Best way to resolve duplicate content issue?
-
Not sure about what to do about this - I have a client who has a ton of pages (around 1200) which are all City specific pages, for long-tail search.
These are all written with paragraphs in the format such as:
Order to [City] today.
So every page has essentially the same content. The site also only has 1562 pages, so with 1200 of them being City-specific same-content pages, that can't be good.
However the problem is that these pages still rank very well (usually Position 1 or 2) for the terms they're targeting, and bring in enough traffic and revenue to justify their purpose.
We also have Country specific pages, and these are all with unique content, rather than the scripted content on the City pages. So for example, for Italy we might have:
- Italy Page (Unique Content)
- Rome (Duplicate Content)
- Milan (Duplicate Content)
- Venice (Duplicate Content)
- etc. (Duplicate Content)
For a low traffic country (Austria), we tried to 301 the City pages to the Country page, but that only resulted in us seeing a drop in search results for the city keywords, from (usually) Position 1 to more like Page 3 or 4, so quite a drop.
So, without writing 1200 pages worth of unique content, what would your advice be?
- Italy Page (Unique Content)
-
Thanks for the reply! Hmm, do you mean to add further scripted content to bulk out the pages? We currently have a lot of dynamic (so, near-duplicate, but basically duplicate) content on all of those pages - Page Titles are unique - but the content is the same, just replacing the City name in each paragraph. That's the problem really, so I'm not sure additional dynamic content will fix that unless I've got the wrong end of the stick?
-
Thanks for the reply - ideally the route we'd take is to have all of them rewritten, but the cost to do that is too simply high for ~1200 pages.
Further investigation shows that only around 500 of the 1200 pages actually bring in traffic, so we could lose (redirect to country pages) 700 of the pages, and write content for 500 - that would reduce the cost, but would still be fairly substantial. Will have to think about that; as you say, adding properly optimised unique content is definitely the way to go, just whether we can justify the cost.
-
Is padding out the content on the duplicated pages an option?
ie: If you where to add additional information to those pages, and slightly re-word those pages (as opposed to completely re-writing them), this could be a step in the right direction.
What is actually being duplicated about the page?
- The content
- The page title
Because both of these should be able to be dynamically re-written.
Feel free to PM me some examples.
- Paul.
-
If you can't write them, get them written. Might as well be the best investment you make in SEO. You would be able to maintain and monopolize your position on the SERPs with 1200 pages of unique content, properly optimized and targeting long tail keywords. Since you mention, these pages are already ranking high and bringing in traffic, IMO you shouldn't try and get rid of them. I know this is not exactly the advise you are looking for but if you are serious about your SERPs then its definitely worth the while.
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
-
Removing old content
Ahoy! Variously I have heard the opinion that content which does not generate regular search traffic (let's ballpark it at >10 views in any given month) should be noindexed or even removed. Allegedly this would improve the overall quality of the site, rankings and traffic. I remain doubtful. What would you do if the interest in a given matter goes down over time for any (most) given topics of your content and is replaced by "newer" specific interest? Concrete example: I have a website about (book) reviews. Naturally, there will always be new books; old books are not in the media as much and "forgotten". Nevertheless, the reviews (all unique, based on really having read the books, no trace of the standard back cover copy) are obviously still there. Personally I feel that they do not really lose any value - they are still reviews of that one book, even though it is not the most recent one. So, what would you do: Deindex "older" book reviews after a certain time? Even remove them completely? Just let them run? I am looking forward to your opinions - and even your experience if you have done something like this! Nico
Content Development | | netzkern_AG0 -
Content
Hi, We produce research report on same topic every year (e.g. cost of patrol in different part of the country) and publish them to a new url every time. What is the best way to do it? create new page every year or update the existing research report with modification Considering long term benefits. Thanks
Content Development | | APH0 -
Content Marketing, Who do I use?
I know nothing about content marketing, so who do I hire? Who are the authorities & leaders in this new era of digital marketing.
Content Development | | KristopherWho0 -
Best Alternatives to Google Knol
We have some Google Knols that have done well but now they have to be moved (Google closing). The popular alternatives are: Annotum (new, based on Wordpress and containing scholarly articles) Wordpress.com Blogger Although those could work I am seeking out other viable alternatives. Any suggestions? Squidoo is spammy but has anyone had any good things to say about it? Thanks!
Content Development | | geteducated0 -
What is the Best Practice for External Links?
We are currently in the process of reviewing our site on a number of fronts, and part of that involves adding quality content to our product category pages where necessary. Our practice so far has been to add relevant content, and in this content externally link to a couple of relevant, related sites for that category (avoiding the use of keywords we are trying to rank for). Should we be doing this (externally linking)? And, if so, should these external links be NoFollow? So far, we have seen mixed results for our efforts.
Content Development | | Robdps0 -
What is the Best Way to Become a Guest Blogger?
What have you found to be the best way to convince quality blog sites with authority to let you become a guest blogger for their site? I know that providing samples of quality writing is key. But other than that, what is the best way "in"? I have a handful of quality writers at my disposal and also write myself, but I'm trying to find effective ways of convincing established blogs to let me write for them. Please send me your best, most creative suggestions! What has worked for you? Thank you, Afshin Apples of Gold
Content Development | | applesofgold0 -
Where do you find quality content writers?
Sure we all know about oDesk or textbroker but is there a place people can go to hire higher quality writers?
Content Development | | joseph.chambers0 -
Duplicate Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, is it a problem?
Hi, If i use same terms of use and privacy policy content across my websites, does it amounts to duplicate content issues? Does it affect my websites in any manner? Regards
Content Development | | IM_Learner0