Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
US and UK Websites of Same Business with Same Content
-
Hello Community,
I need your help to understand, whether I can use the US website's content on my UK website or not?
US Website's domain: https://www.fortresssecuritystore.com
UK Website's domain: https://www.fortresssecuritystore.co.uk
Both websites are having same content on all the pages, including testimonials/reviews.
I am trying to gain business from Adwords and Organic SEO marketing.
Thanks.
-
Yup, but doesn't matter. Hreflang works for this situation whether cross-domain or on a subdirectory/subdomain basis (and in fact is even more effective when cross-domain as you're also getting the benefit of the geo-located ccTLD.)
P.
-
Hi Paul,
If I understood correctly, we are talking about two different websites, not a website with subdomains.
Hreflang can be used for other languages and countries although not for masking 100% duplicated content as I stated above.site A: https://www.fortresssecuritystore.com
site B: https://www.fortresssecuritystore.co.uk
The recommendations that Google gives are for the purpose of having the pages crawled and indexed not for having success with 100% duplicate content which do not serve a good UX, therefore gain a high bounce rate, then the overall SEO fall down.
Mª Verónica
-
Unfortunately, your information is incorrect, Veronica.
Hreflang is specifically designed for exactly this situation. As Google Engineer Maile Oye clearly states, one of the primary uses of hreflang markup is:
- Your content has small regional variations with** similar content in a single language**. For example, you might have English-language content targeted to the US, GB, and Ireland.
(https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/189077?hl=en)
There's no question differentiating similar content in the same language for different regions/countries is more of a challenge than for totally different languages, but it can absolutely be done, and in fact is a very common requirement for tens of thousands of companies.
Paul
- Your content has small regional variations with** similar content in a single language**. For example, you might have English-language content targeted to the US, GB, and Ireland.
-
Hi CommercePundit,
Sadly, there is not "a non painful way to say it".
You cannot gain business from Adwords and Organic SEO marketing having 100% duplicated content.The options; canonical and hreflang would not work in this case.
The only option is language "localization", mean rewrite the whole content by a local writer.
Canonical can be used for up to 10% not for the whole 100%. Hreflang can be used for other languages and countries although not for masking 100% duplicated content.
Sorry to tell the bad news. Good luck!
Mª Verónica
-
The more you can differentiate these two sites, the better they will each perform in their own specific markets, CP.
First requirement will be a careful, full implementation of hreflang tags for each site.
Next, you'll need to do what you can to regionalise the content - for example changing to UK spelling for the UK site content, making sure prices are referenced in pounds instead of dollars, changing up the language to use British idioms and locations as examples where possible. It'll also be critical to work towards having the reviews/testimonials from each site's own country, rather than generic, This will help dramatically from a marketing standpoint and also help differentiate for the search engines, so a double win.
And finally, you'll want to make certain you've set up each in their own Google Search Console and used the geographic targeting for the .com site to specify its target as US. (You won't' need to target the UK site as the .co.uk is already targeted so you won't' get that option in GSC.). If you have an actual physical address/phone in the UK, would also help to set up a separate Google My Busines profile for the UK branch.
Bottom line is - you'll need to put in significant work to differentiate the sites and provide as many signals as possible for which site is for which country in order to help the search engines understand which to return in search results.
Hope that all makes sense?
Paul
-
Hi!
Yeap you can target UK market with US site version. Always keep in mind that its possible that you might perform as well as in the main market (US).
Also, before making any desition and/or implementing, take a look at these articles:
Multi-regional and multilingual sites - Google Search Console
International checklist - Moz Blog
Using the correct hreglang tag - Moz Blog
Guide to international website expansion - Moz Blog
Tool for checking hreflang anotations - Moz BlogHope it helps.
Best Luck.
GR.
