most of which I have been able to claim ownership of) Any help appreciated. Ben
Local Listings | | Bendall0 -
Do Citation Count As Backlinks / Referring Domains
I listed clients listed on about 200+ local citation sites and was NAP complaint. However, when I run a backlink checker using MOZ, SEMRUSH, etc it only show 8 -12 and none of them are the citations. Anyone have any pointers?
Local Listings | | InfinityTechnologySolutions0 -
Local seo citation tools
Hi I have been manually adding my details to local/national directories in order to help my ranking in my google places placing. It is a bit of a grind, and I am aware there are tools out there. I was wondering if anybody has any experience with any of them? I am UK based. Also I was ranking for "Liverpool Photographer" on google places for a couple of months and it brought in quite a bit of work, although I have since slipped back to about 15th, so out of the visible results. I am mainly a wedding photographer so my home page was optimised mainly for "liverpool wedding photographer" Although I hired an SEO company who changed the home page title to "liverpool photographer", I cannot remember if I was ranking on places for this keyword because of this change or I was already in the results before the changes were made. So my question is how Can I rank for "liverpool photographer" and "Liverpool wedding photographer" on a places result at the same time? I hope this makes sense. Best wishes. David.
Local Listings | | WallerD0 -
Evidence that good citations improve visibilty
I am looking for documented evidence that structured and unstructured citations improve SERPS results/visibility. It will help in convincing a number of individuals that they are important in the UK as well...!
Local Listings | | ac_thornton0 -
Google automatically generating and verifying duplicate business pages?
Was on the phone with Google Support about duplicate, verified pages showing up and they said they're doing a "cleanse" in which an automated system is reviewing existing listings and making decisions as to how those look, which often results in a new page that Google then automatically verifies. Their Support phone system has been bogged down with people calling in, but I'm not seeing anything when I search about this issue. Is anyone else experiencing this?
Local Listings | | copyjack0