Duplicate content issue for franchising business

[masterpete]

Hi All

We are in the process of adding a franchise model to our exisitng stand alone business and as part of the package given to the franchisee will be a website with conent identical to our existing website apart from some minor details such as contact and address details.

This creates a huge duplicate content issue and even if we implement a cannonical approach to this will still be unfair to the franchisee in terms of their markeitng and own SEO efforts.

The url for each franchise will be unique but the content will be the same to a large extend. The nature of the service we offer (professional qualificaitons) is such that the "products" can only be described in a certain way and it will be near on in impossible to have a unique set of "product" pages for each franchisee.

I hope that some of you have come across a similar problem or that some of you have suggestions or ideas for us to get round this.

Kind regards

Peter

[Matt-Williamson]

I agree Andrew it has been a good discussion - that is the great thing about this community you can actually bounce ideas off like minded folks that have knowledge and understanding of what you are doing. I think it also shows that there are always several ways to go about things - it is like this discussion it has really got me thinking and I think that can only be a good thing! Thanks

[AndySolo]

good discussion Matt! and your right about creating our own kitchen content.

[Matt-Williamson]

Yeah I agree with that Andrew - it is always best to work on one site and build its strength rather than lots of microsites - however lots brands that have franchises have standalone websites from the main brand and they do well with SEO. Peter stated above that new franchises will get their own website with identical content, except contact details etc, so it is still essential to work on unique content which will help gaining links and more.

Maybe Peter would consider your sub-directory suggestion as an alternative but I think as Egol says he should be demanding about those that take on a franchise creating unique content that will fit in with the brand, benefiting everyone involved.

I don't think you can get away from the fact that creating unique, decent content is the way forward with this -  after all you know what they say content is king!

[AndySolo]

Well, if you break out a site into individual franchise sites... your relying on the individual franchises to rank for SEO. All new sites, all starting from scratch whenever they sign on as a franchise. If you use the method of one site using sub-directories.. you have the benefit of building an ongoing SEO powerhouse.

Further strengthening the franchise.

This is something to consider too, right?

[Matt-Williamson]

Hi Andrew - I understand what you are referring to when you use the term skinning and I have seen several sites use this in relation to franchises. I came across this in the past when working for a motor group that had several car manufacturer franchises. However rather than use this option at the time we created unique content written by ourselves in relation to the makes and models, adding user reviews, etc. I found that we out ranked those using the skinning method. Also one question - do you mean that a menu option on your website actually takes you straight to the main manufacturer domain rather than containing information on your own page? If this is the case I think that you will be loosing out from a search point of view as there is no content to be linked to your site in relation to this kitchen refacing - essentially your site for this product is just a gateway page. If people find the kitchen refacing page from the manufacturer in the search engines they will be taken to their site and not yours - if I were you I would look at creating some content of my own as it will benefit you in the long run. Skinning doesn't allow you to control the on-page elements such as title tags etc. Keeping content on your site for instance would allow you to target a local area in the search engines in relation to this franchise - so you might have thiels kitchen refacing in (location).

[AndySolo]

Maybe the term "skinning" was the wrong term or process. I apologize if I've given wrong information.

Have you looked into what other franchise opportunities are doing?

I did a search for "handyman baltimore"

front page of google brought back two franchises using the idea I was trying to express.

go to www(dot)handymanmatters(dot)com and type in a few different zip codes from different states. Same website, same franchise branding, different local experience.

go to www(dot)mrhandyman(dot)com and see how they are doing it.

Also, we've just signed up with a franchise opportunity for kitchen refacing. We're a large home improvement company and are just adding this to our site. But, when you go to our menu tab for kitchen refacing you actually go to thiels(dot)com/products/cabinets/ the difference? it's our branding that appears and not thiels. This is where the idea of skinning came from... probably the wrong term for the actual process.

Those were the options I was trying to express.

[Matt-Williamson]

I don't believe there is any other way round this than creating unique content - you need to remember that search engines will strip away all the fancy layouts etc. and analyse your sites on a textual basis so if all the textual content is the same then you have duplicate content in their eyes! You also need to think about the long term aim of promoting both sites - taking time and effort to produce decent unique content will be far more beneficial!

[masterpete]

Thank you all for taking the time so far to provide some suggestions and comments,

Can i just double check that there is no techinical way around this other than making the content for each site as unique as possible?

[AndySolo]

What is skinning?

Skinning is a concept where by a program user or website visitor is given control of how the program or website they are using, looks to them, by choosing from a selection of differing pre-made designs (or skins.)

From the user point of view they are able to tailor the way a program or website appears to them according to their tastes and makes for a very interactive experience.

So how does it work?

Well if we leave programs to one side and concentrate on websites, the very basic concept is that as a web designer you create however many HTML pages of content (text and editorial images) are neded for your site and then instead of just one CSS file that governs every style and design/positioning element of the site, you create any number of seperate CSS files which will style the HTML page a different way depending on which one is loaded.

When the user chooses from a selection of skins on your site one CSS file is swapped for another and the page appears to have been instantly redesigned. (the actual content remains the same, but the way it is presented (colours, fonts, structual images) can be swapped each time a new skin is selected (CSS file is loaded.)

I just copied that from the web, but I would make one main website and allow my franchises the ability to skin the website to give it there own  local flavor.

[EGOL]

I would make the development of some unique marketing statements that fit the community of the franchisee a required part of the franchise application.

This will force the franchisee to learn about the business, think about how it will work, how it should be perceived by the public and do  that in the unique context of their community location.

Get this information and work out of them while they are still hungry for the opportunity.

Give them a template to make it easy.  Then congratulate them on developing all of the information needed for their new website.

This will benefit both you and the franchisee.

I would be demanding about them doing a great job on this.

[Matt-Williamson]

peter have you thought about including some unique testimonials on the products to dilute the duplicate content on the pages of the franchise? also how about rewriting the content with a different structure to your own. there are always ways to create unique content have you read the latest artical on seomoz by gianluca - maybe an option some content curation around the subject? you could also include different unique snippets from the course on both sites to make the content different. hope these ideas help!