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
-
Handling of Duplicate Content
I just recently signed and joined the moz.com system. During the initial report for our web site it shows we have lots of duplicate content. The web site is real estate based and we are loading IDX listings from other brokerages into our site. If though these listings look alike, they are not. Each has their own photos, description and addresses. So why are they appear as duplicates – I would assume that they are all too closely related. Lots for Sale primarily – and it looks like lazy agents have 4 or 5 lots and input the description the same. Unfortunately for us, part of the IDX agreement is that you cannot pick and choose which listings to load and you cannot change the content. You are either all in or you cannot use the system. How should one manage duplicate content like this? Or should we ignore it? Out of 1500+ listings on our web site it shows 40 of them are duplicates.
Technical SEO | | TIM_DOTCOM0 -
SEO for User Authenticated Content
Hi Everyone - I have a potential client who is seeking SEO for a site that contains about 95% of content only accessible through user authentication . Does anyone have tips for getting this indexed without having to open it up to the public? I was considering adding "snippets" into the robots.txt or creating an additional page with snippets linking to the login page. I'd appreciate any thoughts! Thanks!
Technical SEO | | manutx0 -
Duplicate Content
We have a ton of duplicate content/title errors on our reports, many of them showing errors of: http://www.mysite.com/(page title) and http://mysite.com/(page title) Our site has been set up so that mysite.com 301 redirects to www.mysite.com (we did this a couple years ago). Is it possible that I set up my campaign the wrong way in SEOMoz? I'm thinking it must be a user error when I set up the campaign since we already have the 301 Redirect. Any advice is appreciated!
Technical SEO | | Ditigal_Taylor0 -
How to create unique content for businesses with multiple locations?
I have a client that owns one franchise location of a franchise company with multiple locations. They have one large site with each location owning it's own page on the site, which I feel is the best route. The problem is that each location page has basically duplicate content on each page resulting in like 80 pages of duplicate content. I'm looking for advice on how to create unique content for each location page? What types of information can we write about to make each page unique, because you can only twist sentences and content around so much before it just all sounds cookie cutter and therefore offering little value.
Technical SEO | | RonMedlin0 -
Duplicate content and http and https
Within my Moz crawl report, I have a ton of duplicate content caused by identical pages due to identical pages of http and https URL's. For example: http://www.bigcompany.com/accomodations https://www.bigcompany.com/accomodations The strange thing is that 99% of these URL's are not sensitive in nature and do not require any security features. No credit card information, booking, or carts. The web developer cannot explain where these extra URL's came from or provide any further information. Advice or suggestions are welcome! How do I solve this issue? THANKS MOZZERS
Technical SEO | | hawkvt10 -
UK website ranking higher in Google.com than Google.co.uk
Hi, I have a UK website which was formerly ranked 1<sup>st</sup> in Google.co.uk and .com for my keyword phrase and has recently slipped to 6<sup>th</sup> in .co.uk but is higher in position 4 in Google.com. I have conducted a little research and can’t say for certain but I wonder if it is possible that too many of my backlinks are US based and therefore Google thinks my website is also US based. Checked Google WmT and we the geo-targeted to the UK. Our server is also UK based. Does anyone have an opinion on this? Thanks
Technical SEO | | tdsnet0 -
Universal Business Listing?
Can anyone recommend the best or a better alternative to submitting a clients site to multiple directories than Universal Business Listing? Is UBL the best or is there something better and/or less expensive out there? https://ubl.org Thanks
Technical SEO | | fun52dig0 -
Duplicate Content issue
I have been asked to review an old website to an identify opportunities for increasing search engine traffic. Whilst reviewing the site I came across a strange loop. On each page there is a link to printer friendly version: http://www.websitename.co.uk/index.php?pageid=7&printfriendly=yes That page also has a link to a printer friendly version http://www.websitename.co.uk/index.php?pageid=7&printfriendly=yes&printfriendly=yes and so on and so on....... Some of these pages are being included in Google's index. I appreciate that this can't be a good thing, however, I am not 100% sure as to the extent to which it is a bad thing and the priority that should be given to getting it sorted. Just wandering what views people have on the issues this may cause?
Technical SEO | | CPLDistribution0